Flowers' Suit Vs. Clinton Proceeds

(CBS/AP)  It has been more than a decade since Gennifer Flowers made national headlines claiming she had an affair with Bill Clinton when he was the governor of Arkansas.

Now a federal judge has ruled that Flowers can move ahead with a lawsuit that accuses Hillary Rodham Clinton and others of trying to discredit her during the 1992 presidential campaign.

The allegation names Mrs. Clinton, now a Democratic U.S. senator from New York, former presidential aide George Stephanopoulos and James Carville, former campaign strategist for former President Clinton.

U.S. District Judge Philip Pro's order, issued Monday, dismissed defamation claims against Clinton.

Flowers and her attorney Larry Klayman appeared Thursday on CBS' The Early Show.

"I want my day in court," Flowers said. "Unfortunately it's not a criminal court. I believe that it should be, but I want my day in court to prove once and for all. I mean, I know in my heart of hearts that I deserve the justice that every American citizen deserves. I want my day in court."

Sen. Clinton and her lawyer, David Kendall, could not immediately be reached Wednesday for comment.

Flowers' lawsuit stems from her claim during the 1992 presidential race that she and President Clinton had an affair while Mr. Clinton was Arkansas governor.

When the presidential candidate denied it, Flowers held a news conference to play audiotapes that she said were of secretly recorded intimate phone calls between them.

The lawsuit alleges that Mrs. Clinton directed Stephanopoulos and Carville to discredit Flowers.

Carville, now on CNN's "Crossfire," and Stephanopoulos, now an anchor on ABC's Sunday morning program "This Week," said that Flowers had doctored the tapes.

Said Flowers' attorney Klayman: "They made statements about these audiotapes, everybody heard them, that Gennifer had doctored the evidence. Now we now know, because Bill Clinton admitted the affair with Gennifer Flowers, that that was false. And that harmed her reputation. It was calling her a liar and it had a detrimental effect, and so there are large damages here."

Klayman added, "It's interesting that she (Hillary Clinton) didn't write about it in her new book 'Living History'. It's more like avoiding history, she didn't want to talk about it."