Former President Bill Clinton insists he “defended the Constitution” by refusing to resign and choosing to fight his impeachment two decades ago.
Clinton, who faced impeachment counts of perjury and obstruction of justice in 1998-1999 after an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, said he wouldn’t do anything differently if he had faced the same charges and situation today in the “#MeToo” era.
The former president made his remarks in an interview that aired Monday on NBC’s “Today” show.
“If the facts were the same today, I wouldn’t,” Clinton said in response to a question from interviewer Craig Melvin about whether he would have “approached the accusations differently” if he faced them today.
“I think I did the right thing,” Clinton said. “I defended the Constitution.”
Clinton revealed in the interview that he never privately apologized to Lewinsky, or even spoken to her since, about the affair. He said he doesn’t think he owes her a private apology, but noted that he had publicly apologized to Lewinsky and “everybody in the world.”
Lewinsky penned a Vanity Fair essay in March in which she said the #MeToo movement was making her “consider the implications of the power differentials that were so vast between a president and a White House intern.”
The #MeToo movement is a social media trend that began in October 2017, in which women detail alleged instances of sexual harassment and assault.
“I’m beginning to entertain the notion that in such a circumstance, the idea of consent might well be rendered moot,” Lewinsky wrote.
Clinton’s interview with Melvin was part of the former president’s promotional tour for a new book he co-authored with renowned author James Patterson titled “The President is Missing.”
Clinton hinted that the reason the Lewinsky case was getting brought up again might be because people are “frustrated that they got all these serious allegations against the current occupant of the Oval Office and his voters don’t seem to care.” That was a reference to several allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against President Donald Trump.
