Clinton blasts Vanity Fair editor

WASHINGTON, June 3 (UPI) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton has lashed out at Vanity Fair national editor Todd Purdum over a story he wrote about him.

Speaking to a Huffington Post writer who didn't identify herself as a reporter and said she disliked the article when asking for his reaction, Clinton called Purdum "sleazy," MSNBC reported Tuesday.

"He's a really dishonest reporter. There's just five or six blatant lies in there. But he's a real slimy guy," the former president is quoted as saying.

In his story, Purdum reported that aides to Clinton had to stop him from meeting so many women when traveling.

When Clinton was reminded Purdum was married to his former press spokeswoman, Dee Dee Myers, Clinton said, "That's all right -- he's still a scumbag,"

Clinton's aides issued a statement saying the ex-president had been "understandably upset about an outrageously unfair article," but that the language he had used about Purdum "was inappropriate and he wishes he had not used it."