--- title: Clinton Docs: New Document Reveals Origins of Hillary Clinton Phrase description: The decades-old documents seek to get to the bottom of what then-First Lady Hillary Clinton once called a “vast right-wing conspiracy” canonical: https://time.com/68537/unsealed-clinton-docs-shed-light-on-vast-right-wing-conspiracy/ author: Denver Nicks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-18T19:09:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:47:51.455Z article:section: Politics og:title: Clinton Docs: New Document Reveals Origins of Hillary Clinton Phrase og:description: The decades-old documents seek to get to the bottom of what then-First Lady Hillary Clinton once called a “vast right-wing conspiracy” og:url: https://time.com/68537/unsealed-clinton-docs-shed-light-on-vast-right-wing-conspiracy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6837006e2d890bc8/69868b5ce53aba60874d2242/rtr3kskj-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Former U.S. Secretary of State Clinton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Clinton Docs: New Document Reveals Origins of Hillary Clinton Phrase twitter:description: The decades-old documents seek to get to the bottom of what then-First Lady Hillary Clinton once called a “vast right-wing conspiracy” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6837006e2d890bc8/69868b5ce53aba60874d2242/rtr3kskj-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Unsealed Clinton Docs Shed Light on 'Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Apr 18, 2014 7:09 PM UTC  Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks to members of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries in Las Vegas, Nev., April 10, 2014. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks to members of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries in Las Vegas, Nev., April 10, 2014. Steve Marcus—Reuters  by [Denver Nicks](https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Apr 18, 2014 7:09 PM UTC The National Archives released a fresh batch of newly unsealed Clinton administration documents Friday, including [one](http://www.clintonlibrary.gov/assets/storage/Research%20-%20Digital%20Library/formerlywithheld/batch4/2007-0080-F.pdf) that may shed some light on the origins of Hillary Clinton’s famous description of a “vast right-wing conspiracy” targeting her husband. In 1998, then-First Lady Hillary Clinton came to the defense of Bill by decrying what she described as a “vast right-wing conspiracy” to drum up imagined White House scandals. She was mocked by conservatives for her use of the phrase as the Monica Lewinsky scandal unfolded. The newly-released, undated document—which comes from [thousands of Clinton-era documents whose disclosures are being closely watched](http://time.com/10794/hillary-clinton-2016-bill-library-documents/) for any impact they could have on a possible 2016 presidential campaign by Hillary Clinton—comes from the office of Jane Sherburnem. She served as special counsel to the Clintons from 1995 to 1997 and quarterbacked the administration’s response to a spate of ethics investigations and accusations of impropriety that originated in the conservative press. “The controversy surrounding the death of Vince Foster \[a longtime Clinton confidant whose suicide fueled right-wing speculation for years\] has been, in large part, the product of a well-financed right-wing conspiracy industry operation,” the document says. It goes on to describe the “Wizard of Oz” role played by Richard Mellon Scaife, a billionaire who funded numerous conservative and anti-Clinton organizations. Elsewhere, the document seeks to track the origins of right-wing accusations against the Clintons from fringe political newsletters to the mainstream media, often through what was still then a new and exciting form of communication. “The right wing has seized upon the internet as a means of communication its ideas to people,” the document says. “Moreover, evidence exists that Republican staffers surf the internet, interacting with extremists in order to exchange ideas and information.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/68537/unsealed-clinton-docs-shed-light-on-vast-right-wing-conspiracy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/68537/unsealed-clinton-docs-shed-light-on-vast-right-wing-conspiracy/"},"headline":"Unsealed Clinton Docs Shed Light on 'Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy'","datePublished":"2014-04-18T19:09:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:47:51.455Z","description":"Decades-old documents released by the National Archives detail the administration's efforts to get to the bottom of what then-first lady Hillary Clinton once called a “vast right-wing conspiracy” to discredit her husband’s presidency","url":"https://time.com/68537/unsealed-clinton-docs-shed-light-on-vast-right-wing-conspiracy/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election","Bill Clinton"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6837006e2d890bc8/69868b5ce53aba60874d2242/rtr3kskj-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6837006e2d890bc8/69868b5ce53aba60874d2242/rtr3kskj-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Former U.S. Secretary of State Clinton","caption":"Former U.S. Secretary of State Clinton speaks to members of the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries during their annual convention in Las Vegas","creditText":"Steve Marcus—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/68537/unsealed-clinton-docs-shed-light-on-vast-right-wing-conspiracy/","name":"Unsealed Clinton Docs Shed Light on 'Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy'"}}]}] ```