LINDA TRIPP

Linda Tripp, the turncoat taper whose secret recordings of her friend’s confidences begat a presidential impeachment, is speaking out for herself these days.

Unlike Monica S. Lewinsky’s immunity agreement with independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr, Tripp’s includes no clauses requiring approval before she can grant interviews or write books. So at trial’s end, Tripp is doing the one--and still considering the other.

On Friday morning, it was the “Today” show, and on Monday night she is scheduled to appear on “Larry King Live,” although it is unclear whether she will take calls.

“She wants to give the American public a glimpse of who she is and not the caricature that the other side presented,” a source close to Tripp said. “She has been unfairly maligned.”

Maligned indeed, by everyone from President Clinton (she “betrayed her friend”) to Jay Leno (“all four of her chins were quivering”).

Stung, she lost 25 pounds and sought solace from her children and from 17,000 supporters who donated to her legal defense fund, the source said.

Publishers have approached her about writing a book, reviving the idea that originally sent her to New York literary agent Lucianne Goldberg and from there to Radio Shack.

Trouble still looms. A county grand jury in Maryland has been investigating Tripp since July for allegedly breaking the state’s law against taping others without their knowledge. The charge, a felony, carries a penalty of five years in jail or a $10,000 fine.

Meanwhile, Tripp continues to work for the Pentagon from home, writing a guide on how to produce a public affairs conference that she once coordinated herself--the job she held when she met Lewinsky. She wants her old job back; her supervisor reviews that request on the 18th of every month.

On Jan. 1, federal employees got a raise. Tripp now makes $94,034 a year.