Larry Flynt, publisher of the pornographic magazine Hustler, is threatening to expose another Republican politician because of what he sees as hypocrisy in the handling of President Clinton's impeachment.
Mr Flynt, a self-described "pornographer, pundit and social outcast", has been seeking dirt on anti-Clinton politicians since last year when he sought information through newspaper advertisements. On the eve of yesterday's first day of the Senate impeachment trial of President Clinton, Mr Flynt was scheming to embarrass publicly a "big fish" Republican in the House of Representatives, just as he did with Mr Bob Livingston who was forced to withdraw as probable House Speaker in succession to Mr Newt Gingrich.
Mr Flynt referred to his new target as "really a gem".
Mr Flynt said he would make the disclosure next week. He described his next victim only as a Republican House member who has been a strong critic of President Clinton over his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
Fearful politicians are already talking about being "Larry Flynted". In a new twist yesterday, Mr Flynt himself was "Flynted" by his daughter Tonya Flynt-Vega, who denounced him at a Washington press conference as "sick" man with a "severe personality disorder", being exploited by politicians.
In October, Mr Flynt ran a full-page advertisement in the Washington Post offering $1 million to anyone who "had an adulterous sexual encounter with a current member of the US Congress or a high-ranking government official" and could produce documentation of it.