Bill Clinton says he does not owe Monica Lewinsky an apology in light of #MeToo movement

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Former President Bill Clinton says the #MeToo movement is overdue. But he’s bristling at questions about Monica Lewinsky. (June 4)
AP

During an interview Monday, former president Bill Clinton said he does not owe an apology to Monica Lewinsky, the woman with whom he had an infamous affair when she was a 22-year-old White House intern. 

Clinton made the remark on NBC’s Today in response to a question from host Craig Melvin about a recent op-ed from Lewinsky in which she reevaluates the question of consent in her relationship with the former president in light of the #MeToo movement. 

“Looking back on what happened then, through the lens of #MeToo now, do you think differently or feel more responsibility?” Melvin asked Clinton.

“No. I felt terrible then, and I came to grips with it,” Clinton replied.  

Melvin then asked Clinton if he had ever apologized to Lewinsky. 

“I apologized to everybody in the world,” Clinton said. 

“But you didn’t apologize to her,” Melvin said. 

“I have not talked to her,” Clinton said. 

“Do you feel like you owe her an apology,” Melvin asked.

“No, I do — I do not,” Clinton responded. “I’ve never talked to her. But I did say, publicly, on more than one occasion, that I was sorry. That’s very different. The apology was public.”

Today’s talker: Bill Clinton hasn’t learned anything from the #MeToo movement

More: Bill Clinton and James Patterson wonder if democracy can survive, in fact or fiction

Clinton also told Melvin, “Nobody believes that I got out of that for free,” in reference to the scandal, which resulted in Clinton’s impeachment and a pile of legal bills.

“I left the White House $16 million in debt. But you typically have ignored gaping facts in describing this, and I bet you don’t even know them,” Clinton told Melvin. Clinton cited his record on women’s issues when he was governor of Arkansas in response to Melvin, whom he accused of one presenting “one side” and “omitting facts.” 

Clinton said he “did the right thing” by refusing to resign because of the Lewinsky scandal. “I defended the Constitution,” he said. 

Clinton also asked Melvin if he would have called for former presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson to resign, presumably because of alleged extra-marital affairs while in office. 

“I dealt with it 20 years ago plus,” Clinton said. “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 with my work. That’s all I have to say to you.”

In the March edition of Vanity Fair, Lewinsky revealed that she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after the media firestorm sparked by the revelation of the affair in 1998. She said she had always considered the relationship consensual, but the #MeToo movement shifted her thinking on the subject. 

“Now, at 44, I’m beginning (just beginning) to consider the implications of the power differentials that were so vast between a president and a White House intern,” she wrote. “I’m beginning to entertain the notion that in such a circumstance the idea of consent might well be rendered moot. Although power imbalances—and the ability to abuse them—do exist even when the sex has been consensual.” 

“I like the MeToo movement,” Clinton said. “It’s way overdue.” But “that doesn’t mean I agree with everything,” he added. 

Clinton appeared on the Today show with novelist James Patterson, his co-author on a new thriller titled, The President is Missing. Clinton and Patterson are currently on a book tour to promote the novel. 

More: Monica Lewinsky says she was uninvited from event when Bill Clinton decided to attend

‘Stuck in the cocoon of 1998’:: Monica Lewinsky explains Bill Clinton ‘disinvitation debacle’

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