Newly-obtained court documents suggest that Gingrich DID request to divorce his (first) wife, despite his claims otherwise.

He said, she said, court papers said: On the “Answering the Attacks” section of Newt Gingrich’s website, his campaign denies the rumor that he divorced his wife when she was dying of cancer, asserting that “it was [Gingrich’s wife] that requested the divorce, not Newt.” However, court documents obtained by CNN show Newt filing for the divorce, not the other way around. A Newt spokesman responded, saying that “Newt Gingrich filed for a divorce from his wife Jackie Battley, but it was Jackie Battley who requested the divorce” (emphasis ours). But a petition filed by Battley (then Jackie Gingrich), also obtained by CNN, directly contradict this, stating: “Defendant shows that she has adequate and ample grounds for divorce, but that she does not desire one at this time.”