

Former President Bill Clinton speaks to a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors at the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Ark., Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)

The Clinton Presidential Library released nearly 10,000 pages of documents from Bill Clinton's presidency today. It's the seventh batch of correspondence the library has released this year.

The Washington Post is digging through the documents, which include information about Monica Lewinsky, Whitewater and more. Here are some tidbits -- keep checking back as we continue to update this afternoon.

Keith Olbermann apologized to Clinton for his coverage of the Monica Lewinsky scandal

In an email, a White House staffer wrote that Keith Olbermann, who was an MSNBC anchor at the time, wrote to the White House to apologize for "whatever part I may have played in perpetuating this ceaseless coverage (of the Lewinsky story) .... I'll be heading back to my previous career in sports as quickly as possible ...."

The staffer asked a colleague to look at the "generic text for support letters" that they planned to send to Olbermann and whether it was "sufficient or should we be saying more (or less) to him?" The staffer said the note would be making its way to Clinton. The draft said:

"Dear Keith: ·

Thanks so much for your kind message. I've been touched by the many expressions of.encouragement and support I have received from friends across the country.

I'm grateful you got in touch with me, and I send you my very best wishes.

Sincerely, POTUS"

Olbermann ended up resigning from MSNBC in part because of the network's continuing coverage of the scandal.

"The Justice Department has stopped working on the terrorism question."

The documents show that in the wake of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995, top administration officials gave serious consideration to asking Congress to pass new laws outlawing or otherwise regulating participation in paramilitary organizations. They include a May 1995 memo written by the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel offering a legal analysis about what kind of paramilitary regulations could pass constitutional muster. The memo, produced about six weeks after the bombing, indicates that the lawyers believed legislation requiring private militia groups to register with the government or otherwise restricting their activities would likely be constitutional. However, they concluded it would likely be unconstitutional to require such groups to turn over to the government lists of individuals who belonged or contributed financially. The documents appear to indicate significant internal dissension about the political and practical advisability of seeking federal action to curb militia activity. A second May 1995 memo from White House Counsel Abner Mikva and other lawyers addressed to White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta and Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes indicated that White House Counsel and Justice lawyers were united in their belief that it would be a "serious mistake" to impose new restrictions on militia groups, even if legally allowable. " The most·likely effect of the proposed controls would be to greatly increase fears about government encroachment on individual freedom and thus, paradoxically, to fuel public sympathy for militia organizations," they wrote.

One month after OK City bombing, DOJ taking orders from Clinton White House on regulation of paramilitary groups. pic.twitter.com/gxIFZqgPSe — Brianna Keilar (@brikeilarcnn) October 10, 2014

"Politics, baby!!!!!" Clinton staffers were sent an excerpt of Tom Joyner's radio show, where he talked about how Lewinsky is in debt and made a crude reference to how she should pay them off. Robert B. Johnson, director of a domestic policy initiative, wrote back. "I find some things said on his show distasteful too. BUT, Tom has proven to be on our side when it counts. I would not be too hasty to pull the plug. He needs to be kept engaged for our message and for GORE. Politics baby!!!!!"

Aide on Clinton: "even if I didn't have sex with that woman ... she would tell everyone we did."

Bill Clinton to aide: Even if I didn't have sex with that woman (Miss Lewinsky), she would tell everyone we did. pic.twitter.com/bCmBTcUn4X — Gregory Korte (@gregorykorte) October 10, 2014

Clinton almost selected an Arkansas judge for the Supreme Court

The new documents show just how close Clinton came to selecting Richard S. Arnold, a respected federal appeals court judge from Arkansas, to a vacancy on the Supreme Court -- before deciding to eliminate his name from contention because Arnold had recently been diagnosed with lymphoma. Clinton had indicated in his memoirs that he had been prepared to choose Arnold. The new documents show that staff had gone so far as to write a draft of a speech announcing the selection. "Judge Arnold, without dispute, is one of the outstanding jurists of our age," Clinton would have said in announcing his choice. Instead, Clinton chose Stephen Breyer for the court. The documents show that his staff fretted that he had been hurt politically in the disabled community for making the choice for reasons that "appeared to violate ADA." Arnold died in 2004.

On presidential pardons

Friday's release included a handful of documents related to presidential pardons during the Clinton administration. They provide little new insight into Clinton's process, including his controversial decision to pardon Marc Rich, the fugitive financier and Clinton donor. But they provide some sense of the kind of high powered lobbying took place on behalf of Rich and others. A note from Rich's lawyer Jack Quinn to White House Counsel Bruce Lindsey indicated that then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak had pressed Clinton about Rich. The files also include a letter from former President Jimmy Carter, urging Clinton to commute federal death sentences for two inmates then scheduled to be the first federal executions since 1963. One was ultimately executed while the other remains on death row.

"Huckabee hates" Clinton

"Huckabee hates BC & is planning a Senate race against Lincoln. He needs a *quick*/warm response" pic.twitter.com/9KGGf60ChK — Rebecca Sinderbrand (@sinderbrand) October 10, 2014

Interview prep

Clinton WH preparing for a @NewsHour interview anticipates Lewinsky questions from @MargaretWarner pic.twitter.com/Q1NqedIxTH — Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) October 10, 2014

On the White House being like "the hottest woman (or man) you've ever seen"

From a farewell email from speechwriter Lowell Weiss:

"It has been said, accurately I think, that working in the White House is like dating the hottest woman (or man) you've ever seen. You know the relationship can't last. You know it's not healthy for you. But man, it's hard to give up."

A "serious mistake"

The White House put together a very lengthy set of talking points to push back against a report put out by Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel who investigated the Lewinsky affair.

"The President has acknowledged a serious mistake, an inappropriate relationship with Monica Lewinsky. He has taken responsibility for his actions, and he has apologized to the country, to his friends, leaders of his party, the cabinet and most importantly, his family," they said. "This private mistake does not amount to an impeachable action."

"There cannot be more than one President-elect"

11/22/2000 (and here come the recount flashbacks): "...there cannot be more than one 'President-elect'" pic.twitter.com/mLNi9CI9jb — Rebecca Sinderbrand (@sinderbrand) October 10, 2014

Gays and lesbians in the military

A Department of Justice memo details concerns over litigation risks related to “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” It shines light on the administration’s legal priorities as they crafted the policy. Throughout the memo there’s an emphasis on ensuring the policy is not directed at “orientation alone” but instead on “conduct.” There is also a sharp focus on how the policy should define homosexuality for the purpose of enforcement. The office of the assistant attorney general, Stuart Schiffer, noted that a policy that relied heavily on “admission” would “raise serious questions about whether the restriction is unrelated to the suppression of free speech.” The memo reads: “We believe that this would increase the possibility that some courts might invalidate the policy on the grounds that the military is attempting to proscribe orientation, not conduct.”

"Don't show a sense of bitterness"

A briefing paper gave the Clintons advice on how to handle questions about the Whitewater real estate scandal.

"You must be relaxed and forthcoming. Don't show a sense of bitterness, righteous indignation or anger because it can look defensive. Remember to stay above the fray," Begala wrote. "Most.important point to stress is the "we have nothing to hide; we are fully complying with an independent investigation."

The paper suggested that if asked about the suicide of White House deputy counsel Vince Foster, who was embroiled in the scandal to say something to the effect of: "Suicide is an irrational act. If you try to apply reason to it, you will be frustrated. We were all heartbroken by his loss~ In fact many of us have been reading about depression

so that we can try and gain some sort of understanding as to why Vince did what he did. Sadly, I guess there will always be questions surrounding a suicide -- especially of someone who worked in the White House."

The toll of the Lewinsky scandal

This passage was handwritten on a memo Clinton adviser Paul Begala had sent to senior White House aide John Podesta.

Cilnton-Gore rivalry?

There are some hints of office rivalry between President Clinton and Veep Al Gore. An email between Office of National AIDS Policy director Sandra Thurman and LGBT activist David Mixner briefly lays out some of the politics of vice-presidential event planning: “We had a chat with the VP's folk[s] yesterday and they are very enthusiastic about doing the event. However, they are less inclined to do it with the President since whether we like it or not, if the President is in attendance it appears as a ‘Presidential’ event,’” she writes. “That means we would have to hold the event in room 450 and have the reception in the Indian Treaty room (which isn't bad). Does that sound OK to you?”

Anger at Jimmy Carter

The White House was not pleased with former President Jimmy Carter, who called for an investigation into the U.S. bombing of a factory in Sudan in retaliation for the bombing of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

In an email with the subject line, "Oh yeah, Carter's on the case ...," Steven Simon, senior director for counterterrorism, and Philip Bobbitt, a senior director at the National Security Council, said Carter "didn't have full information."

"Carter is not persuadable. His comments are over the top, no?" Simon wrote.

Elena Kagan wasn't above using curse words in correspondence

The documents show that Elena Kagan, now an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, was not above using salty language in communications with fellow Clinton administration officials while serving in the White House.

In May 1996, when she was associate White House Counsel, Kagan wrote an email to her boss Jack Quinn apologizing for having messed up in some issue involving a television appearance by a colleague. (The exact nature of the confusion is not completely clear from her email.) But Kagan clearly thought she had made a misstep.

"I realize now that I may have really f----- up in not mentioning to you that she spoke to me this morning to find out what the situation was. "

"God, do I feel like an idiot," she added.​

In separate pieces of correspondence, Kagan mentioned the name of a Washington lawyer - John Roberts, now the chief justice of the Supreme Court.

The documents also show Kagan's involvement in the ongoing sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Paula Jones against the president. For instance, in one 1996 memo, she advises against asking the Supreme Court to delay further action on the case. She wrote that the court "may decide the President is trying to manipulate the system -- that he is seeking added time not for the stated reasons (to bring new lawyers up to speed, etc.), but for the political purpose of trying to delay the litigation until after the election."

She added that if the president were to ask the court for additional time, "his action may appear devious, unseemly, even desperate."

Lewinsky, the drinking game

The subject of an email that was left out of the document dump? "Monica drinking game."

"Like riding a roller coaster in a hurricane"

Ira Magaziner, head of Clinton's Health Care Task Force, wrote to President and Hillary Clinton that "the health care effort is going to be like riding a roller

coaster in a hurricane."

"If we are well organized, persistent and "fight like hell It every day for the next nine months, we will succeed," he wrote. They did not.

The White House requires mundane tasks too