Former President Bill Clinton became frustrated and somewhat defensive during an interview with NBC’s Craig Melvin, who asked the former President pointed questions about the Monica Lewinsky affair for the first time since the launch of the “#metoo” movement.
In the interview that aired Monday, Clinton said he “did the right thing,” but admitted that he had never personally apologized to Lewinsky — “I have not talked to her,” he said — though he did publicly apologize to her and her family at the time. He also said that considering the way his investigation was handled President Donald Trump’s improprieties are not being given the “coverage you would expect.”
He said he “felt terrible” about the affair back then and has come “to grips with it.”
“Nobody believes I got out of that for free,” he said. “I left the White House 16 million dollars in debt.”
Clinton grew defensive when Melvin asked him to review the case against him in light of the current “#metoo” movement, referencing an essay Lewinsky penned in Vanity Fair earlier this year, suggesting Clinton may have abused his power to his advantage.
Clinton said that Melvin and others in the media are “giving one side” and “omitting facts” about the affair that led to his impeachment. He said he was right in fighting the impeachment proceedings because the facts of his investigation don’t fall in to the same category as other cases that have been spawned by the “#metoo” movement.
“A lot of the facts have been conveniently omitted to make the story work, I think partly because they were frustrated that they got all these serious allegations against the current occupant of the Oval Office,” Clinton told NBC. “And his voters don’t seem to care.”
“Do you think President Kennedy should have resigned? Do you believe President Johnson should have resigned? Somebody should ask you these questions because of the way you formulate the questions,” Clinton told Melvin. “I dealt with it 20 years ago plus and the American people, two-thirds of them stayed with me and I’ve tried to do a good job since then with my life and my work since then and that’s all I have to say to you.”
Watch a clip of the interview below:
I will admit that I was angry with Bill Clinton when he confessed to the world about his affair with Lewinsky. Having said that, there are major differences between what he went through then vs. what is going on now with the investigation with Trump.
The investigation started with Whitewater. Since they couldn’t find anything to make a case against Clinton, they decided that he “lied” to special counsel, which is what brought up the impeachment charges against Clinton.
Clinton managed to keep his mouth shut during the investigation, while Trump keeps tweeting about his, which only makes him more guilty in the eyes of the general public.
As bad as what Clinton did, it didn’t amount to treason (consorting with a foreign country to derail an election).
I know the MSM is making a big deal of this on twitter, but I had no problem with Clinton’s answers. Consensual affairs should not be a part of the #metoo discussion. He publicly apologized to Lewinsky. He didn’t need to privately discuss anything with her. The affair was just that, an affair. Starr tried to criminalize it and was wrong to do so.
What the fuck does an affair between two consenting adults have to do with #metoo? I remember some of the details of the affair and how it began. Monica said she was the aggressor, I remember her talking about a time when she hiked up the back of her suit jacket to expose her thong to him. She was a willing participant, and I hate that a consensual affair is being lumped into sexual abuse and harassment and treated as if they’re all the same. It’s not. Both Clinton and Monica were wrong to have gotten involved while he was married, but it’s ridiculous and frankly a little demeaning to women to suggest she was a victim. The only victims in that whole mess we’re Hillary and Chelsea and Monica’s parents.
This, millions times.
Why in the name of the good Christ is there a freaking article about Bill Clinton and Monika Lewinsky on TPM?
This is news- 20 goddam years ago.