posted on March 9, 2001 09:07:31 PM new
"JOHN NEWCOMBE, the Australian tennis star who was in the car when George W Bush was arrested for drink-driving in 1976, speaks for the first time about the incident in the Telegraph today. Newcombe says he knew that the man elected president last November had lived with the knowledge that his conviction in Maine 24 years ago might ruin his political career. The three-times winner of Wimbledon describes how he and his wife, Angie, went with the 30-year-old Mr Bush to a bar in Kennebunkport, Maine, near the home of former President George Bush, who was then the director of the CIA. They had about six beers, Newcombe said: [The report
of the interview reads, "So how many beers did Bush have, John? 'Oh, six, I guess.'"] "Then, Angie and I got in the car and George started to drive very slowly up that road. I think the local cop was waiting on that road for people to leave the pub. "He had George get out and walk up and down. When George failed the test, the cop put him under arrest and George was very co-operative. But, boy, that cop looked really nervous when he realised that he picked up the son of the CIA director.
"Newcombe says he had never been asked to remain silent but that he had gone to ground when the story broke only five days before the presidential election. 'Nobody found me. I guess I could have become the next Monica, but I kept my mouth shut." --Ben Fenton, 3/9/01
