Bill Clinton Backtracks on Lewinsky Apology Remarks — ‘I Got Hot Under the Collar Because of the Way the Questions Were Asked’

Monday at an appearance at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture to promote “The President is Missing,” the forthcoming novel he co-authored with James Patterson, former President Bill Clinton backtracked on his earlier comments he made to NBC’s Craig Melvin that aired on Monday’s “Today.”

In that NBC appearance, Clinton suggested that he did not owe former White House intern Monica Lewinsky an apology for the publicized affair he had with her.

Later, Clinton said that he, in fact, had apologized to Lewinsky and that’s his flippant demeanor was a result of “the way the questions were asked.”

“The truth is, the hubbub was I got hot under the collar because of the way the questions were asked,” Clinton said. “And I think what was lost were the two points that I made that are important to me. The suggestion was that I never apologized for what caused all the trouble for me 20 years ago. First point is, I did. I meant it then, I meant it now. I apologized to my family, to Monica Lewinsky and her family and to the American people before a panel of ministers in the White House, which was widely reported.”

“So I did that — I meant it then and I mean it today,” he added. “I live with it all the time. The second is that I support the Me Too movement and. Think it is long overdue, and I have always tried to support it in the decisions and policies that I advanced. Beyond that, I think it would be good if we could go on with the discussion.”

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