Linda Tripp, whose tapes exposed the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky scandal, has died

The former publicist – whose secret recordings of Monica Lewinsky talking about having sex with then-US president Bill Clinton led to the his impeachment – has passed away.

Linda Tripp, the Pentagon publicist whose secret recordings of Monica Lewinsky talking about sex with president Bill Clinton led to the his impeachment, has died.

Ms Tripp’s former lawyer, Joseph Murtha, confirmed the death, and US media cited family members saying she died after a short battle with pancreatic cancer.

Tripp was a public affairs official of the US Department of Defence when her co-worker Lewinsky, who had served as a White House intern in the mid-1990s, told her she had secretly had sexual encounters with Clinton in the Oval Office.

Linda Tripp, pictured in 1998, has died aged 70. Picture: AFP

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In conversations Tripp, 70, secretly recorded, Lewinsky said the two had had sex on numerous occasions and that she had saved a blue dress she wore during one that still had stains of Clinton’s semen on it.

Tripp then took the recordings to independent prosecutor Ken Starr, who used them to expand a separate investigation of Clinton.

Clinton at first denied the relationship, declaring from the White House: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”

But Tripp’s recordings and the blue dress she urged Lewinsky to save as an “insurance policy” blew the case open.

Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, pictured in 1999. Picture: AP

In 1988, Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives and placed on trial in the Senate for lying and obstruction of justice. He was acquitted.

The affair made Tripp a villain to Democrats and Clinton supporters, but a minor hero to Republicans.

Tripp said in a 1999 interview, on the day of Clinton’s acquittal, that she had no regrets despite having received numerous threats.

In this photo taken on March 5, 1999 former US President Bill Clinton pauses a moment while being asked about former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Picture: AFP

Then-US President Bill Clinton with his wife, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, in Washington circa 1999. Picture: AP

“The public has no clue … absolutely no idea what Monica endured,” she told NBC.

“It was worth it to me to do what I considered to be my patriotic duty.”

She was later forced from her job, in which she was a political appointee, when Clinton left office in January 2001.

After that she moved to Middleburg, Virginia where she operated a Christmas store, The Christmas Sleigh, with her second husband Dieter Rausch.

Lewinsky, who made clear at the time that she felt deeply betrayed, tweeted earlier Wednesday about Tripp after news emerged that she was severely ill.

Ms Tripp pictured during press conference outside the federal court in Washington. Picture: AP

Linda Tripp, who secretly taped conversations with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky, seen in Washington in 1998. Picture: AFP

“No matter the past, upon hearing that Linda Tripp is very seriously ill, I hope for her recovery. I can’t imagine how difficult this is for her family.”

In August 1994, Tripp became a public affairs specialist at the Pentagon, where Lewinsky worked after being a White House intern. The two reportedly became friends.

Tripp made secret tapes of conversations with Lewinsky, who told her she had had an affair with Clinton.

Tripp turned almost 20 hours of tapes over to Kenneth Starr, the independent prosecutor investigating the president, prompting the investigation that led to his impeachment.

As news broke Wednesday that Tripp was near death, Lewinsky tweeted that she hoped for her recovery “no matter the past.”

Originally published as Linda Tripp, whose tapes exposed the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky scandal, has died