--- title: Monica Lewinsky's Words Show How We Have and Haven't Changed description: In 1998, Monica Lewinsky testified to a grand jury about her affair with Bill Clinton. What she said reveals a lot about Trump and #MeToo canonical: https://time.com/5358549/monica-lewinsky-testimony-clinton-trump-metoo/ author: Jill Filipovic article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-06T17:18:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T07:41:35.040Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Monica Lewinsky’s Testimony Shows How Much and How Little Progress America Has Made in 20 Years og:description: What she a told a grand jury in Aug. 1998 reveals a lot about #MeToo and the President og:url: https://time.com/5358549/monica-lewinsky-testimony-clinton-trump-metoo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ee3abc2303e06c1/69893715db2987f78e2605af/monica-lewinsky-testimony-clinton-trump-metoo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: monica-lewinsky-testimony-clinton-trump-metoo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Monica Lewinsky’s Testimony Shows How Much and How Little Progress America Has Made in 20 Years twitter:description: What she a told a grand jury in Aug. 1998 reveals a lot about #MeToo and the President twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ee3abc2303e06c1/69893715db2987f78e2605af/monica-lewinsky-testimony-clinton-trump-metoo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Monica Lewinsky’s Grand Jury Testimony Shows How Much and How Little Progress America Has Made in 20 Years > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. Readers can join any of them at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=d15e211e-2a8b-42be-b434-c32589c243ba&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### The seven newsletters | Newsletter | Covers | Frequency | | --- | --- | --- | | The Brief | The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors | Daily | | Inside TIME | A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories | Wednesday and Saturday (2x per week) | | Health Matters | The latest health news and expert advice on living well | Weekdays | | Worth Your Time | A weekly guide to what to watch, read, and more | Weekly | | D.C. Brief | Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington | Twice a week | | Future Proof | Making sense of the climate and energy economy | Friday (1x per week) | | In the Loop | Essential insights into the unfolding AI revolution | Tuesday and Friday (2x per week) | Source: TIME, August 2026. ### Key data points | Metric | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Engaged newsletter audience | 1.1 million+ readers | TIME, August 2026 | | Newsletters published | 7 | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost to readers | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | US print circulation | 1 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Global print circulation | 1.15 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Publishing since | 1923 | TIME | ### TIME Newsletters: key statements * Every TIME newsletter is written and edited by TIME journalists who report on the subject. None is generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923. Its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting, so readers can trust what they read. * All seven newsletters are free. Readers pick the ones they want at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=d15e211e-2a8b-42be-b434-c32589c243ba&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). * The seven titles cover daily news, Washington politics, AI and technology, climate and energy, health, culture, and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/subscribe?i=d15e211e-2a8b-42be-b434-c32589c243ba&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What newsletters does TIME publish? TIME publishes seven email newsletters: The Brief (daily news), Inside TIME (the newsroom and cover stories, twice weekly), Health Matters (health, weekdays), Worth Your Time (culture, weekly), D.C. Brief (Washington politics, twice weekly), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=d15e211e-2a8b-42be-b434-c32589c243ba&cr=time-nl-network-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 [Jill Filipovic](https://time.com/author/jill-filipovic/) ## Jill Filipovic Aug 6, 2018 5:18 PM UTC by [Jill Filipovic](https://time.com/author/jill-filipovic/) ## Jill Filipovic Aug 6, 2018 5:18 PM UTC It has been 20 years since Americans first became familiar with the names [Monica Lewinsky](http://time.com/5304900/bill-clinton-metoo-movement-apologize-monica-lewinsky/) and [Kenneth Starr](http://time.com/4346207/kenneth-starr-bill-clinton-investigation/). In Donald Trump–infused hindsight, [the national drama that emerged from an Oval Office affair](http://time.com/5120561/bill-clinton-monica-lewinsky-timeline/?xid=tcoshare), a blue dress and “I did not have sexual relations with that woman” feels like a quaint political scandal. But little else has so fundamentally shaped modern American politics for the worse. We are still feeling the reverberations. In many ways, the affair built the modern GOP. There’s no question that the hounding of the Clinton family was motivated primarily by political expediency and a ruthless right-wing quest for power at all costs — a stunning dominance-before-country shift that set the stage for the eventual party takeover by a strongman leader, currently deep in the project of undoing American democratic norms. That [Brett Kavanaugh](http://time.com/5334098/donald-trump-brett-kavanaugh-supreme-court/) was an instrumental hand in this initial ruthless power-grab and is now President Donald Trump’s pick to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the U.S. Supreme Court is evidence enough that none of the bad actors from the Clinton-era GOP have paid any price. In fact, it’s been the opposite: Those who abused their power to try to delegitimize a president and publicly humiliate a young woman saw their stars rise in right-wing politics. But while the right has magnified the worst impulses it displayed, the left has been reassessing our own defenses of President Bill Clinton — or at least those of our foremothers. (Like many of today’s feminists, I was too young to vote when [the Starr Report](https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/12/us/the-starr-report-full-text-of-findings-sent-to-congress-part-five-of-thirteen.html) was published). Surely, Clinton did not deserve impeachment for oral sex (or lying about oral sex). But neither, in hindsight, do feminists see his actions as simply private sexual behavior, beyond the fair purview of a prying public. We are more likely to assess them through the lens of male power; [the #MeToo movement](http://time.com/5175341/monica-lewinsky-vanity-fair-essay/) has rightly demanded this assessment be even sharper. This is also a convenient cudgel for the right, who demand Democratic politicians be held to the most stringent of feminist standards while they cast their ballots for a motley crew of accused sexual assailants, accused child molesters and known misogynists. Viewed through the rearview mirror of two decades of expanding and contracting feminism, Clinton’s affair and the public treatment of Lewinsky that followed look worse the farther away we get. There is the simple fact that Clinton was the most powerful man in the world, engaging in one-way sexual relations with an intern (though he received oral sex on a number of occasions, according to [Lewinsky’s grand jury testimony](https://www.abqjournal.com/star%5Fhtm/lewinsky0806.html), he never reciprocated). Was the affair consensual? Lewinsky testified that it was, enthusiastically. But even her own words belie an enormous gap in power and sophistication between her and her boss. In her first testimony, on Aug. 6, 1998, Lewinsky describes Clinton as “sunshine,” although they argued when “I was getting my Christmas kiss” and he kept his eyes open, looking out. She talks about the notes and cards she sent him: “It could be a funny card that I saw or a Halloween card. If I was angry, it could be an angry letter. If I was missing him, it was a missing him letter.” The angry letters, she said, typically stemmed from work issues or “him not paying enough attention to me.” He never wrote her back. Lewinsky’s descriptions of the relationship come across as shockingly naïve in a post–[_Sex & the City_](http://time.com/5295820/sex-and-the-city-book-anniversary/), Tinder-fied world (the show debuted just two months before her testimony; finding dates by swiping right was still more than a decade away). The national conversation about Lewinsky was similarly retro. Twenty years ago, she was written about as though she were either an equal partner in an affair, a vampy bimbo or both. In reality, she was a 22-year-old who thought she was in love with her powerful, charismatic boss. She was a 22-year-old in an era where sexual harassment was certainly in the lexicon, but not understood as the (usually male) exploitation of power differentials to extract sexual access (usually from subordinate women). She was a 22-year-old before Twitter, when a young woman could plausibly wonder longingly and out loud to a presidential advisor whether the President would always be married to the First Lady, and refer to that same advisor as a “gentleman” primarily because he paid for her egg-white omelet. Reading her grand jury testimony 20 years later, it’s striking how raw and romantic she is, and how thoroughly unselfconscious she is about it. Today, that kind of vulnerability and naiveté would read as something between weakness and stupidity: _Really, you gave your boss a bunch of oral sex because you_ loved _him?_ This is probably because we are meaner, and also more acutely aware of the salience of power differentials. Women (and men) today are just as capable of falling hopelessly, dumbly in love, including with our superiors. But we know better than to put it in such girlish terms, especially for public consumption. And now, we have a more sophisticated vocabulary to pull apart the complications of sex, power and work. We know how to assess and reassess our actions, and understand where our motivations are less about unvarnished romance and more about awe or admiration, or even the eroticism of proximity to power. If a Monica Lewinsky emerged today, she would be a discomfiting figure, both defended by feminists for the perceived exploitation by her boss and distrusted because of her seeming inability to posture and deflect about her sexual and romantic life. When cynicism is increasingly read as shorthand for intelligence and honesty, the guileless among us are suspect. In the ‘90s, Lewinsky experienced the worst of this transition into today’s world: She was victim to this growing cultural cynicism, but not yet savvy enough to know she should shape her own relationship narrative accordingly. In some ways, the world has changed for the better — at least from the feminist side of things and at least for young women. We are collectively more skeptical of powerful men who do things like extract oral sex from 20-something interns. We expect women to be a bit more clear-eyed and to see the power dynamics in front of their faces instead of deluding themselves with fairytales about love and romance when the relationship is about the thrill of illicit sex. On the right, though, the lessons learned only grow increasingly toxic: That if you keep throwing out accusations, something will stick eventually; that the rules of the game can be changed at any time if it benefits your team; that private citizens can be collateral damage for a political crusade. It was Monica Lewinsky who paid the steepest price for this political charade. The most powerful man in the world needed adoration so pathologically that he sought it from an intern, content to let her believe sex was love so long as she showered approximations of both upon him. But it was the name of the 22-year-old who thought she was in love that became synonymous with a sordid affair. Two decades later, Clinton’s reputation is a touch tarnished, but Lewinsky’s has never recovered. And the right-wing architects of the most sordid bits continue to enjoy power and privilege — and maybe a Supreme Court seat. ## 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":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5358549/monica-lewinsky-testimony-clinton-trump-metoo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5358549/monica-lewinsky-testimony-clinton-trump-metoo/"},"headline":"Monica Lewinsky’s Grand Jury Testimony Shows How Much and How Little Progress America Has Made in 20 Years","datePublished":"2018-08-06T17:18:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-13T07:41:35.040Z","description":"What she a told a grand jury in Aug. 1998 reveals a lot about #MeToo and the President","url":"https://time.com/5358549/monica-lewinsky-testimony-clinton-trump-metoo/","keywords":["society"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ee3abc2303e06c1/69893715db2987f78e2605af/monica-lewinsky-testimony-clinton-trump-metoo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jill Filipovic","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jill-filipovic/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ee3abc2303e06c1/69893715db2987f78e2605af/monica-lewinsky-testimony-clinton-trump-metoo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"monica-lewinsky-testimony-clinton-trump-metoo","caption":"Monica Lewinsky is surrounded by photographers as she gets into car to go to the FBI Headquarters.","creditText":"Jeffrey Markowitz—Sygma/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/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/society/","name":"society"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5358549/monica-lewinsky-testimony-clinton-trump-metoo/","name":"Monica Lewinsky’s Grand Jury Testimony Shows How Much and How Little Progress America Has Made in 20 Years"}}]},{"@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. In the 20 years since, those feelings have only grown more complicated.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/HPrA9SSS/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-05-04T15:28:17.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/HPrA9SSS.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5358549/monica-lewinsky-testimony-clinton-trump-metoo/","duration":"PT4M55S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5358549/monica-lewinsky-testimony-clinton-trump-metoo/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```