The March 1998 lunch at the Occidental Grill. He said, he said:
Hitchens on Blumenthal: "I don't think I will or could ever forget the transformation...Where was my witty if sometimes cynical, clever if sometimes dogmatic, friend? In his place seemed to be someone who had gone to work for John Gotti. He talked coldly and intently of a lethal right-wing conspiracy that was slowly engulfing the capital. And he spoke, as if out of the side of a tough-guy mouth, about the women who were tools of the plot."
Blumenthal on Hitchens: ""As we ate and drank, they laughed and laughed. Tell us more, what happened then?...Hitchens roared, Carol giggled...It was impressive how anyone could be so lubricated and articulate...My mistake had been to think that he was a harmless entertainer. The surprise was that he was capable of doing harm without conscience or regret."
Hitchens, again: "I had the ability to nail the lie, and when contacted by the House Judiciary Committee, I did so nail it. And I would do it again."
Behind the Irony [Reliable Source]