Monica Lewinsky implied that former President Bill Clinton suggested she deny their extramarital affair after she was named as a potential witness in Paula Jones’ sexual harassment case against the then-sitting president.
Lewinsky recalled this week during an episode of the A&E documentary series “The Clinton Affair” that Clinton phoned her at 2:30 a.m. one morning in late 1997 to tell the ex-White House intern, with whom he had instigated a sexual relationship in 1995 when she was 22 years old, that he had seen she was included on the witness list for Jones’ civil suit against him. Jones was an Arkansas state employee while Clinton was governor.
“I was petrified. I was frantic about my family, and this becoming public. Thankfully, Bill helped me lock myself back from that and he said I could probably sign an affidavit to get out of it, and he didn’t even know if a 100 percent I would be subpoenaed,” Lewinsky said, according to the Daily Mail.
However, Lewinsky said that Clinton never specifically told her to lie. He also did not encourage her to tell the truth either, she added.
In the docuseries, Lewinsky explains how she then sought legal advice from high-powered lawyer Frank Carter.
“Frank Carter explained to me, if I’d signed an affidavit denying having had an intimate relationship with the president it might mean I wouldn’t have to be deposed in the Paula Jones case,” Lewinsky said. “I did feel uncomfortable about it, but I felt it was the right thing to do, ironically, right? So, the right thing to do, to break the law.”
Lewinsky and Clinton’s denials of their sexual encounters gave rise to successful impeachment proceedings by the House of Representatives in 1998 before the Senate acquitted Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice charges. Clinton settled the suit with Jones that same year for $850,000, but maintains he did not harass her.
Lewinsky, now 45, has become advocate for anti-bullying initiatives.
