Monica Lewinsky E-Mail Omitted From Latest Batch of Clinton Documents

Monica Lewinsky during the Opening Night Party for Nigel Parry's 'Blunt Exhibition' Hosted by Men's Health, Dec. 5, 2006 at MILK Studios in New York. Image credit: RJ Capak/Getty Images

An email from Monica Lewinsky was omitted from the Clinton library's latest document dump for privacy reasons.

Every two weeks this spring, the National Archives has been releasing documents from Clinton's presidency through The William J Clinton Presidential Library & Museum in Little Rock, Ark. The documents were previously withheld under the Presidential Records Act. The library posted the latest batch online today, linking to thousands of pages of official memos and communications between aides.

Included in a list of withdrawn/redacted documents (commonly interspersed in the large .pdfs), midway through a batch of documents concerning Gen. Wesley Clark, is an email from Monica Lewinsky's Pentagon email address.

Vaguely referenced as concerning a "medical record," the omitted email is listed as four pages long. See the last item on this list:

Lewinsky email redacted from Clinton documents release. Image credit: William J Clinton Presidential Library & Museum

The recipient, Ashley Raines, is identified as a Lewinsky friend and confidante in the infamous Starr Report, produced by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr. The report would later disclose details of the Lewinsky affair and trigger a major scandal that led to Clinton's impeachment. Raines served as White House Director of Office of Policy Development Operations and Special Liaison to Management and Administration, according to the report, working in the Old Executive Office Building, next door to the White House.

In 1996, after an initial affair with the president had stopped according to the Starr report, Lewinsky described the relationship to Raines and showed her gifts allegedly given to her by Bill Clinton, including "a hat pin approximately eight inches long, an antique looking brooch the size of a half dollar, special edition copy of 'Leaves of Grass' by WALT WHITMAN, items from Martha's Vineyard with 'Black Dog' logo, including a ball cap, and a short, baggy summer dress, and an autographed photo of the two of them wishing LEWINSKY 'Happy Birthday,'" Raines told Starr's investigators, with lawyers present. Lewinsky told Raines that she had confided in Linda Tripp about her relationship with Clinton.

The email address, "mlewinsk@pagate.pa.osd.mil," matches Lewinsky's Pentagon address shown on emails included in the same Starr documents. After her presence around Clinton aroused suspicions, Lewinsky was transferred to the Pentagon.

The library omitted the Lewinsky email from its latest document release for privacy reasons, according to the code given, listing FOIA restriction code P6/b(6), which is explained in a coding chart included in the Clinton documents as "Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."

FOIA restriction codes. Image credit: William J Clinton Presidential Library & Museum

According to Lewinsky's later claims, her affair with Clinton was ongoing when this email was sent.

The email is dated 10/22/1997, a time during which Lewinsky would claim her previously ended affair with Clinton had resumed. Lewinsky would tell Raines that the affair had stopped before the two women spoke in 1996, but later she would tell Raines that the relationship resumed from early 1997 to December 1997, Raines told Starr's investigators.