Thomas Gallatin: Bill Clinton Defends Himself Against #MeToo

“If the facts were the same today, I wouldn’t [change my decision],” Bill Clinton responded to a question posed by NBC “Today Show” interviewer Craig Melvin. Melvin asked whether the #MeToo movement would have caused Clinton to resign when his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky came to light. Clinton added, “I think I did the right thing. I defended the Constitution.”

We apologize if you just spewed coffee all over your keyboard.

Melvin set up his question by quoting from a Vanity Fair op-ed Lewinsky wrote earlier this year, in which she explained, “[Clinton] was my boss. He was the most powerful man on the planet. He was 27 years my senior with enough life experience to know better. He was at the time at the pinnacle of his career, while I was at my first job out of college.”

Clinton was clearly perturbed by the line of questioning, telling Melvin that he “ignored gaping facts” and suggesting that he didn’t “even know them.” But Melvin continued to press, asking if Clinton had ever apologized to Lewinsky personally. It quickly became apparent (again) that Clinton has never accepted blame for doing anything seriously wrong or immoral. Clinton argued, “You think President Kennedy should resign? Do you believe President Johnson should resign? Someone should ask you these questions because of the way you formulate the questions. I dealt with it 20 years ago, plus, and the American people — two-thirds of them stayed with me.” In other words, Other presidents had affairs while in office, and nobody cared, so why was I forced to answer for it?

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