The Clintons rewired a White House phone system to keep staff from snooping on them

(Image credit: Jamal A. Wilson/Getty Images)

published 7 April 2015

That tidbit comes from Kate Andersen Brower's new book about the Clinton White House, excerpted Tuesday in Politico.

Under the old phone system, an operator would redirect calls to the first family using simple coded rings — one for Bill, two for Hillary, three for Chelsea. But leery of eavesdropping, the Clintons "changed over to interior circuitry so that if the first lady was in the bedroom and the president was in the study she could ring him from room to room without going through the operator," according to Brower.

A bit paranoid? Perhaps. Then again, the detail comes from a book in which former White House help dish secrets on the Clinton family.