Interns and congressional staff forwarded to email throughout Washington D.C. and the rest of the nation. The email spread quickly over the Internet, eventually finding a spot in the national media spotlight and in College lore.
After the senator's staff learned of the email, Tripplehorn was dismissed, according to The Washington Post. "As soon as it was brought to the attention of our internship coordinator, they had a very frank discussion, and he was dismissed," Kevin Schweers, a representative of Hutchinson's office, told The Post.
Just weeks after Tripplehorn sent the email, quotations and commentary were posted on various websites and the entirety of the email was posted on NOTE's Planworld. The full email can currently be found on many unofficial websites, including snopes.com.
Beyond its cruelty, Tripplehorn's email is memorable due to numerous spelling and typographical errors.
The subject of the email is "you suck." Tripplehorn begins by writing, "I was planning on ruining your career by making phone calls to all of my parents [sic] friends and have you blackballed from the workplace as well as every prestigous [sic] law school in the country."
Tripplehorn goes on to write "I don't even have to tell you why [I have so little respect for you] because in my very accurate analysis that most [sic] everyone else agrees with, if you were to agree with my analysis about your character than [sic] my whole entire analysis would be wrong."
He continues, chiding Michele about her ego, and finally signs the email "from your intellectual, moral, social, and emotional superior."
Although Russell Kornblith '06, who spent the summer interning in a Washington D.C. politician's office, first saw the email when Andre Deckrow '06 sent him a copy, he also saw it in the context of work. "The email definitely circulated around my office for a few laughs," Kornblith said. "People especially liked the spelling mistakes," he added.
According to The Post, after leaving Hutchinson's office Tripplehorn initially denied that he was fired. He found another position and finished the summer as an intern in the office of an unidentified Republican House member, according to The Post.
"What I did was wrong," Tripplehorn told The Post. "The only purpose of it was to make this girl irritated and push her buttons."
According to the University of Virginia website, Tripplehorn is currently enrolled at the university.
"All of the folks that I have met over the past few years in Washington approached me with the news of the Tripplehorn email and asked if I knew him care of our college connection," said Theodore Hertzberg '04. " I was relieved to tell them what [Post columnist] Lloyd Grove would not, that 'Tripplehorn decided to transfer to UVA and is no longer among us.'"