Newt Gingrich’s second comeback of the 2012 campaign may not even last 24 hours.
Marianne Gingrich — Newt’s second ex-wife — is giving her first interview since their 1999 divorce, and it promises to be explosive. ABC News has released a preview of the interview, which will air tonight on “Nightline,” in which Marianne says that Newt lacks the moral character to serve as President.
The most scandalous part of the preview is the anecdote that Newt asked Marianne for an open marriage after admitting to his six year affair with his current wife, Callista.
“And I just stared at him and he said, ‘Callista doesn’t care what I do,'” Marianne Gingrich told ABC News. “He wanted an open marriage and I refused.”
Marianne described her “shock” at Gingrich’s behavior, including how she says she learned he conducted his affair with Callista “in my bedroom in our apartment in Washington.”
“He always called me at night,” she recalled, “and always ended with ‘I love you.’ Well, she was listening.”
All this happened, she said, during the same time Gingrich condemned President Bill Clinton for his lack of moral leadership.
The interview also reveals that Newt — who famously left his first wife, Jackie, while she was being treated for cancer — moved to divorce Marianne shortly after she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.
Marianne Gingrich has claimed in the past that she could end Newt’s career with a single interview. If the rest of tonight’s interview turns out to be as provocative as the preview, she may be proven correct.
A clip from the interview is below, courtesy of ABC News:
