Matt Drudge, 57, founder of the Drudge Report, became a household name after reporting in 1998 that then-President Bill Clinton was intimately involved with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
That story, which led to Clinton’s impeachment, was the first of many headline stories the Drudge Report broke over the years.
The Drudge Report published what the New York Post referred to as “largely unflattering stories about Hillary Clinton” when she served as secretary of state (2008) and when she ran for president (2016).
In a podcast interview with journalist Chris Moody, Joseph Curl, a former editor of the Drudge Report, recently revealed how Matt feared reprisal from the Clintons and would often leave the country for several weeks at peak times during election cycles.
Drudge’s response to questions about his 1998 recording was captured in a CSPAN Today post.
Matt Drudge, 1998, National Press Club: "At what point does it become news. This is the undefinable thing in this current atmosphere where every reporter will be operating out of their homes on their own website…"
If you haven't watched this entire thing… it is the beginning… pic.twitter.com/SmUjRdNoq4— Justin Hart (@justin_hart) April 21, 2023
During the “Finding Matt Drudge” podcast, Curl shared that Matt feared a Clinton operative would plant cocaine in his car or do him harm as “payback” for his reporting.
Notably, dozens of people with potentially incriminating information on the Clinton family have died under mysterious circumstances. The term “suicided” was reportedly coined in connection with Clinton-related deaths that some argue were mischaracterized as suicides.
Curl said of Drudge: “He always leaves the country during election day or the election season — the weeks before the election — because he was afraid.”
The former Drudge editor added: “He said he was worried about the Clintons planting, you know, a bag of cocaine in his car, which he had parked in the parking lot there. So he would always take off and get out of the country around the election.”
Curl, who is also a former reporter with the Washington Times told Moody: “I really think he was…serious about fearing the Clintons. … He was certainly persona non grata among the Clintonistas.”
Notably, the strong right-leaning investigative reporting once associated with the Drudge Report has been absent in recent years, prompting some to ask, Where is Matt Drudge?
The question prompted creating the “Finding Matt Drudge” series.
