Former US President, Bill Clinton says he doesn't owe Monica Lewinsky a personal apology, saying his "apology was public”. Bill Clinton, 71, has been
Former US President, Bill Clinton says he doesn’t owe Monica Lewinsky a personal apology, saying his “apology was public”. Bill Clinton, 71, has been facing fresh criticism for the 1998 affair with then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky, a scandal that led to his impeachment due to his denial of the relationship. In an interview earlier on, he was asked about the scrutiny in the wake of the #MeToo movement, saying he’s never reached out to Lewinsky who was just 22 at the time of the affair – and doesn’t owe her a personal apology.
“No, I do not — I have never talked to her. But I did say publicly on more than one occasion that I was sorry. That’s very different. The apology is public,” Bill Clinton said
That apology took place at a National Prayer Breakfast in 1998 when Clinton confessed he had “sinned.”
“I don’t think there is a fancy way to say that I have sinned. It is important to me that everybody who has been hurt know that the sorrow I feel is genuine first and most important, my family, also my friends, my staff, my Cabinet, Monica Lewinsky and her family, and the American people,” he said.
When pressed about why he hadn’t reached out to Lewinsky personally, Clinton sais, “this was litigated 20 years ago. Two-thirds of the American people sided with me.”
The Lewinsky scandal wasn’t the only accusation made against Clinton during his time in office, with Paula Jones initiating a sexual harassment lawsuit against him in 1994. In addition to this, Gennifer Flowers accused him of having an extra-marital sexual encounter with her 1992. Clinton was then accused of groping Kathleen Willey in 1998 and was accused of rape of Juanita Broaddrick in 1978. He was also accused of having an extra-marital affair with Elizabeth Gracen in 1982.
In a recent essay for Vanity Fair, Lewinsky, now 44, said it’s only now, in the wake of the #metoo movement, that she is fully comprehending her experience in the White House.
“Now, at 44, I’m beginning (just beginning) to consider the implications of power differentials that were so vast between a president and a White House intern. I’m beginning to entertain the notion that in such a circumstance the idea of consent might well be rendered moot,” she wrote.
