--- title: Kirsten Gillibrand: Bill Clinton Should Have Resigned Following Monica Lewinsky Affair description: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, said that she believes President Bill Clinton should have stepped down from the presidency. canonical: https://time.com/5029014/bill-clinton-should-have-resigned-after-monica-lewinsky-affair-democratic-senator-says/ author: Nash Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-17T13:04:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:17:28.259Z article:section: Politics og:title: Bill Clinton Should Have Resigned After Monica Lewinsky Affair, Democratic Senator Says og:description: “I think that is the appropriate response," Gillibrand told the New York Times. og:url: https://time.com/5029014/bill-clinton-should-have-resigned-after-monica-lewinsky-affair-democratic-senator-says/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52d0edc13bb58bce/6988e63c22fb8543f0e23ba9/gettyimages-874627834.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5297 og:image:height: 2980 og:image:alt: Sexual Harassment Presser og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bill Clinton Should Have Resigned After Monica Lewinsky Affair, Democratic Senator Says twitter:description: “I think that is the appropriate response," Gillibrand told the New York Times. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52d0edc13bb58bce/6988e63c22fb8543f0e23ba9/gettyimages-874627834.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bill Clinton Should Have Resigned After Monica Lewinsky Affair, Democratic Senator Says > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Nov 17, 2017 1:04 PM UTC  Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., holds a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center to introduce legislation that aims to address and prevent sexual harassment for Capitol Hill staff on November 15, 2017. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., holds a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center to introduce legislation that aims to address and prevent sexual harassment for Capitol Hill staff on November 15, 2017. Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call,Inc. by [Nash Jenkins](https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/) ## Nash Jenkins Nov 17, 2017 1:04 PM UTC Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, [said](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/16/us/politics/gillibrand-bill-clinton-sexual-misconduct.html?%5Fr=0) on Thursday that she believes President Bill Clinton should have stepped down from the presidency when it was learned he had had an extramarital affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. “Yes, I think that is the appropriate response,” Gillibrand, who holds the Senate seat previously occupied by Hillary Clinton, told the New York _Times_ when asked. Gillibrand, who backed Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election, was emphasizing that the tenor of the national conversation around sexual conduct and misconduct has changed drastically in the twenty years that have passed. “And I think in light of this conversation, we should have a very different conversation about President Trump, and a very different conversation about allegations against him,” she told the _Times._ Her conversation with the _Times_ took place just hours after a California radio host publicly accused Gillibrand’s colleague, Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, of forcibly kissing and groping her in 2006. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5029014/bill-clinton-should-have-resigned-after-monica-lewinsky-affair-democratic-senator-says/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5029014/bill-clinton-should-have-resigned-after-monica-lewinsky-affair-democratic-senator-says/"},"headline":"Bill Clinton Should Have Resigned After Monica Lewinsky Affair, Democratic Senator Says","datePublished":"2017-11-17T13:04:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:17:28.259Z","description":"“I think that is the appropriate response,\" Gillibrand told the New York Times.","url":"https://time.com/5029014/bill-clinton-should-have-resigned-after-monica-lewinsky-affair-democratic-senator-says/","keywords":["Congress","Bill Clinton","kirsten gillibrand","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52d0edc13bb58bce/6988e63c22fb8543f0e23ba9/gettyimages-874627834.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nash Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/p-nash-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52d0edc13bb58bce/6988e63c22fb8543f0e23ba9/gettyimages-874627834.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Sexual Harassment Presser","caption":"Sexual Harassment Presser","creditText":"Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call,Inc.","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5029014/bill-clinton-should-have-resigned-after-monica-lewinsky-affair-democratic-senator-says/","name":"Bill Clinton Should Have Resigned After Monica Lewinsky Affair, Democratic Senator Says"}}]}] ```