Monica Lewinsky's affair with Bill Clinton re-examined — Transcript

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1. 0:00He paid a lot of attention to me. He
2. 0:03spent time sort of standing there and
3. 0:05held my hand longer than he should have
4. 0:07and gave what others have described as
5. 0:09the full Bill Clinton. It feels as if
6. 0:11you're the only person standing there.
7. 0:13It's the infamous start to an illicit
8. 0:16affair, one that nearly toppled a
9. 0:18president.
10. 0:19My uh underwear had showing my thong
11. 0:22underwear and I thought, well, I'll up
12. 0:26the game. Monica Lewinsky speaking out
13. 0:29about the flirtatious moments that
14. 0:31landed her squarely at the center of a
15. 0:33White House scandal.
16. 0:34I kind of have to laugh at my younger
17. 0:36self, but that was when my crush
18. 0:39started. The unpaid intern and the
19. 0:41commanderin-chief.
20. 0:43I did not have sexual relations with
21. 0:46that woman.
22. 0:47Now for Lewinsky, a new reckoning with
23. 0:49her past in a revealing six-part docue
24. 0:52series entitled The Clinton Affairing on
25. 0:55A&E. Front and center, President
26. 0:57Clinton's reckless behavior, which
27. 0:59almost cost him his presidency.
28. 1:02Fresh out of college, Lewinsky catches
29. 1:04the eye of the president as he's leaving
30. 1:06the White House and goes out of her way
31. 1:08to catch it again.
32. 1:10I did this really silly thing. I ran
33. 1:13home at lunchtime and I put back on the
34. 1:15sage green suit I had been wearing the
35. 1:17day before when he paid attention to me.
36. 1:19I thought, well, maybe he'll notice me
37. 1:21again. And notice me, he did. Lewinsky,
38. 1:25now 45, reflects back on her own naivee,
39. 1:28which she says led her to their
40. 1:30disastrous liaison.
41. 1:32The truth is is that I I think it meant
42. 1:34more to me that someone who other people
43. 1:36desired desired me. However wrong it
44. 1:38was, however um misguided for who I was
45. 1:42in that very moment at 22 years old,
46. 1:46that was how it felt. In an essay for
47. 1:48Vanity Fair, Lewinsky says she took part
48. 1:50in the documentary to acknowledge her
49. 1:52past behavior, which she still regrets
50. 1:55and feels ashamed of. In the era of Me
51. 1:58Too, the story of a young intern's
52. 2:00entanglement with the most powerful man
53. 2:02in the world and its aftermath now
54. 2:04examined in a completely new light by
55. 2:06director Blair Foster. There's a real
56. 2:09power imbalance here. I don't think you
57. 2:11get a greater imbalance between the
58. 2:12president of the United States and an
59. 2:14intern. She was shamed. She was fat
60. 2:16shamed. It was open season on Monaco
61. 2:19100%. It was brutal.
62. 2:21Over the course of 2 years, they had
63. 2:23multiple sexual encounters, engaged in
64. 2:26phone sex, even exchanging gifts. Amidst
65. 2:29all the turmoil, Lewinsky began
66. 2:31confiding in an older colleague named
67. 2:33Linda Trip.
68. 2:34When I tell you that I I never expected
69. 2:38to feel this way about him, and I'm not
70. 2:40kidding you. Unbeknownst to Monica, Trip
71. 2:43started recording phone conversations
72. 2:45about every intimate detail, including a
73. 2:47dress Monica believed was stained with
74. 2:50the president's semen,
75. 2:51the navy blue dress. Now, all I would
76. 2:55say to you is,
77. 2:57I know how you feel today, but you have
78. 3:01a very long life ahead of you. I would
79. 3:03rather you had that in your possession
80. 3:07if you need it years from now. Linda.
81. 3:10Hi, it's Monty.
82. 3:11Monica, darling, hold on.
83. 3:13The imbalance of their seeming
84. 3:15friendship portrayed on SNL. All while
85. 3:18President Clinton is already under a
86. 3:20microscope, fighting a lawsuit alleging
87. 3:23sexual misconduct. Paula Jones claimed
88. 3:25that the then Arkansas governor asked
89. 3:28her for a sexual favor while she was a
90. 3:30state clerk. May of 91, Bill Clinton
91. 3:34harassed me on the job and then
92. 3:38basically told me, "Let's keep this
93. 3:39between ourselves."
94. 3:40Did you ever ask Paula Jones to kiss
95. 3:43your penis?
96. 3:45No, I did not.
97. 3:46Paula Jones's attorneys got a tip from
98. 3:48an unexpected source. Lewinsk's
99. 3:51confidant, Linda Trip. So, with
100. 3:53knowledge of the affair, Jones's
101. 3:55attorney asked President Clinton about
102. 3:57Lewinsky. He lied under oath. I I have
103. 4:00never had
104. 4:02u sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky.
105. 4:04I've never had an affair with her.
106. 4:06Bill Clinton handed the sword to his
107. 4:08enemies.
108. 4:09In January 1998, he held a press
109. 4:12conference delivering that now notorious
110. 4:14proclamation.
111. 4:15I did not have sexual relations with
112. 4:18that woman, Miss Lewinsky. Lewinsky
113. 4:21recalls being confronted by FBI agents
114. 4:24who threatened her with lengthy jail
115. 4:26time for denying the affair, lying under
116. 4:28oath in the Paula Jones case. They
117. 4:31wanted her to turn against the
118. 4:32president, but she refused. They
119. 4:34imagined that I would have flipped
120. 4:36really easily. They had no plan in place
121. 4:39for what would happen if I said no.
122. 4:41There was a point for me somewhere in
123. 4:43this sort of first several hours where I
124. 4:46would be hysterically crying and then I
125. 4:48would just shut down. And in the
126. 4:50shutdown period, I remember looking out
127. 4:52the window and thinking that the only
128. 4:55way
129. 4:56to fix this was to kill myself, was to
130. 4:58jump out the window. And um
131. 5:04I I just I felt terrible. I was scared.
132. 5:08And I just
133. 5:11I was mortified and afraid of what this
134. 5:15was going to do to my family. And
135. 5:19[Music]
136. 5:21you know, I still was in love with Bill
137. 5:24at the time. Um,
138. 5:28so I just I felt really responsible.
139. 5:31Lewinsky eventually struck a deal for
140. 5:34total immunity. In exchange, she gave up
141. 5:36key pieces of evidence, including those
142. 5:39gifts from the president and that blue
143. 5:41dress, the physical proof of their
144. 5:44relationship. I was going to the White
145. 5:47House in the dark of night to take a
146. 5:49blood sample from the sitting president
147. 5:51of the United States to compare with a
148. 5:54seaman stain on a dress of a
149. 5:5522-year-old.
150. 5:57President Clinton would undergo
151. 5:58impeachment hearings in the fall of
152. 6:001998.
153. 6:01I don't remember exactly what I did say
154. 6:03with her. That's what you say I said.
155. 6:06The prospect of impeachment can never be
156. 6:09far from President Clinton's mind these
157. 6:11days. For only the second time in
158. 6:13history, the House of Representatives
159. 6:14would vote to impeach a president, but
160. 6:17the Senate later voted to acquit.
161. 6:19He leaves office with, I think,
162. 6:21something along the lines of a 65%
163. 6:23approval rating.
164. 6:24But Monica's role in the Clinton affair
165. 6:26forever etched in the memory of the
166. 6:28American public, skewered on late night
167. 6:30shows.
168. 6:31Bill, you already said you had no sexual
169. 6:33relationship with Monica
170. 6:35andounded by the press. I think we're
171. 6:37learning more and more right now too in
172. 6:39the Me Too movement around people in
173. 6:41power just how reckless they act.
174. 6:44Earlier this year, Mr. Clinton was asked
175. 6:47about the scandal by NBC.
176. 6:48And I asked if you'd ever apologized and
177. 6:50you said you had.
178. 6:51I have.
179. 6:52You've apologized to her.
180. 6:53I apologize to everybody in the world.
181. 6:54Wrong.
182. 6:55But you didn't apologize to her. At
183. 6:57least according to to folks that we've
184. 6:59talked to. There was never an apology.
185. 7:01I have not talked to her.
186. 7:03Do you feel like you owe her an apology?
187. 7:04No, I do. I I I do not I have never
188. 7:09talked to her, but I did say publicly on
189. 7:12more than one occasion that I was sorry.
190. 7:14And then just last month, Hillary
191. 7:16Clinton was asked by CBS if time had
192. 7:19changed her opinion.
193. 7:20And in retrospect, do you think Bill
194. 7:23should have resigned, President Clinton
195. 7:25should have resigned in the '9s in the
196. 7:28wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal?
197. 7:30Absolutely not.
198. 7:31So it wasn't an abuse of power.
199. 7:32No. Despite the re-examination that me
200. 7:35too may have brought, Lewinsky still
201. 7:37contends that it hasn't come far enough
202. 7:40for her. Writing in that essay for
203. 7:42Vanity Fair, "What feels more important
204. 7:44to me than whether I am owed or
205. 7:46deserving of a personal apology is my
206. 7:48belief that Bill Clinton should want to
207. 7:50apologize. I'm less disappointed by him
208. 7:53and more disappointed for him. He would
209. 7:55be a better man for it and we in turn a
210. 7:58better society."
211. 7:59Monica apologizes to both Hillary and
212. 8:01and Chelsea. I mean, I think she's
213. 8:03deeply remorseful. Monica has always
214. 8:06been very upfront about this was a
215. 8:09consensual affair and her regret in
216. 8:11that.
217. 8:14Hi everyone, George Stephanopoulos here.
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