Former Secret Service Officer Gary J. Byrne was posted outside the Oval Office during Bill Clinton’s tenure in the White House. In his new book, Crisis of Character, Byrne describes what he saw and heard in the 1990s. He says it disgusted him and he is convinced Hillary Clinton “lacks the integrity and temperament” to hold the office.

While the book will not be available in full until the 28th, a preview has been posted on Amazon containing some dramatic claims. On the first page of the introduction Byrne describes the behavior he witnessed from the First Lady:

I witnessed her obscenity-laced tirades, her shifting of blame, how she berated Vince Foster until he could stand no more, how minor incidents involving blue gloves and botched invitations sent her into a tizzy. It was like watching Humphrey Bogart in The Caine Mutiny obsessing about a quart of missing strawberries–and losing sight of the world war raging about him. I saw Hillary scheming with Dick Morris to undermine White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta. FBI agents confided in me about her emerging Filegate scandal; they were just as frustrated with Hillary’s methods as we were.

A few pages later Byrne adds that Hillary’s impending rise as the Democratic nominee made it necessary he speak out now, though he claims his motivation is not partisan:

Hillary Clinton is now poised to become the Democratic nominee for President of the United States, but she simply lacks the integrity and temperament to serve in the office. From the bottom of my soul I know this to be true. So I must speak out…

I have not written a word of this book with a political agenda. Whether the Clintons were Democrats or Republicans, I saw what I saw; I heard what I heard. Politics do not change unpleasant truths. Politicians only think they do.

Byrne adds that at the time, while he was disgusted with what he saw, he also tried to do his duty, including destroying evidence of Bill’s affairs:

I had no animosity toward the Clintons. Out of a sense of loyalty to our First Family I even secretly disposed of sordid physical evidence that might later have been used to convict the president. The blue dress wasn’t the only evidence of his misdeeds.

The first chapter of the book is titled “The Vase” and confirms a story that had long been rumored. Coming in to work Byrne could tell people were antsy. It was because of a loud argument the security staff had overheard during the night shift. The argument ended with a crash:

I peeked into the curator’s small, windowless ground-floor office across from the China Room and the Diplomatic Reception Room. It was cluttered with blueprints and history books on the every detail of the White House: fabrics, furniture, artifacts. Sure enough, there was a box containing a light blue vase smashed to bits. The rumors were true!

Byrne says he was “shocked” when President Clinton arrived for work at 9am sporting a shiner. Byrne writes, “this was a shiner, a real, live, put-a-steak-on-it black eye.” When he asked the office staff about it the president’s scheduler claimed it was a coffee allergy.

Will firsthand evidence that Hillary Clinton is an angry, even violent, person add to her existing credibility problem or will the media ignore this as old news? If I had to guess, I’d say the narrative will be similar to what Vox has written about Clinton’s email server, i.e. you don’t need to change your opinion of Hillary Clinton. How long can it be before someone at Vox or Salon argues these would be considered positive character traits if Hillary were a man?