(and AOL, which had hired Drudge), stemming from a false claim Drudge had made of spousal abuse, attributed only to unnamed "top GOP sources". Drudge retracted the story not long after, saying he had been given bad information. In Blumenthal v. Drudge, the court refused to dismiss Blumenthal's case for lack of personal jurisdiction. Drudge publicly apologized to the Blumenthals. Blumenthal dropped his lawsuit and eventually reached a settlement involving a nominal payment to Drudge over Blumenthal having missed a deposition. In his book The Clinton Wars, Blumenthal claimed that he was forced to settle because he could no longer financially afford the suit. Relationship with Christopher Hitchens In the mid 80s, during Blumenthal's visit at the Lehrman Institute he met fellow journalist Christopher Hitchens. Shortly thereafter Blumenthal and Hitchens developed a close relationship which included sharing dinners together, attending important family events together, and trading opinions and information. Blumenthal relationship with Hitchens deteriorated during the Impeachment of Bill Clinton. Under subpoena, Hitchens submitted an affidavit to the trial managers of the Republican Party during the impeachment of Bill Clinton, in which Hitchens swore under oath that Blumenthal had described Monica Lewinsky as a stalker. Hitchens' allegations directly contradicted Blumenthal's own sworn deposition during Clinton's impeachment trial that he never said any such thing. This in turn resulted in a hostile exchange of words between the two men, and allegations by congressional Republicans that Blumental lied under oath. Following the publication of The Clinton Wars, in which Blumenthal recounted the disagreement, Hitchens wrote several articles in which he once more accused Blumenthal of lying. At the end of his life when Hitchens was dying of cancer Blumenthal wrote to Hitchens in a letter which according to Christopher Buckley contained words of "tenderness and comfort and implicit forgiveness". Post–Clinton Administration years Published works and memoirs After the Clinton presidency, Blumenthal's book, The Clinton Wars, was published in 2003. In her review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin wrote: "Beyond his intention to set the record straight on controversies that plagued the Clinton presidency, Mr. Blumenthal has a more personal agenda. Barely mentioning others close to the Clintons, and illustrating this memoir with smiling, convivial photographs of himself in their company ... Blumenthal sends a clear message to his administration colleagues: Mom liked me best." Maslin further wrote: "The Clinton Wars means to solidify Mr. Blumenthal's place in history. He wrote