Bridge Partners Say Tripp Told of Recordings

Long before Linda Tripp told federal investigators about the tapes that led to President Clinton’s impeachment, her bridge partners knew she was secretly recording phone conversations with a woman named Monica who was having an affair with the president.

The bridge partners, four Columbia, Md., women, testified Wednesday in Howard County Circuit Court at a pretrial hearing in which the prosecution is trying to show that its wiretapping case against Tripp is untainted by any statements she made to independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr under a grant of immunity.

“I knew [it] before it ever came out in the newspapers,” said Patricia Mancuso, who lives near Tripp, a former White House secretary and current Pentagon employee.

Maryland law makes it a felony to record phone conversations without the consent of all parties. Tripp is charged specifically with taping a conversation with then-White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky on Dec. 22, 1997, and sharing its contents with Newsweek magazine.

State prosecutors claim Tripp began secretly taping telephone conversations with Lewinsky in violation of Maryland’s wiretap law as early as October 1997.

Tripp did not contact Starr’s office about the tapes until Jan. 12, 1998.

The other women testifying Wednesday were Ann Manwiller, Catherine Sarkis and Cynthia Haus. Legal sources have indicated that Lewinsky will testify today to help Maryland officials prove their case against Tripp.

State prosecutor Stephen Montanarelli had no comment on whether Lewinsky would appear.