Impeachment: American Crime Story episode 5, "Do You Hear What I Hear?," shows Monica Lewinsky with a romantic interest other than Bill Clinton, who happens to be a young CNN’s Jake Tapper, but did they actually date in real life? With Impeachment taking place less than 30 years ago at a time when the internet was becoming the norm, it’s not as difficult for the ACS series to accurately portray the true story of the infamous events. It also helps that practically every major player in American Crime Story season 3 is still alive and active in the larger political and societal culture today, especially the show’s star, Monica Lewinsky, who consulted on every script as a producer of the series.
American Crime Story season 3 is getting closer to the final snap of Bill Clinton’s affair being exposed to the public. It happens to be right when Impeachment producer Monica Lewinsky is trying to move on from D.C. and start a new journey in New York. After essentially calling her relationship with President Bill Clinton quits, Monica spends a near-Christmas December 1997 night at a bar in D.C., where two young political up-and-comers spot her. One of them happens to be Jake Tapper, who is today one of the most well-known political journalists. His career began in Washington D.C. and has always involved covering the current political climate, such as working for ABC News as the Senior White House Correspondent before landing the role as Lead Washington Anchor for CNN.
The show depicts Monica Lewinsky being picked up by young Jake Tapper at the bar before they decide to move to a nearby Tex-Mex restaurant for a real date. It turns out that, according to Tapper, he truly did go on a date with now Impeachment producer Monica Lewinsky just a few weeks before she became a household name in America. Right after the news broke of the Clinton sex scandal and Monica’s image became subject to a media frenzy in January 1998, Jake Tapper wrote an article entitled I Dated Monica Lewinsky (via Washington City Paper). His article was intended to redeem her image as he describes Monica as a girl he could “take home to mom,” but it controversially came off as just another guy from her past painting her in a naive light.
While the piece was notable back in 1998, it’s now finding more credibility as Jake Tapper had Monica Lewinsky on as a guest for his CNN show, where they both recalled the date that would be portrayed on American Crime Story’s season about Bill Clinton. The duo seemed to believe the date depicted in Impeachment’s episode was accurate to their one-night experience. However, Tapper mentioned he believed the actor, Chris Riggi, portraying him in the “G-rated date” was too generous in terms of attractiveness, to which Lewinsky objected (via Twitter). Just as shown in the series, Tapper’s original article detailed their meeting at a bar for a going-away party for a friend, where they left to eat at a Tex-Mex restaurant as their one and only date.
Sadly, the American Crime Story episode shows a hint of hope for Monica as she tries to move on from the toxicity of D.C. and the president, only for everything to come crashing down a few weeks later. While not necessarily indicative of a relationship, her date with Jake Tapper proved that she was leaving President Bill Clinton in the past and was getting over the idea that they could really be together and he would come back around. With FX's Impeachment: American Crime Story episode ending in Linda Tripp being wired by the Office of Independent Counsel to record her conversation with Monica, the series is getting much closer to the impending media explosion.