The Clintons rewired a White House phone system to keep staff from snooping on them
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.
Article continues belowThe Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
You can read the full excerpt here.
