Government By Larry Flynt?

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

December 22, 1998 / 10:41 AM EST / CBS

Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt says House Speaker-designate Bob Livingston confessed to extramarital affairs because his magazine was about to expose the Louisiana Republican's infidelity.

Livingston shocked the nation by announcing that he was resigning from the House during the debate over President Clinton's impeachment.

Flynt thinks Livingston made a mistake by bowing out.

"I don't think he should have resigned. Having an affair is not reason enough for that. But I wasn't surprised by his resignation, because the first statement that he issued admitting an affair, but saying none of them were involved with him professionally, we knew that was untrue, based on the information we had," Flynt told CBS This Morning Co-Anchor Thalia Assuras.

In an interview with The New York Times Livingston said, " . . . if it's going to be government by Larry Flynt, the country's in trouble." But Flynt argues that the mud was already flying when he got involved.

"Ken Starr and Henry Hyde got in the mud first. I decided to jump in there with them," Flynt said. "Desperate times require desperate measures. I love Bill Clinton. I voted for him twice. He's been a great president. I'm opposed to what the Republicans are doing and the partisan efforts to remove him. I just think it's absolutely ridiculous."

Flynt took out an ad in The Washington Post that offered $1 million for information on wayward politicians. He said four women claimed to have had an affair with Livingston. But the porn publisher denied that he has targeted Republicans.

"The conventional wisdom in Washington is that with Republicans, it's always money and Democrats it's sex. But in actuality, it's the complete opposite. From the ad we ran in the Post the information that we got was - it was only one Democrat involved. All the rest were Republicans," Flynt said.

Some Republicans have voiced suspicion that Bill Clinton is behind Flynt's efforts, but the publisher denies any collusion with the White House.

"I don't take my marching orders from the White House. I ran the ad in the Washington Post only because I wanted to expose the hypocrisy in Washington in that the people on the Hill, if they are going to sit on judgment of the president, they should not have any skeletons in their closet," Flynt said.