The federal government Monday announced it is paying Linda Tripp and her attorneys $595,000 to settle allegations that the Department of Defense violated her privacy rights when confidential information about her was disclosed during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

This was the ostensible infringement of Tripp\ufffds privacy. The government did not disclose her arrest record. The government attempted to suggest she had no arrest record. It was her step-mother who blew the whistle on her, not the government. And it was old-fashioned, factual reporting that disclosed that Tripp lied to get a top security clearance.

[...]

The CNN story in question makes a zillion mistakes, every one of them in Tripp\ufffds favor. It says she was a minor, when arrested. She was an adult. It says the government leaked information about her arrest. It did not. It says the case involved drinking \ufffd it was a grand larceny charge, which as George W. Bush, could tell you, is much more serious. They say she was never charged. She was charged in an open court with Grand Larceny, and then, in a plea agreement, she pled guilty to a reduced charge of loitering. The case was adjudicated, not dropped.

And no one until this day has ever prosecuted her or disciplined her for lying and covering up her arrest, in order to get an undeserved top security clearance. Instead, the government is paying her $600,000 despite the fact that she clearly lied about her status.