A woman claims she had an affair with House Speaker Newt Gingrich during his first marriage, saying she's coming forward now because "he should be stopped before it's too late," Vanity Fair magazine reported. A Gingrich spokesman called the allegations "hateful."
Anne Manning, a married volunteer who says she became romantically involved with Gingrich during his failed 1976 campaign for Congress, said Gingrich took her to dinner in the spring of '77, then met her back at her hotel room.At the time, Gingrich was married to first wife, Jackie, who had been his high school geometry teacher.
Before Gingrich left the hotel, Manning said, he told her, "If you ever tell anybody about this, I'll say you're lying."
Gingrich spokesman Tony Blank-ley issued a broad denial of the article.
"It's trash, and I don't see any reason to get into hateful allegations from hateful people from 20 years ago," Blankley said.
Manning said she came forward now because she was repelled by Gingrich's stance on "family values."