Clinton
admits Monica affair
WASHINGTON, Aug 18 (AP,
AFP) — Abandoning months of denial, the US
President, Mr Bill Clinton, acknowledged to a grand jury
and the American people that he had a relationship with
Monica Lewinsky that was "not appropriate" but
refused to give detailed answers to some questions about
the explicit nature of the contacts.
"I misled people,
including my wife. I deeply regret that," he told
the Americans last night in a televised statement.
Seeking to stave off
possible impeachment proceedings, Mr Clinton said part of
the reason he did not come forward earlier was to save
himself from embarrassment and because of his mistrust of
independent counsel, Mr Kenneth Starr’s
investigation.
"This has gone on too
long and cost too much and hurt too many people," Mr
Clinton said of Mr Starr’s investigation.
"It’s past time to move on."
Indeed, I did have a
relationship with Ms Lewinsky that was not appropriate.
In fact, it was wrong," Mr Clinton said in a
nationally televised address, hours after his historic
testimony.
Mr Clinton said he took
"complete responsibility" for his actions with
Ms Lewinsky.
Prosecutors told Mr
Clinton’s lawyers they would have to review the
President’s answers before deciding whether to seek
additional testimony, the sources said.
There is some small chance
he might be back, one source said.
Wearing a dark business
suit and standing in the same map room where he testified
hours earlier, Mr Clinton said that while he had a
relationship with Ms Lewinsky, he never asked anyone to
lie or to obstruct justice. And he defiantly called on
prosecutors and Americans to let the matter rest.
"I intended to
reclaim my family life for my family," Mr Clinton
said defiantly. It’s nobody’s business but my
own."
"This matter is
between me, the two people I love most, my wife and our
daughter, and our God. I must put it right and I am
prepared to do whatever it takes to do so."
Some of Mr Clinton’s
advisers, including members of Congress, had urged him to
answer all questions posed to him as a way to stave off
the possibility of impeachment proceedings.
Mr Clinton’s
Attorney, Mr David Kendall confirmed that Mr Clinton
refused to give detailed answers about the nature of
intimate contacts between the President and Ms Lewinsky.
For over four hours, the
President responded truthfully to the questions of
prosecutors from the office of independent counsel,"
Mr Kendall said. "He made the painful admission that
he had inappropriate contact with Ms Lewinsky. As to a
very few highly intrusive questions with respect to the
specifics of this contact, in order to preserve personal
privacy and institutional dignity, he gave candid, but
not detailed answers," Mr Kendall added.
Mr Clinton’s
testimony in the White House map room was transmitted in
a scrambled signal to a federal grand jury watching on
television monitors at the federal courthouse. He secured
himself an unwanted place in history — the first
President to testify before a grand jury investigating
his own conduct.
Mr Starr has been
investigating allegations that Mr Clinton had sexual
relations with Ms Lewinsky and then lied about it under
oath in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case, and tried
to cover it up.
Mr Kendall, however, said
the President "testified truthfully" and hoped
the appearance would "end the investigation into the
President’s private life." One adviser said Mr
Clinton refused to answer some explicit questions and
prosecutors did not challenge this approach.
The grand jury session
lasted all afternoon and aides, who refused to be
identified by name, said it ended Mr Clinton’s
denial of an extramarital relationship with Ms Lewinsky,
a recent college graduate not half his age. Ms Lewinsky
testified about the relationship two weeks ago and an
adviser to Mr Clinton said he acknowledged sexual
contacts with Ms Lewinsky on Monday.
With Congress awaiting a
report that might spark impeachment proceedings against
him, the President’s dramatic reversal carried a
high political price.
Lawmakers and Americans
alike were forced to weigh why Mr Clinton would drag
America through seven months of political turmoil, waging
a series of court battles at taxpayers’ expense, to
sustain his denial and avoid acknowledging a sexual
relationship.
Prosecutors’
questions pressed beyond a sexual relationship with Ms
Lewinsky to whether Mr Clinton sought to obstruct Mrs
Jones’ lawsuit and later Mr Starr’s
investigation to conceal the nature of his relationship.
The President’s
appearance was also a defining moment for Mr Starr, who
endured months of stinging political and legal attacks to
gather the evidence that forced Mr Clinton to the witness
stand. Prosecutors were eager to end their wide-ranging
four-year-old investigation by sending a report to
Congress.
Mr Clinton’s
statement began forcefully, with him telling the American
people he’d been asked private questions "no
American would ever want to answer."
Then he became more solemn
and reflective, telling his audience he had misled
people, including "even my wife" and that he
deeply regretted it.
He stared directly into
the camera, the circles under his eyes noticeable, but no
more than usual.
At the five-second mark
before he started, Mr Clinton lifted his shoulders,
inhaled and blew out a big noisy breath.
Less than four hours
earlier, Mr Starr and his team had departed down the
rain-slick White House driveway, their grim historical
precedent complete. Now it was Mr Clinton on television,
a familiar, normally comfortable, place for him to be,
but surely tough last night.
He seemed tense but
nevertheless did not flinch.
But if Mr Clinton’s
public confession was his presidency’s darkest hour,
it was also First Lady Hillary Clinton’s worst
public humiliation.
Mr Clinton, without
Hillary at his side, apologised for the relationship with
Ms Lewinsky.
Just 24 hours after the
couple went to church, smiling and holding hands, Hillary
Clinton was forced to listen to her husband go on
national television to admit an affair with a woman just
slightly older than their daughter Chelsea.
Hillary, who has stood
firmly beside her spouse in the past, made no public
appearances yesterday.
Chelsea has also been
invisible in recent days, spending her time closeted in
the White House with her parents.
The humiliation of such a
public betrayal must be doubly humiliating for Hillary,
who, according to some reports, was told the truth about
the affairs only at the weekend.
While the President and
his legal team had already made the decision that Mr
Clinton would have to make some type of admission during
his grand jury appearance, the First Lady was said to be
still in the dark, it was reported, quoting sources close
to the White House.
The couple’s
spiritual adviser, Jesse Jackson, said yesterday that the
Clinton’s marriage would survive despite the
"humiliation" for Hillary.
The Clintons "are in
love and their marriage will survive this," Jackson
predicted. 
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