President Clinton's public comments about Monica Lewinsky case

LITTLE ROCK — At a Jan. 26 child-care news conference in the White House:

I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again. I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie. Not a single time. Never. These allegations are false, and I need to go back to work for the American people.

His Aug. 17 address to the nation:

Good evening.

This afternoon in this room, from this chair, I testified before the Office of Independent Counsel and the grand jury.

I answered their questions truthfully, including questions about my private life, questions no American citizen would ever want to answer.

Still, I must take complete responsibility for all my actions, both public and private. And that is why I am speaking to you tonight.

As you know, in a deposition in January, I was asked questions about my relationship with Monica Lewinsky. While my answers were legally accurate, I did not volunteer information.

Indeed, I did have a relationship with Ms. 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.

But I told the grand jury today and I say to you now that at no time did I ask anyone to lie, to hide or destroy evidence or to take any other unlawful action.

I know that my public comments and my silence about this matter gave a false impression. I misled people, including even my wife. I deeply regret that.

I can only tell you I was motivated by many factors. First, by a desire to protect myself from the embarrassment of my own conduct.

I was also very concerned about protecting my family. The fact that these questions were being asked in a politically inspired lawsuit, which has since been dismissed, was a consideration, too.

In addition, I had real and serious concerns about an independent counsel investigation that began with private business dealings 20 years ago, dealings, I might add, about which an independent federal agency found no evidence of any wrongdoing by me or my wife over two years ago.

The independent counsel investigation moved on to my staff and friends, then into my private life. And now the investigation itself is under investigation.

This has gone on too long, cost too much and hurt too many innocent people.

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. But it is private, and I intend to reclaim my family life for my family. It's nobody's business but ours.

Even presidents have private lives. It is time to stop the pursuit of personal destruction and the prying into private lives and get on with our national life.

Our country has been distracted by this matter for too long, and I take my responsibility for my part in all of this. That is all I can do.

Now it is time -- in fact, it is past time -- to move on.

We have important work to do -- real opportunities to seize, real problems to solve, real security matters to face.

And so tonight, I ask you to turn away from the spectacle of the past seven months, to repair the fabric of our national discourse, and to return our attention to all the challenges and all the promise of the next American century.

Thank you for watching, and good night.

At Tuesday's joint press conference with Russian President Boris Yeltsin in Moscow:

QUESTION: Sir, you were just speaking of the challenges that we face as a nation. And one is the reaction since your admission of a relationship with Ms. Lewinsky -- given you any cause for concern that you may not be as effective as you should be in leading the country?

CLINTON: No, I've actually been quite heartened by the reaction of the American people and leaders throughout the world about it. I have acknowledged that I made a mistake, said that I regretted it, asked to be forgiven, spent a lot of very valuable time with my family in the last couple of weeks and said I was going back to work. I believe that's what the American people want me to do, and based on my conversations with leaders around the world, I think that's what they want me to do, and that is what I intend to do.

As you can see from what we're discussing here, there are very large issues that will affect the future of the American people in the short run and over the long run. There are large issues that have to be dealt with now in the world and at home. And so I have been quite encouraged by what I think the message from the American people has been and what I know of the message from leaders around the world has been. And I'm going to do my best to continue to go through this personal process in an appropriate way, but to do my job, to do the job I was hired to do. And I think it very much needs to be done right now.

QUESTION: And, Mr. President, another Lewinsky question. You know, there have been some who have expressed disappointment that you didn't offer a formal apology the other night when you spoke to the American people. Are you -- do you feel you need to offer an apology? And, in retrospect now, with some distance, do you have any feeling that perhaps the tone of your speech was something that didn't quite convey the feelings that you have -- particularly your comments in regard to Mr. Starr?

CLINTON: ... I think I can almost reiterate what I said in response to the first question. I think the question of the tone of the speech and people's reaction to it is really a function of -- I can't comment on that. I read it the other day again, and I thought it was clear that I was expressing my profound regret to all who were hurt and to all who were involved, and my desire not to see any more people hurt by this process and caught up in it. And I was commenting that it seemed to be something that most reasonable people would think had consumed a disproportionate amount of America's time, money, and resources, and attention, and now continued to involve more and more people. And that's what I tried to say.

And all I wanted to say was I believe it's time for us to now go back to the work of the country, and give the people their government back, and talk about and think about and work on things that will affect the American people today and in the future. That's all I meant to say, and that's what I believe, and that's what I intend to do.

At Friday's photo opportunity with Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern in Dublin:

QUESTION: Mr. President, do you have any comments on Sen. Lieberman's remarks?

CLINTON: I've been briefed on them and basically I agree with what he said. I've already said that I made a bad mistake, it was indefensible, and I'm sorry about it. So I have nothing else to say except that I can't disagree with anyone else who wants to be critical of what I have already acknowledged was indefensible.

QUESTION: Do you think the Senate is the right format for --

CLINTON: That's not for me to say. That's not for me to say. I don't -- I've known Sen. Lieberman a long time, we've worked together on a lot of things, and I'm not going to get into commenting on that one way or the other. That's not -- it wouldn't be an appropriate thing for me to do.

QUESTION: But do you think it's helpful for him to make that kind of --

CLINTON: It's not for me to say. But there's nothing that he or anyone else could say in a personally critical way that I -- that I don't imagine that I would disagree with, since I have already said it myself, to myself. And I'm very sorry about it. There's nothing else I could say.

QUESTION: Mr. President, do you think an official censure by the Senate would be inappropriate?

CLINTON: I just don't want to comment on that. I shouldn't be commenting on that while I'm on this trip, and I don't think that -- my understanding is that was not a decision that was made or advocated clearly yesterday. So I don't want to get into that. If that's not an issue, I don't want to make it, one way or the other. I don't think that's appropriate right now.