President Bill Clinton address the nation after his grand jury testimony and apologizes for lying ab — Transcript

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1. 0:04good
2. 0:04evening this afternoon in this room from
3. 0:07this chair I testified before the office
4. 0:10of independent counsel and the grand
5. 0:13jury I answered their questions
6. 0:16truthfully including questions about my
7. 0:18private life questions no American
8. 0:21citizen would ever want to
9. 0:24answer still I must take complete
10. 0:26responsibility for all my actions both
11. 0:28public and private
12. 0:30and that is why I speaking to you
13. 0:32tonight as you know in a deposition in
14. 0:35January I was asked questions about my
15. 0:38relationship with Monica
16. 0:39Lewinsky while my answers were legally
17. 0:42accurate I did not volunteer
18. 0:45information indeed I did have a
19. 0:47relationship with Miss Lewinsky that was
20. 0:49not appropriate in fact it was wrong it
21. 0:54constituted a critical lapse in judgment
22. 0:56and a personal failure on my part for
23. 0:58which I am so and completely
24. 1:01responsible but I told the grand jury
25. 1:04today and I say to you now that at no
26. 1:07time did I ask anyone to lie to hide or
27. 1:10destroy evidence or to take any other
28. 1:13unlawful
29. 1:15action I know that my public comments
30. 1:18and my silence about this matter gave a
31. 1:20false
32. 1:21impression I misled people including
33. 1:25even my
34. 1:27wife I deeply regret that
35. 1:31I can only tell you I was motivated by
36. 1:34many
37. 1:35factors first by a desire to protect
38. 1:37myself from the embarrassment of my own
39. 1:41conduct I was also very concerned about
40. 1:44protecting my
41. 1:45family the fact that these questions
42. 1:47were being asked in a politically
43. 1:49inspired lawsuit which has since been
44. 1:52dismissed was a consideration
45. 1:55too in addition I had real and serious
46. 1:59concerns
47. 2:00about an independent Council
48. 2:02investigation that began with private
49. 2:05business dealings 20 years ago dealings
50. 2:08I might add about which an independent
51. 2:11Federal agency found no evidence of any
52. 2:13wrongdoing by me or my wife over two
53. 2:16years
54. 2:18ago the independent Council
55. 2:20investigation moved on to my staff and
56. 2:22friends then into my private life and
57. 2:25now the investigation itself is under
58. 2:29investigation
59. 2:31this has gone on too long cost too much
60. 2:35and hurt too many innocent
61. 2:38people now this matter is between me the
62. 2:41two people I love most my wife and our
63. 2:45daughter and our
64. 2:47God I must put it right and I am
65. 2:51prepared to do whatever it takes to do
66. 2:54so nothing is more important to me
67. 2:57personally but it is priv private and I
68. 3:01intend to reclaim my family life for my
69. 3:04family it's nobody's business but ours
70. 3:09even presidents have private
71. 3:12lives it is time to stop the pursuit of
72. 3:15personal destruction and the prying into
73. 3:18private lives and get on with our
74. 3:21national life our country has been
75. 3:24distracted by this matter for too long
76. 3:27and I take my responsibility for my part
77. 3:30in all of this that is all I can do now
78. 3:34it is time in fact it is past time to
79. 3:37move on we have important work to do
80. 3:41real opportunities to seize real
81. 3:44problems to solve real security matters
82. 3:47to
83. 3:48face and so tonight I ask you to turn
84. 3:52away from the spectacle of the past
85. 3:54seven months to repair the fabric of our
86. 3:57national discourse and to turn our
87. 4:00attention to all the challenges and all
88. 4:03the promise of the next American
89. 4:07Century thank you for watching and good
90. 4:13night