Hillary Clinton thinks that her husband Bill did not abuse his power when, as president, he got an extra-marital relationship with trainee Monica Lewinsky. “She was an adult,” said the former first lady in conversation with CBS Sunday Morning.
Clinton’s remark is especially remarkable given the current #MeToo movement, of which she has shown herself to be a fervent champion. When asked if her husband should have resigned his duties as president after the affair had come to light, Hillary said “absolutely not”.
According to Hillary, her then 49-year-old husband had not abused his position, because the 22-year-old Lewinsky was already “an adult.” “There has been an investigation and that’s the end”, she quickly made it.
Hillary then tried to distract her husband’s attention and focused on the many allegations of sexual misconduct by current President Donald Trump. “Let me ask you this: where is the investigation of the incumbent president, against whom innumerable accusations have been made, which he rejects, denies and ridicules?” Said Clinton.
Sexism in politics
Clinton was interviewed by CBS in response to the record number of women who have aspired to a role in American politics since the #MeToo movement. According to Clinton, however, sexism still plays a leading role in politics.
She pointed to the hearing of candidate judge Brett Kavanaugh in the Senate and his aggressive interrogation of the Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein and Amy Klobuchar. “He did not do that with the men,” Clinton said.
Clinton said that the same sexism was the cause of her loss of the presidential election in 2016, as was the Russian interference and the investigation of her e-mails. “When you look back at the way Trump started to debate me, it was just drenched in sexism. Laughing at me because ‘the schoolgirl’ had prepared herself well for a debate.”
