The Hustler
I was the guest columnist for the Oppo File newsletter in June 2024. This post originally appeared in the newsletter on June 11, 2024.
The day Larry Flynt took control of the House
Plot Twist
On the morning of Saturday, December 19, 1998, I waited outside the National Gallery of Art in DC to meet some friends and see the Van Gogh exhibit. Like a totally normal, well-adjusted person, I brought my Walkman so I could listen to the House floor debate on the articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton on C-SPAN Radio (WCSP, 90.1 on your FM dial).
This moment was the culmination of a bizarre year for me. I had graduated from Clemson the previous December and started on my first campaign, a primary for a congressional seat in upstate South Carolina. A few weeks later, the Drudge Report broke what became the Monica Lewinsky scandal. After losing that primary that spring, I moved to DC on July 24, 1998, the day of the Capitol shooting. Now, five months later, the President of the United States was on the brink of impeachment.
I tuned in as the House began the debate. Around 9:34 AM, Speaker-Designate Bob Livingston (R-LA) began to speak. His remarks were what you'd expect from a member of leadership, lamenting the bitter divisions the impeachment created, recognizing the solemnity of the process, and addressing the seriousness of the accusations. Then, they took an unexpected turn. Ten minutes after he began speaking, Livingston announced he would not stand for Speaker and would resign from the House. I blurted out to my friends, "HOLY [EXPLETIVE DELETED], LIVINGSTON JUST RESIGNED!" How the hell did we get to this plot twist?
Larry Flynt. Photo Credit: Glenn Francis
Opportunity Strikes
I was still a DC newbie and had only worked on the Senate side as an opposition researcher, so I honestly didn't know much about Livingston specifically or the House in general, even though it later became my favorite place. Most Americans didn't know anything about Livingston either, which made this time the perfect opportunity to strike. It's always best to be the first person to define something or someone.
I wondered if what brought Livingston down was the kind of thing I could expect to dig up in a career as an opposition researcher. Two days before he announced his resignation, Livingston confessed in a public statement to having affairs:
Incoming House Speaker Bob Livingston acknowledged Thursday night he had been unfaithful to his wife, telling stunned fellow Republicans he had "on occasion strayed from my marriage."
Livingston was tipped off by a Louisiana political associate that Hustler publisher Larry Flynt had four women come forward alleging affairs. Flynt said the women's accounts were verified and would be published soon. He added that Hustler was also investigating allegations of infidelity by a dozen members of Congress and senior government officials.
As the Lewinsky scandal unfolded and impeachment loomed, Flynt, offended by the hypocrisy at play, staked a $1 million bounty for evidence of infidelity or sexual impropriety by members of Congress. He hired private investigators to verify the rumors that came in. Hustler's editor said the magazine received more than 2,000 allegations. Investigative journalist and licensed private investigator Dan Moldea recounted his work chasing down rumored affairs for Flynt in his memoir — and made a point of noting that he ended his involvement on January 22, 1999, after Senator Robert Byrd announced that he would propose a motion to dismiss the charges against the President, signaling the Senate's eventual acquittal.
In late 1998, after leaving office, Livingston told The New York Times he couldn't believe that he was taken out by the likes of Larry Flynt:
"I guess I didn't think of the impact of a million bucks," Mr. Livingston rued today. "I just can't believe that somebody would do that to me. Welcome to the big leagues. Welcome to the big world. Welcome to the world of Larry Flynt."
Rumor Mill
Every campaign I've worked on has had rumors come to it unsolicited. They are often unconfirmable. Or if you tried to confirm them, you'd get the campaign's fingerprints on it. Furthermore, researchers want solid, confirmable, documented, citable information, which is rarely discoverable in these situations.
There have only been a few occasions when I spoke to someone making an allegation and felt they were reliable enough to put my reputation on the line by connecting them to a reporter who could give it the credibility and appropriate scrutiny it would need. Generally, this sort of thing is more in the realm of private investigators, who are more comfortable pushing the envelope, wading into the territory of "dumpster diving" that people often erroneously associate with opposition research.
Following his successful takedown of Livingston, Flynt continued to offer bounties for information on politicians he didn't like. In 2007, Flynt took credit for exposing Sen. David Vitter's (R-LA) association with sex workers. In 2017, he offered $10 million for information that would lead to the impeachment of President Donald Trump. Flynt died in 2021.
Livingston called Flynt a "bottom feeder," a label Flynt embraced in a 2007 Esquire interview:
"Bob Livingston told the New York Times that I was a bottom feeder. That's true. But when I got down there, look what I found."
Several years after the Lewinsky scandal, when I was a House staffer, and Livingston was a very successful lobbyist (which he still is to this day), I witnessed members greeting Livingston happily and addressing him as "Mr. Speaker." I always wondered if that stung — or if a prosperous second career more than made up the difference from what could've been, were it not for Larry Flynt.