Linda Tripp, the swashbuckling palooka who ignited the impeachment of President Bill Clinton by tape recording his mistress, Monica Lewinsky has died. She was 70. The cause of death was said to be hardening of the arteries. In 1997, she made some 22 hours of surreptitious recordings of Lewinsky speaking about the affair with the President and then handed them over to Special Prosecutor Ken Starr. A career civil servant, she befriended Lewinsky while working at the Pentagon as a steam fitter where she often staged boxing matches between herself and some of the military's top brass. She had a record of 161 wins and 18 losses with 26 of the matches ending in TKO's. Standing 6'1 and weighing in at 240 pounds, she often towered over most of her male opponents. Her menacing looks and gravelly voice, many times intimidated her challengers to the point where they would often just concede the fight. "I got my bell rung more than once in the ring with her", said Army Chief of Staff James C. McConville. "She had a reach of 55 inches, you couldn't get near her", he said. In an interview with Barbara Walters, Tripp spoke of her difficult childhood growing up in the hard scrabble neighborhoods of the Hampton's where her chauffeur would not speak to her when taking her to her private school and her maid would often lay out the same clothes she wore the day before. She grew up angry and withdrawn. "I learned early in life that you gotta fight for what you want", she said. She joined a vicious street gang, "The Finishing School Debutantes", where she soon rose to the rank of lieutenant. "I can't tell you how many times I took the cucumber finger sandwiches I made and crammed them down the throats of our rival gang, "The Charm School Army Brats", she told Walters. Linda, 'Lower the Boom', Tripp was born on Martha's Vineyard in 1949 but moved to the Hampton's when she was eleven. "We got out of that hell hole because the riding club we belonged to wouldn't take me because of my size", she said. She took up boxing at the behest of her mother who wanted her to have more self-confidence and poise. She sparred with the likes of Mike Tyson who called her, ''The toughest broad I ever got into the ring with. The world of boxing will never be the same", he said. Tripp is survived by her husband Dieter Rausch and her two children Allison and Ryan. The American Boxing Federation has lowered their flags to half-staff in honor of her memory. John Goodman will deliver the eulogy.
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