Hillary was 8220;deeply in love8221; with Vincent Foster 8212; Report

The book was published on Tuesday, the day Talk magazine hit the stands with a cover story in which Hillary explained that her husband8217;s infidelity was the result of childhood abuse.

Anderson does not say when the relationship ended, but reports that Hillary was devastated on hearing the news of Foster8217;s death in July 1995.

State troopers who guarded the Clintons when they lived in the Governor8217;s Mansion in Arkansas provide details of the affair between Hillary and Foster, who had been Clinton8217;s next door neighbour when they were growing up and a colleague of the first lady at the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock, it said.

8220;Hillary and Vince were deeply in love,8221; L D Brown, a trooper, is quoted as saying. Foster would turn up 8220;like clock work8221; at the mansion whenever Clinton was away. Often he would not leave until the next morning, he alleged.

On another occasion, in 1987, Hillary and Foster spent time together at a secluded cabin in the mountains and Brown says that she confided to him, 8220;There are some things you have to get outside your marriage that you can8217;t get in it.8221;

Foster had joined the Clinton administration at the beginning as Deputy White House Counsel and became embroiled in a number of scandals, including Nannygate, Travelgate and Whitewater. In July 1995, he was found dead from a single shot through the roof of him mouth, in his car in a wooded area close to Washington. His.38-calibre pistol was in his hand.

On being told the news, according to a member of Hillary8217;s staff quoted by Andersen, the First Lady 8220;just lost it 8212; screaming, crying. She was clearly devastated.8221;

The author says that Hillary8217;s press secretary assumed from her reaction that the President had been killed.

The death of Foster became surrounded by what Clinton8217;s former advisor, George Stephanopoulos, later called a 8220;miasma of mystery8221;.

It emerged that Hillary8217;s staff had searched Foster8217;s office and removed papers in the immediate aftermath of the discovery of his body. And six days after his death a note, torn into 28 pieces, was found at the bottom of Foster8217;s briefcase, even though the case had already been examined by the police.

In the note, Foster said he was innocent of any illegal wrongdoing and went on to complain that in Washington 8220;ruining people is considered sport8221;.

Despite many theories that Foster had either killed himself or had been murdered, a string of investigations, including one by the independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr, concluded that there was no foul play.

In a separate interview in the New Yorker this week, Webster Hubbell, the former associate attorney-general and friend of the Clintons, said that he had been asked detailed questions by Starr8217;s office about the Clintons8217; sex lives, and in particular the relationship between Hillary and Foster.

In her interview this week, Hillary said her husband8217;s adulterous behaviour was like gambling or drinking, 8220;a sin of weakness8221;, and the product of emotional 8220;abuse8221; during childhood.