Gennifer Flowers Might Be At The Debate

What began as a seemingly idle threat by Donald Trump is now apparently a legitimate possibility. Gennifer Flowers accepted Trump's presidential debate invitation, meaning Bill Clinton's former mistress may end up being in attendance during the highly anticipated event. And, as Trump requested, she could be sitting in the front row, right below Hillary Clinton. Update: On Sunday, vice presidential candidate Mike Pence told Fox News' Chris Wallace that Flowers won't be at the debate, despite her tweeting that she would be. Pence said Trump's original tweet inviting her was "actually mocking effort by Hillary Clinton and her campaign to distract voters."

Flowers tweeted approvingly about the invitation, which Trump extended after it was reported that high-profile billionaire and Clinton supporter Mark Cuban would get a front-row seat as the former secretary of state's guest.

However, there hasn't yet been any confirmation of this by the Trump campaign, and that's worth keeping in mind. Considering the somewhat scattershot approach Trump takes to his threats and barbs on social media, and the short time frame in which this all took place — he first tweeted about seating Flowers at the debate just hours before Flowers appeared to accept — there's no guarantee he actually meant it to go this far. In other words, it's not yet clear whether this will actually happen, although it is clear that Flowers wants it to. Regardless what she wants, I'm not sure she can technically just show up at the debate, especially from a lofty Twitter invite. In any case, Trump is clearly not ready to pivot his campaign ahead of the general election.

Flowers, 66, burst onto the national scene during then-Gov. Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign for president, when she publicly claimed that they'd had an affair. He initially denied her claims on an episode of CBS news program 60 Minutes, but similar to subsequent revelations of infidelity with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, he ultimately ended up having to come clean. He testified in a 1998 deposition to having had a sexual encounter with her, saying that it only happened once, in 1977.

None of that, of course, is particularly relevant to a presidential debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton, nor is it particularly presidential to extend an invitation to your opponent's spouse's ex-lover. And yet, that seems to be the latest grisly phase of the campaign.

For what it's worth, however, it's unlikely you'll be aware of Flowers' presence even if she does get that front-row seat — presidential debates aren't the kind of oft-sensationalized, slickly produced TV events the primary debates are, and audience reaction is disallowed. As such, you can rest assured that the actual event will chug along without a hitch, one way or the other.