President Denounces as a Lie Paper’s Story of Romantic Affair

The issue of presidential candidates and alleged extramarital affairs returned to the political campaign Tuesday, when the New York Post published claims, contained in a footnote of a book, that then-Vice President George Bush and a female aide spent a romantic night together in 1984 in a private cottage in Switzerland.

Bush angrily denied the allegation at a news conference in Kennebunkport, Me., and later in an NBC broadcast and chastised reporters who asked about it.

“It’s a lie,” he said, in response to a question from a CNN reporter.

The allegations were raised in a footnote of a book entitled “The Power House” by Susan B. Trento of Front Royal, Va. It alludes to an interview by Trento’s husband, Joseph, with the late Louis Fields, former U.S. ambassador to arms control talks in Geneva, who allegedly said he arranged for the use of the cottage.

The Times, which learned of Trento’s allegation last month from her agent, interviewed her extensively about it on July 17 and concluded there was insufficient supporting evidence to merit a news story.

Bush’s remarks at the news conference--where he was accompanied by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin--were his first public comments on the allegations.

“I haven’t responded in the past, and I think it’s--I’m outraged. But, nevertheless, in this kind of screwy climate that we’re in, why, I expect it,” Bush added. “But I don’t like it, and I’m not going to respond other than to say it’s a lie.”

In an interview for the television program “Dateline NBC,” broadcast Tuesday night, Bush again objected to questions about the allegations, telling reporter Stone Phillips: “You’re perpetuating the sleaze by even asking the question, to say nothing of asking it in the Oval Office . . . I don’t think you ought to do that and I’m not going to answer the question. . . . “

Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton, who earlier this year faced allegations of an extramarital affair, condemned the story in the New York Post.

“I didn’t like it,” he said. “I don’t think it has any place in this campaign.

“I feel for him,” he said of Bush. “I like him on a personal level. I like his wife. I just don’t think it has to be a part of this campaign.”