“Through the lens of #MeToo now, do you think differently or feel more responsibility?… Did you ever apologize to her [Lewinsky]?” @craigmelvin to Bill Clinton pic.twitter.com/rXcixhDHER
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 4, 2018
Via NBC:
Former President Bill Clinton says that, even in light of the #MeToo movement, he would not have approached how he dealt with Monica Lewinsky any differently and acknowledged that — 20 years after their relationship made headlines — he’s still never apologized privately to the former intern.
“I don’t think it would be an issue,” the ex-president told NBC News’ Craig Melvin in an interview that aired Monday on the “Today” show, after he was asked if he would have “approached the accusations differently” if he were president in 2018 “with everything that’s going on with the #MeToo movement.”
“Because people would be using the facts instead of the imagined facts. If the facts were the same today, I wouldn’t,” said Clinton, who was doing the “Today” interview along with author James Patterson to promote a new book they’ve written together titled “The President Is Missing.”
In 1998, Clinton first denied then admitted to an affair with Lewinsky, who had been a White House intern at the time. The scandal launched a lengthy investigation that ended with Clinton becoming the the second-ever president to be impeached.
Clinton told NBC News that he stuck by his decision to fight his impeachment rather than resign, telling Melvin, “I think I did the right thing. I defended the Constitution.”