White House

Bill Clinton: Comment on Lewinsky and #MeToo ‘Wasn't My Finest Hour'

"I'd like to think that we're all getting better as we go along," the former president said

Former President Bill Clinton admitted that his combative response earlier this week to questions about Monica Lewinsky wasn't his "finest hour," but he took issue with how the interview broached the subject of his workplace relationship.

"It wasn't my finest hour, but the important this is, it was a very painful thing that happened 20 years ago," Clinton told Stephen Colbert Tuesday on CBS' "The Late Show." He added that he has had to "live with the consequences every day since."

In an interview with NBC's "Today" released Monday, Clinton bristled at questions over whether he should have resigned 20 years ago because of his sexual relationship with the White House intern.

Colbert asked Clinton if he realized why some people thought his response was "tone-deaf" in light of the #MeToo movement.

The ex-president responded by explaining that he "didn't like" the questioning on "Today" because "it started with the assertion that, basically, I had never apologized, as if I had never tried to come to grips with it. And as if there had been no attempt to hold me accountable." Clinton said that narrative "wasn't so."

"I apologized to my family, to Monica Lewinsky and her family, to the American people. I meant it then, and I meant it now," Clinton said. 

He added that the #MeToo movement "is long overdue, necessary and should be supported." 

"I'd like to think that we're all getting better as we go along," Clinton said.

Clinton was on the "Late Show" to promote his new book "The President is Missing," written with James Patterson, who jumped in to support his co-author.

Patterson said he has gotten to Clinton while working him and called the former president a "wonderful wonderful wonderful human being" who has done "good things" for the country and through charity work.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us