Ron Burkle: The Only Thing I Got Out of Bill Clinton is Friendship

Just days before this Vanity Fair piece hit the internet, causing President Bill Clinton to call its author a "sleezy" "slimy" "scumbag," supermarket magnate Ron Burkle talked with LA Weekly about his relationship and business deadlings with Clinton among other things.

RON BURKLE, THE BILLIONAIRE best friend of Bill Clinton, thinks he’s misunderstood. “It pisses me off that people think everything I do is for a return,” he complained during a rare, hourlong interview with L.A. Weekly — several days before Vanity Fair blistered him in its June 4 takedown of the former first president.

But his public image as a backroom tycoon doling out big contributions for political favors, and VF’s slams of him for his business dealings with Bill, may be the least of his problems.