U.S. Ambassador’s Widow Sues Arianna Huffington for Libel

A U.S. ambassador’s widow filed a $25-million libel suit Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court against conservative columnist Arianna Huffington, saying an allegation that the widow had an affair with President Clinton was a “pernicious lie.”

Shelia Davis Lawrence also separately sued the National Enquirer for publishing what she said were false statements concerning the alleged affair.

“These vicious charges are absolutely false and unconscionable,” Lawrence said in a statement released through her lawyers.

Creators Syndicate Inc., which distributes Huffington’s columns to dozens of newspapers, was also named in the suit.

Huffington’s syndicated article in late January alleged that Lawrence had a sexual liaison with Clinton and exploited the affair to win husband M. Larry Lawrence’s appointment as U.S. ambassador to Switzerland.

Ambassador Lawrence, a former San Diego businessman, was serving as envoy in 1996 when he died. His body was removed from Arlington National Cemetery last December after news emerged that he had lied about his wartime service in the merchant marine.

Huffington, who was in Aspen, Colo., taping a TV segment Thursday, told Reuters that she had not seen the suit, but she defended her article, saying it was “thoroughly sourced.”