"...I was the buffet and he just couldn't resist the dessert."

(CNN 06-23-2004) -- In his new memoir, former U.S. President Bill Clinton says his "inappropriate" encounters with Monica Lewinsky began when she claimed they did, during the government shutdown in November 1995.

That account contradicts his August 1998 testimony before a federal grand jury that investigated the case.

The discrepancy between testimony by Clinton and Lewinsky about the timing of the affair was one of the points that led the House to impeach Clinton for providing false testimony to the grand jury about "the nature and details of his relationship with a subordinate government employee."

In his 1998 testimony, the former president said, "When I was alone with Ms. Lewinsky on certain occasions in early 1996 and once in early 1997, I engaged in conduct that was wrong."

....on page 773 of his book, "My Life," Clinton said, "During the government shutdown in late 1995, when very few people were allowed to come to work in the White House and those who were there were working late, I'd had an inappropriate encounter with Monica Lewinsky and would do so again on other occasions between November and April, when she left the White House for the Pentagon."

"For the next 10 months, I didn't see her, although we talked on the phone from time to time," he said.

In her grand jury testimony, Lewinsky said their sexual relationship began on November 15, 1995, at a time when government officers were shut down ...

(CNN 06-21-2004) Clinton told CBS he had no rational explanation for his behavior with Lewinsky.

"I did something for the worst possible reason -- just because I could," he said. "I think that's just about the most morally indefensible reason anybody could have for doing anything."

LONDON -- Monica Lewinsky begs to differ. The former White House intern scorned Bill Clinton's explanation that he had an affair with her "just because I could," and accused the former president of failing to make clear their relationship was mutual in his new memoir. In her first public comments on the book, "My Life," Lewinsky accused Clinton of trying to destroy her with his characterization of the affair as something dirty and wrong, and argued the liaison was one of mutual affection.
"I really didn't expect him to go into detail about our relationship" in the book, the 30-year-old Lewinsky said in an interview with The Daily Mail. "But if he had and he'd done it honestly, I wouldn't have minded. ... I did, though, at least expect him to correct the false statements he made when he was trying to protect the presidency. Instead, he talked about it as though I had laid it all out there for the taking. I was the buffet and he just couldn't resist the dessert."
In an interview with Independent Television News broadcast Friday, Lewinsky said she was especially upset by Clinton's assertion on CBS' "60 Minutes" that he embarked on the affair "for the worst possible reason. Just because I could."
"I was really upset when I first heard it," Lewinsky said.

US History and Clinton

02/19/2007 21:17:20 -0800