Former President Bill Clinton dismissed Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s argument that he should have resigned the presidency due to his affair with Monica Lewinsky and his attempt to cover it up.
“You have to … really ignore what the context was,” Clinton said about Gillibrand, D-N.Y., to CBS in an interview that will air Sunday. “But, you know, she’s living in a different context. And she did it for different reasons. So, I — but I just disagree with her.”
Gillibrand’s comments came amid the initial uproar and reaction to allegations against former Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., late last year. Franken resigned from the Senate in January.
Gillibrand was an ally of the Clintons until the remarks last fall. She took over Hillary Clinton’s seat in the Senate when Clinton left to become secretary of state, and she supported Clinton’s presidential bid in 2016.
Clinton supporters reacted angrily to Gillibrand’s comments, and some called her a hypocrite” because she won the bakcing of the Clintons before her comments in November.
“Over 20 yrs you took the Clintons’ endorsements, money, and seat. Hypocrite,” said Phillippe Reines, a former top aide to the former secretary.
Gillibrand has also called for President Trump to resign the presidency due to allegations of sexual misconduct.
