(21 Sep 1998) English/Nat
*THIS SCRIPT CLARIFIES INDIVIDUALS NAMED IN TESTIMONY AND GIVES THEIR STATUS*
EDITORS NOTE: THIS MATERIAL MAY CONTAIN SEXUALLY EXPLICIT MATERIAL AND STRONG LANGUAGE.
Four hours of sometimes combative grand jury testimony by U-S President Bill Clinton played out on televisions and radios around the world Monday.
Clinton was bitter about the tactics used in the Paula Jones lawsuit -- and he declined to specifically answer some questions about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
In the face of repeated questions from prosecutors and grand jurors, Clinton said he was determined to protect his own privacy, and that of his family and others.
Clinton sparred with prosecutors over the question about whether he had denied to his aides that any sexual activity -- including oral sex -- had taken place.
He said that since oral sex didn't amount to sexual relations -- under his understanding of the definition -- the question didn't deal with possible perjury.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
(Off camera) Mr. President, were you physically intimate with Monica Lewinsky.
"Mr. Bittman (Robert Bittman, Deputy Independent Counsel) I think maybe I can save you and the Grand Jury a lot of time if I read a statement which I think will make it clear what the nature of my relationship with Miss Lewinsky was, how it related to the testimony I gave, what I was trying to do in that testimony. And I think it will perhaps make it possible for you to ask even more relevant questions from your point of view and with your permission I'd like to read that statement."
(Off camera): "Absolutely agreed, Mr. President."
SUPER CAPTION: US President Bill Clinton
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"When I was alone with Miss Lewinsky on certain occasion in early 1996 and once in early 1997, I engaged in conduct that was wrong. These encounters did not consist of sexual intercourse, they did not constitute sexual relations as I understood that term to be defined at my January 17 1998 deposition but they did involve inappropriate intimate contact. These inappropriate encounters ended at my insistence in early 1997. I also had occasional telephone calls with Miss Lewinsky that included inappropriate sexual banter. I regret that what began as a friendship, came to include this conduct and I take full responsibility for my actions. While I will provide the Grand Jury whatever other information that I can, because of privacy considerations affecting my family, myself and others, and in an effort to preserve the dignity of the office I hold, this is all I will say about the specifics of these particular matters. I will try to answer, to the best of my ability, other questions, including questions about my relationship with Miss Lewinsky, questions about my understanding of the term sexual relations as I understood it to be defined at my January 17, 1998 deposition."
SUPER CAPTION: US President Bill Clinton
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"And I believe that is the definition that most ordinary Americans would give it, if you said Jane and Harry had a sexual relationship, then we're not talking people being drawn into a law suit and being given a definition and then a great effort to trick them in some way. But you're just talking about people in an ordinary conversation. I'll bet the Grand Jurors, if they were talking about two people they know and said they have a sexual relationship they meant they were sleeping together, they meant they were having intercourse together so I am not at all sure that this affidavit is not true -- that it was not true in Miss Lewinsky's mind at the time she swore it out."
Find out more about AP Archive: www.aparchive.c...
Twitter: / ap_archive
Facebook: / aparchives ​​
Instagram: / apnews
You can license this story through AP Archive: www.aparchive.c...