--- title: Bill Clinton Addresses Monica Lewinsky Comments on Colbert description: Former President Bill Clinton walked back his comments on Monica Lewinsky and #MeToo during a Colbert Show appearance with Stephen Colbert. canonical: https://time.com/5302846/bill-clinton-colbert-show/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-06T12:05:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T19:30:01.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: ‘I Was Mad at Me.’ Bill Clinton Addresses Those Monica Lewinsky and #MeToo Comments og:description: 'It wasn't my finest hour' og:url: https://time.com/5302846/bill-clinton-colbert-show/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3cb9a66f7f4b9179/698932687cdbac25ddd5d157/bill-clinton.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Today - Season 67 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: ‘I Was Mad at Me.’ Bill Clinton Addresses Those Monica Lewinsky and #MeToo Comments twitter:description: 'It wasn't my finest hour' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3cb9a66f7f4b9179/698932687cdbac25ddd5d157/bill-clinton.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # ‘I Was Mad at Me.’ Bill Clinton Addresses Those Monica Lewinsky and #MeToo Comments > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=2b0ff21b-2745-4a29-82e8-025e0db69fd4&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: A Visual Timeline of the Monica Lewinsky Scandal [Watch (HLS stream): A Visual Timeline of the Monica Lewinsky Scandal](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/HPrA9SSS.m3u8) (4:55)  _Published 2018-05-04. In 1998, Americans were divided over Bill Clinton's affair with a White House intern. In the 20 years since, those feelings have only grown more complicated._  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 7:30 PM UTCPublished: Jun 6, 2018 12:05 PM UTC In 1998, Americans were divided over Bill Clinton's affair with a White House intern. In the 20 years since, those feelings have only grown more complicated.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 7:30 PM UTCPublished: Jun 6, 2018 12:05 PM UTC Stephen Colbert gave Bill Clinton a “do-over” in answering questions about the #MeToo movement and Monica Lewinsky when the former President appeared on his show Tuesday. An [interview on NBC’s _Today_ show](http://time.com/5300017/bill-clinton-today-show-monica-lewinsky-me-too-movement/) that aired Monday turned heated when Craig Melvin asked Clinton about his affair with Lewinsky, then a White House intern, during his time in office. Clinton appeared to say he would not apologize to Lewinsky and that he felt he had handled the aftermath of their affair appropriately — comments he later walked back on _The Late Show_. “They had to distill it, and it looked like I was saying I didn’t apologize and I had no intention to, and I was mad at me,” Clinton told the comedian. “Here’s what I want to say: It wasn’t my finest hour. But the important thing is, that was a very painful thing that happened 20 years ago, and I apologized to my family, to Monica Lewinsky and her family and to the American people.” When asked by Colbert why he appeared to find questions about his past surprising in the era of #MeToo, Clinton said he didn’t like the NBC interview because “it started with an assertion that, basically, I had never apologized, as if I had never tried to come to grips with it and as if there had been no attempt to hold me accountable.” NBC News’ _Today_ released [Melvin’s full interview with Clinton](https://www.today.com/video/watch-full-interview-with-bill-clinton-and-james-patterson-1249289795644) in response to his comments. _Today_ co-anchor Savannah Guthrie also [discussed the incident with Melvin on air](https://www.today.com/video/bill-clinton-my-reaction-to-monica-lewinsky-questions-wasn-t-my-finest-hour-1249305155771), mentioning Clinton’s “false allegations” about the interview. “That must be a little bit surreal for you to hear the former president talking about you, but I think the tape speaks for itself,” Guthrie said. “You of course did not assert that he never apologized, you asked whether he apologized.” Clinton, who appeared on the show as part of his book tour with [_The President Is Missing_](http://time.com/5300857/bill-clinton-james-patterson-the-president-is-missing/)co-author James Patterson, went on to address the #MeToo movement more broadly, voicing his support for it. “I still believe this #MeToo movement is long overdue, necessary and should be supported,” he said. “I’d like to think we’re all getting better as we go along.” > [](https://twitter.com/colbertlateshow/status/1004145300523618304) ## Transcript In 1998, Americans were divided over Bill Clinton's affair with a White House intern. Here's a guide to how it happened. In 1994, former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones sued Bill Clinton for sexual harassment, arguing that he propositioned her when he was governor. A legal group working on the case in 1998 received an anonymous tip that the president had a relationship with the Lewinsky and intern first chief of staff that piqued their interest, since it could be used to argue this was a pattern of behavior. On January 7th, 1998, the Lewinsky filed a sworn affidavit in the Jones lawsuit saying she had never had a relationship with Clinton, but she did not know that a close friend, Linda Tripp, had been keeping conversations with her about the affair. Five days after the affidavit was filed, Tripp gave independent counsel Kenneth Starr, 20 hours of taped phone calls. Starr had been investigating the Clintons of a real estate venture known as Whitewater, but the recordings allowed him to get permission on January 16th to investigate whether Lewinsky had lied under oath in a deposition in the Jones suit the next day. Clinton denied the affair as well. This turned out to be a key moment of his presidency. That same day, online news outlet The Drudge Report published a story claiming that Newsweek was sitting on a story about Clinton's affair with an intern. It later published another story that Lewinsky had a blue cocktail dress with Clinton's bodily fluids on it. Clinton again denied the affair, this time on nationally broadcast television, saying, I. Did not have sexual relations with that woman. Ms.. Lewinsky. On January 27th, Hillary Clinton echoed the denial, arguing in an interview on the Today Show that the charges came from a vast. Right wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president. As the month drew to a close, a federal judge ruled that the Jones lawyers could not look into the Lewinsky claim as part of their lawsuit. But the Starr investigation continued on a separate path. In early February, Lewinsky's mother appeared before a grand jury. She had been suspected of encouraging her daughter to lie to Jones's lawyers. After three days of questioning, Starr granted her immunity in exchange for handing over the blue dress. As the summer began, the July issue of Vanity Fair appeared on newsstands featuring glamor shots of Lewinsky, a PR decision that was harshly criticized. On July 27, Lewinsky met with Starr's prosecutors in New York City, and they announced an immunity deal for her the next day. Clinton then agreed to testify before the grand jury voluntarily. In August, the president provided a blood sample to compare his DNA to the stains in the blue dress. That night, Lewinsky and Clinton testified to the grand jury with the president's testimony taken by closed circuit TV. He admitted to inappropriate intimate contact, but also said that he had given accurate testimony previously. Famously quibbling over the definition of is. Later that evening, he spoke to the nation in a televised address. 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 their information. Indeed, I did have a relationship with Miss Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact. It was wrong. The next month, Congress received two copies of Stars 445 page report on the investigation and supporting evidence. The Star Report, along with transcripts of Lewinsky trips, were later released to the public. On October eight, the House of Representatives voted to begin an impeachment inquiry. Despite the controversy and the impeachment, President Clinton remained popular in polls and Hillary Clinton saw her poll numbers rise as well. During the midterm elections in November, Democrats did unusually drop in mid-November. Clinton settled the sexual harassment lawsuit with Jones, which he kickstarted the scandal, paying her $850,000 and admitting nothing. During the lame duck session of Congress in the summer 19th, the House voted to impeach Clinton and to charges that he committed perjury in his August 17 federal grand jury testimony and that he prevented, obstructed and impeded the administration of justice. As 1999 open, the Senate began its constitutionally mandated impeachment trial with the Supreme Court's chief justice presiding for February 1213 months after the scandal began. The Senate voted to acquit Clinton on both charges. The respondent, William Jefferson Clinton, president of the United States, is not guilty as charged. Later that day. Clinton apologized to the American public in an address from the White House. I want to say again to the American people how profoundly sorry I am for what I said and did to trigger these events and the great burden they have imposed on the Congress and on the American people. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5302846/bill-clinton-colbert-show/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5302846/bill-clinton-colbert-show/"},"headline":"‘I Was Mad at Me.’ Bill Clinton Addresses Those Monica Lewinsky and #MeToo Comments","datePublished":"2018-06-06T12:05:04.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T19:30:01.000Z","description":"Things got heated during an NBC interview","url":"https://time.com/5302846/bill-clinton-colbert-show/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3cb9a66f7f4b9179/698932687cdbac25ddd5d157/bill-clinton.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3cb9a66f7f4b9179/698932687cdbac25ddd5d157/bill-clinton.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Today - Season 67","caption":"Today - Season 67","creditText":"NBC—NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images","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/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5302846/bill-clinton-colbert-show/","name":"‘I Was Mad at Me.’ Bill Clinton Addresses Those Monica Lewinsky and #MeToo Comments"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A Visual Timeline of the Monica Lewinsky Scandal","description":"In 1998, Americans were divided over Bill Clinton's affair with a White House intern. 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