In an interview - which I label "an ambush" - NBC News correspondent Craig Melvin caught former President Bill Clinton off guard when the Saturday Today show anchor confronted Mr. Clinton about the Monica Lewinsky matter.
One additional disclosure...I have always admired and respected Craig Melvin's journalistic ethics and I have praised him for his skills as a reporter. Until now. During the 2016 presidential campaign, I applauded Craig, in multiple tweets, following interviews where he shined as a first-rate correspondent. So I was appalled by his offensively blunt and tactless manner when he broached a subject two decades after a scandal that wrongfully caused President Clinton's impeachment by the House of Representatives, but rightfully resulted in his acquittal by the Senate.
I watched the entire 22-minute interview on-line at Today.com. And I enjoyed the conversation for the first fifteen minutes and fifteen seconds. But Melvin's timing was not appropriate for - what should have been - a feel good chat with Mr. Clinton and Mr. Patterson about their new book. Instead, Melvin felt it was necessary to bring up the #MeToo movement and how it might relate to the former president's relationship - twenty years ago - with Monica Lewinsky...the impeachment that followed...and whether President Clinton feels that he should have privately apologized to Lewinsky. That's when the fireworks began.
Craig Melvin noted that critics recently suggested that President Clinton "should have resigned in the wake of the Lewinsky scandal. You said that you should not have. If you were president now...in 2018...with everything that's going on with the #MeToo movement...how would you have approached the accusations differently? Or would you have?
President Clinton remained a gentleman. "I don't think it would be an issue because people would be using the facts, instead of the imagined facts. If the facts were the same today, I wouldn't (do anything differently)." Mr. Clinton then elaborated by saying that "a lot of the facts have been conveniently omitted...to make the story work." And President Clinton was adamant about not resigning. "No. I think I did the right thing."
That's where Melvin should have realized that this was not a subject that President Clinton wanted to pursue. However, Melvin forged ahead. "Looking back on what happened then...through the lens of #MeToo now...do you think differently...or feel more responsibility?
Mr. Clinton was noticeably becoming annoyed. "No. I felt terrible then. And I came to grips with it."
For his actions, President Clinton suffered dearly. Besides having to face an independent counsel...a grand jury...House impeachment hearings...the American people...and his wife and daughter...Mr. Clinton - in his interview with Craig Melvin - declared that "Nobody believes that I got out of that for free. I left The White House (millions of dollars) in debt." President Clinton then paused and took a breath before the proverbial smoke started coming out of his ears. "You typically have ignored gaping facts in describing this. This was litigated twenty years ago. Two-thirds of the American people sided with me. They were not insensitive that..." Appearing aggravated...Mr. Clinton did exactly what he needed to do. He became even more defensive. "I had a sexual harassment policy when I was governor (of Arkansas) in the 80s. I had two women chiefs of staff when I was governor. I've had nothing but women leaders in my office since I left." Another brief pause and President Clinton made his point very clear to Melvin. "You are giving one side and omitting facts." Now came the tug of war.
Craig Melvin: "I asked if you'd ever apologized...and you said you had."
President Clinton: "I have."
Craig Melvin: "You've apologized to her?"
President Clinton: "I apologized to everybody in the world."
Craig Melvin: "But you didn't apologize to her...at least according to folks that we've talked to. There was never an apology made."
President Clinton: "I have not talked to her."
Craig Melvin: "Do you feel like you owe her an apology?"
President Clinton: "No, I do not. I've never talked to her. But I did say, publicly - on more than one occasion - that I was sorry."
James Patterson interjected, as he seemed irritated. "Stop already. It's twenty years ago."
At this point, President Clinton seemed fit to be tied as he ended the interview with Craig Melvin. "I dealt with it twenty years plus ago. And the American people - two-thirds of them - stayed with me. And I've tried to do a good job since then... with my life...and with my work. That's all I have to say." Kudos and much applause to Mr. Clinton for all his accomplishments during his presidency and since leaving office.
There was no legitimate, journalistic reason for Melvin to push President Clinton so hard on an issue that was done and over with twenty years ago. It's something I would expect from a third-rate reporter looking to make a name for himself, not an NBC News and MSNBC anchor/correspondent. If more reporters follow Craig Melvin's lead, Mr. Clinton is going to be a formidable opponent. And he would have every right to fight back.
Before the clash between the former president and the network correspondent, President Clinton shared a bit of information from when he began his political career. "I had an iron rule when I was a young man starting out in politics. I never attacked anyone first. But if they came after me...with an attack that had a good answer...I answered." It looks like Mr. Clinton hasn't lost his touch.
President Clinton may not have apologized to Lewinsky in person, but he did indeed say he was sorry...and he directed his remorse towards Lewinsky, among others.
On September 11th, 1998 - at the annual National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC - President Clinton issued a heartfelt apology while declaring to religious leaders..."I have sinned." Mr. Clinton emphasized that "It is important to me that everyone who has been hurt know the sorrow I feel is genuine - first and most important - my family, my friends, my staff, my cabinet, Monica Lewinsky and her family, and the American people. I have asked all for their forgiveness."
Prior to that outpouring of emotion, President Clinton - on August 17th, 1998 - addressed the nation from The White House Map Room...which is where, earlier that day, he testified before the Office of Independent Counsel and the grand jury. In his nationally televised speech, Mr. Clinton admitted that he had "a relationship with Monica Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact, it was wrong. It constituted a critical lapse in judgment and a personal failure on my part for which I am solely and completely responsible." President Clinton acknowledged that he "misled people... including even my wife. I deeply regret that." Mr. Clinton went on to say..."Now... 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. Nothing is more important to me personally. It's nobody's business but ours. Even presidents have private lives."
What more do Republicans...some members of the press...and even some Democrats and Independents...want from this man?
To compare the President Clinton of 1998...to any number of men today who are accused of sexual misconduct...lacks the justice that Mr. Clinton deserves. I support today's #MeToo movement and believe that those men who are guilty of mistreating women - and in some cases other men - in any sort of inappropriate fashion...should be held accountable.
President Clinton - in his back and forth with Craig Melvin - celebrated the #MeToo movement. "I like the #MeToo movement. It's way overdue." I, of course, agree. But as our 42nd president qualified..."It doesn't mean I agree with everything." And to that, I also concur with Mr. Clinton.
Let us remember that America is a nation of laws. And we are a country that thankfully provides every individual the beauty to live under a blanket of freedom called the U.S. Constitution. In that...our most precious of American documents... the Fourteenth Amendment asserts that "In the United States, a person is considered innocent until proven guilty." It is one of our most sacred principles. Furthermore, the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees every person - including non-citizens - "equal protection under the law." And that it is the duty of the prosecution to prove - beyond a reasonable doubt - that a defendant is guilty. Otherwise, it is the responsibility of any jury...or any judge...to find that person to be...not guilty. Just because someone claims that a person has been inappropriate doesn't mean that he...or she...is guilty.
Americans live today in a land where a man was elected president, even though he admitted to trying to have sexual intercourse with a woman who did not want it. In that infamous 2005 Access Hollywood video - which was released in October 2016 - Donald Trump bragged the following to the show's then co-host, Billy Bush about an alleged encounter with Bush's Access Hollywood colleague, Nancy O'Dell.
"I moved on her, actually. You know she was down on Palm Beach. I moved on her...and I failed. I'll admit it. I did try and f--k her. She was married. No, no, Nancy. No this was...and I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her furniture shopping. She wanted to get some furniture. I said, 'I'll show you where they have some nice furniture.' I took her out furniture... I moved on her like a bitch. But I couldn't get there. And she was married. Then all of a sudden, I see her. She's now got the big phony tits and everything. She's totally changed her look."
The conversation continued as the Access Hollywood bus arrived at NBC studios in Burbank, California and Trump noticed actress Arianne Zucker who he was meeting that day to videotape a scene with her on Days Of Our Lives.
"Yeah, that's her...with the gold. I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I'm automatically attracted to beautiful... I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything." Billy Bush replied..."Whatever you want." And Trump uttered the line that nobody should forget. "Grab 'em by the p---y. You can do anything."
Nothing even similar to that kind of obscene language by Trump has ever publicly been heard from President Clinton. Yet prior to the election, Republicans didn't care what they heard...and they still voted for Trump.
In addition to grandstanding about his sexcapades with Billy Bush...radio talk show host Howard Stern got an earful one day about Donald Trump's adventures that were - in essence - actions of a "peeping Tom." In a 2005 interview with Stern, Trump boasted about walking in to dressing rooms with naked Miss USA and Miss Universe contestants. "Well, I'll tell you the funniest is that I'll go backstage before a show and everyone's getting dressed and ready and everything else, and you know, no men are anywhere. And I'm allowed to go in because I'm the owner of the pageant and, therefore, I'm inspecting it. You know, I'm inspecting. I want to make sure that everything is good." My goodness, Donald! You sound like the proverbial "dirty old man."
Trump continued to let his libido speak to Howard Stern. "You know, the dresses. 'Is everyone okay?' You know, they're standing there with no clothes. 'Is everybody okay?' And you see these incredible looking women, and so, I sort of get away with things like that. But no, I've been very good." Trump says he was very good. What a pervert!
Now add the following to the mix. Allegedly...Trump entered the dressing rooms of teenage girls who were competing in the Miss Teen USA Pageant, which - at the time - Trump also owned. Four young women claim that Trump walked in on naked girls as they were changing their clothes. Three of those contestants have remained anonymous. But the former Miss Vermont Teen USA, Mariah Billado, is quoted as saying..."I remember putting on my dress really quick because I was like, 'Oh my God, there's a man in here.'" Billado says that she informed Ivanka Trump about her father invading the privacy of naked teenage girls who were dressing for the pageant. Billado claims Ivanka responded by admitting..."Yeah...he does that." Donald Trump, however, denies the allegations about the Miss Teen USA pageant...and PolitiFact has not been able to rate the issue as true or false. But if Trump did it with adult contestants in the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants - which he bragged about with Howard Stern - then it makes one wonder if the allegations against Trump with the Miss Teen USA pageant are true.
With what we have heard Donald Trump admit...along with the allegations against him for sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior...Trump was still elected president of the United States by Republicans and some Independents who just didn't give a damn about putting someone with Trump's history in The White House.
And this year...while sitting behind The Oval Office desk...Americans learned that Trump allegedly cheated on his current of three wives, Melania Trump, in 2006...when he allegedly romped between the sheets with porn film star Stormy Daniels...just weeks after Mrs. Trump gave birth to the Trump's son, Barron. We also discovered that less than two weeks before the 2016 election, Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen paid Daniels - whose real name is Stephanie Clifford - a sum of 130-thousand dollars so that she wouldn't tell anybody about the alleged one-night sexual affair before voters went to the polls. But once again, none of this means diddly to Trump's base. Even when Trump - "the liar-in-chief" - got caught deceiving the American people after he told reporters on Air Force One that he knew nothing about the hush money to Daniels, we subsequently found out that he did know...and still...Trump's supporters didn't...and don't...care. And if that isn't enough...there are allegations by other women who might have received money to keep their mouths shut, including one woman who claims she got pregnant by Trump, but that he allegedly paid for her to have an abortion...and that then...he allegedly gave her big bucks to keep silent. For everything - whether true or alleged - Trump's base either refuses to believe any of it...or they just don't care.
The above is why I defend President Clinton. He has apologized for his wrongdoing...and it cost him much more than was fair. I will provide some details, later in this column. So therefore...it's time that everyone stops the attacks on Bill Clinton.
It must be devastating for any woman...or anybody else...to be sexually harassed, sexually abused, or sexually assaulted. But Monica Lewinsky fits none of those categories. I do, however, feel bad for Lewinsky that her adult life is defined by the affair she had with President Clinton. However...let us be clear that Lewinsky was a willing participant in whatever relationship she had with Mr. Clinton. That being said...I remain someone - as do others throughout America and around the world - who believe that oral sex is not "having sex" or having "sexual relations." A good many individuals feel that for such terms to be used, there must be either vaginal or anal intercourse. So to my thinking - and the thinking of a great amount of people - President Clinton did not lie when on January 28th, 1998, he told the American people..."I did not have sexual relations with that woman...Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie...not a single time, never."
Three weeks prior to Mr. Clinton's remarks - on January 7th, 1998 - Monica Lewinsky signed a sworn affidavit that she "never had a sexual relationship with the president"...and that President Clinton "did not propose that we have a sexual relationship." Lewinsky also swore under oath that Mr. Clinton "did not offer me employment or other benefits in exchange for a sexual relationship," nor did he "deny me employment or other benefits for rejecting a sexual relationship." Furthermore, Lewinsky's sworn statement included that "I have the utmost respect for the president, who always behaved appropriately in my presence."
Later that year - on July 28th, 1998 - Monica Lewinsky was granted a blanket immunity deal so she could not be prosecuted for saying under oath that she didn't have a "sexual relationship" with President Clinton. Without that immunity, Lewinsky could have been prosecuted for perjury if the independent counsel - Ken Starr - could prove that Lewinsky and Mr. Clinton did have a "sexual relationship." Apparently, "Uncle Sam" doesn't agree with me - and others - that oral sex is not a "sexual relationship."
Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky were two consenting adults...in basically what comes down to an Oval Office b---job. Was it wrong? Of course it was. Should President Clinton have told Lewinsky that this is something we should not do. Definitely. As president of the United States, Mr. Clinton - a married man, who was fooling around with an of-age White House intern - performed in a manner that was not appropriate. And the former president has apologized more than once...with profound and impassioned shame...for what he labeled...a "sin." But should President Clinton have been impeached? Absolutely not. There was no logical or sensible reason for the American taxpayers to foot the bill for a Republican witch hunt that the U.S. Senate agreed was not worthy of a conviction...and, therefore...Mr. Clinton was acquitted on all charges in the impeachment process.
The bottom line is that throughout two terms - from January 20th, 1993 to January 20th, 2001 - William Jefferson Clinton lived up to his oath of office as president of the United States. President Clinton did indeed "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." It's becoming, however, more and more evident - although not yet proven - that the man whose name today is engraved on The White House letterhead...may not be observing and properly honoring the words in the presidential oath.
Republicans - and certain others - are ingrained with a hatred for both Bill and Hillary Clinton. Many Republicans viciously insist with completely erroneous accusations that President Clinton sexually assaulted or even raped women. Such allegations are bold-faced lies. There is no evidence...no proof whatsoever...of any criminal activity on the part of Mr. Clinton with any woman. But Republicans refuse to accept those facts. They simply won't believe it.
Was President Clinton guilty of infidelity? Yes...without a doubt. But being unfaithful in a marriage is between two spouses. Bill and Hillary Clinton's marital problems should never have involved an independent counsel...or Congress...or certainly not the entire country.
I would bet that Craig Melvin probably doesn't give two hoots whether I think he's a top-of-the-line reporter and a class act...or...if I feel he crossed the line during his interview with President Clinton and that I object to his attempt to outmaneuver the former commander-in-chief. However, I do hope that Melvin can somehow make it up to Mr. Clinton. Maybe then...I will have the journalistic respect and admiration for Craig that, in the past, I always had.
At the outset of this column, I acknowledged my stalwart support and my ardent allegiance for both Bill and Hillary Clinton. So therefore...with regards to Craig Melvin's inquiry to President Clinton...whether he ever personally apologized to Monica Lewinsky...I ask this question. Why has Lewinsky not apologized to Hillary Clinton? Mrs. Clinton is more the victim in this crisis than anybody else. After all...she was the innocent bystander in a marriage that presumably suffered some rocky roads along the way. So I sympathize with Secretary Clinton. But not just for Mr. Clinton's disloyalty...but because of network anchormen such as Craig Melvin... along with other reporters...who - instead of dropping it - will want to drag the Clinton/Lewinsky matter through the mud in perpetuity.
President Clinton has confessed that he made a monumental error in judgment. For that, he paid the price through prosecution and persecution...and by Ken Starr's witch hunt investigation, which led to the president's impeachment.
But when President Clinton left office, after completing two terms, the United States was in tip-top shape. The Office of Management and Budget confirms that on January 20th, 2001 - the day of President George W. Bush's inauguration - the U.S. enjoyed a surplus of 128-billion dollars. And according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, there was a surplus projection of 5.6-trillion dollars by January 2011. The CBO predicted that projected amount - as the country's fiscal outlook - following the success of the Clinton administration.
Americans were kept working under President Clinton. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that Mr. Clinton created more jobs than any president in American history...a total of 23.2-million. On top of all the other successes by President Clinton, he departed our nation's capital with the United States at peace.
When Bill Clinton completed his service as our nation's leader, he did so - despite the Monica Lewinsky scandal and an impeachment - with the highest end-of-office approval rating of any U.S. president since World War II. And he continues to rank in the top one-third of all presidents in American history.
Americans should recognize that with Bill Clinton, there's a ton of good that outweighs the ounce of bad. By creating the William J. Clinton Foundation, (now the Clinton Foundation)...along with the Clinton Global Initiative and other programs... President Clinton's humanitarian and philanthropic efforts have helped to save millions of lives. The Clinton Foundation's achievements have provided better maternal and child survival care to more than 110-million people worldwide. During the 2016 presidential campaign - in a June 8th interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper - Hillary Clinton noted that "Nine-million people have lower-cost HIV/AIDS medicine because of the work of the Clinton Foundation and my husband." And PolitiFact confirms that statement to be true. As is printed on the organization's website..."the Clinton Foundation improves lives across the United States and around the world to create economic opportunity, improve public health and inspire civic engagement." Overall, the Clinton Foundation and its initiatives and programs create and implement solutions to the "world's most pressing challenges." The Clinton Foundation strives to prevent global warming and works to address other world issues of concern including poverty. According to The Washington Post, through 2016, the Clinton Foundation has raised nearly two-billion dollars to help others...and neither Bill Clinton or his daughter, Chelsea Clinton - both of whom serve as members of the governing board - receive any salary or a penny of income whatsoever from the Clinton Foundation. And when Hillary Clinton was on the board, she received no money from the organization either.
And that's The Controversy for today.
I'm Gary B. Duglin.
"We'll talk again."
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