All language subtitles for How.It.Really.Happened.S02E09_English

♪♪

What overview is
the biggest misconception

do you think people
have about you?

[ Inhales deeply ]

Probably that
I went to Washington

with an agenda
to seduce the president

and then expose
that relationship

so I could become famous.

I had really gone
to Washington

as a short pit stop

on my way
to graduate school.

And you wanted to
be a what?

Forensic psychologist.

Ironically,

thought I might
go into criminology

and work at the FBI,
but I --

You could've investigated
yourself.
[ Laughs ]

Yeah.

♪♪

♪♪

Welcome to
"How It Really Happened."

I'm Hill Harper.

In 1995, 21-year-old White House
intern Monica Lewinsky

and President Bill Clinton
began an affair --

secret rendezvous
in the Oval Office,

saucy phone calls,

and a certain dark blue dress

all kept under wraps
until Lewinsky confided

in a woman
she thought was a friend,

Linda Tripp.

Tonight, Part 2

of our look back at the
Clinton/Lewinsky scandal,

the 13 months
that crippled Washington

all beginning on Wednesday,
January 21, 1998,

when the country woke up
to the shocking news.

Here's how it really happened.

♪♪

The allegations are false,

and I would never ask anybody

to do anything other
than tell the truth.

We will give you as many answers
as we can as soon as we can

at the appropriate time
consistent with our obligation

to also cooperate
with the investigations.

Troubling allegations here
at the White House this morning

about the president's
personal conduct

inside the White House.

My initial reaction?
Are you kidding?

How could anybody
be that stupid?

He's accused of doing what?

CNN has confirmed that

Whitewater Independent Counsel
Kenneth Starr

will now investigate whether
Mr. Clinton had an affair

with a former White House intern

and encouraged the young woman
to lie about it.

When the story broke,

we went from zero
to 100 miles an hour,

it felt like, in a nanosecond.

-Mike!
-Mike!

Goldberg: You're always
looking for something

that's never happened before.

This had never happened before.

Bombshell allegations
rocked the White House --

charges of sex, lies,
and audio tapes.

Morris: Those of us who
were close to Bill Clinton

knew that he saw other women,

but for him to be carrying on
in the White House

with a woman this young
was just shocking.

Sesno: Linda Tripp, at first,
befriended Monica Lewinsky

and ultimately turned on her,
unbeknownst to Lewinsky.

Linda starts recording
their phone calls,

and these phone calls go
on and on.

Sesno: To have Monica Lewinsky's
voice saying these things,

it was incontrovertible
evidence.

What began as a search
for evidence

in the Paula Jones
sexual harassment case

has mushroomed into
another investigation

of the president
and his personal conduct.

The broader political culture
was inching towards this moment.

The accusations
against Clarence Thomas,

the situation
that drove Gary Hart out

of the presidential campaign,

all of that was prologue

that really did set the stage

for the Lewinsky cataclysm.

We weren't quite sure how it was
going to play out politically,

but we knew we were in
for a ride.

What word is
best used to describe

the atmosphere
inside the White House

as it pertains
to what's going on?

One aide here joked
with me earlier today.

He said, "Hey,
I'm sleeping like a baby.

I wake up every two hours,
and I cry."

Larry: When you first
saw your name mentioned,

do you remember
your first reaction?

How'd you handle that?

I don't know
that I did handle it.

I mean, I -- I --

I cried a lot.

I freaked out a lot.

I mean, it was just --

It was scary.

Andersen: When the scandal
went public, she was devastated,

and at one point, actually,

she said she considered
taking her own life.

What was that like, by the
way,
during the hectic days

when you would
go out in the street?

It -- It was so --
You couldn't go out, right?

Oh, no.

[ Indistinct shouting ]

-Hey, get back.
-Can't anybody get a picture?

Borger: She was
just a young kid,

just a young girl,

and I'm sure
it was a horrific event

for her to go through.

I can't imagine.

Lewinsky: I was
completely devastated.

I mean, can you imagine

the kind of guilt
that you would feel?

She was more concerned about him
than about herself.

Blitzer: Even those
presidential aides concede

that this crisis
is of such a scale that,

unless quickly resolved,

it could undermine
Mr. Clinton's ability to govern.

♪♪

It's clear that the president's
whole manner and demeanor

was quite different.

He seemed stunned.

He seemed set back.

It was about noon,
and my pager went off,

and it was the president,
so I called,

and he said, "Have you
seen the morning paper?"

And I said, "Yeah."

He said, "Ever since I've come
here to the White House,

I've had to shut my body
down sexually, I mean,

but I screwed up with this girl.

I didn't do what
they said I did,

but I think I went so far that
I can't prove my innocence."

I then said, "Well,
you have to be careful, sir,

because it's the cover-up
that'll get you in trouble,

not the initial deed.

Remember, Nixon was impeached
for covering up Watergate,

not for the original burglary."

Clinton figures unless
they could prove he lied,

people would probably
forgive him,

and he'd be able to survive.

President Clinton's strategy
here goes against everything

that anyone ever says
about a crisis.

Morris: The White House
strategy for dealing

with personal scandals
was very important,

and Monica Lewinsky
was only the latest

in a long string
of these scandals.

♪♪

Franken: When he first
ran for office,

those in the women's movement

considered the Republicans
to be way out there,

so Bill Clinton made it a point

to include his wife,
Hillary Clinton,

saying to the world
that it's a package deal.

Solis Doyle: Hillary
was the personification

of Bill Clinton's stance
on women.

He was about empowering women,
and he married one.

Democratic
presidential candidate

Bill Clinton is
denying allegations

he carried on
an extramarital affair

with a former nightclub singer.

Yes, I was Bill Clinton's lover
for 12 years,

and for the past two years,
I have lied to the press

about our relationship
to protect him.

The truth is...

I loved him.

Solis Doyle:
The Gennifer Flowers episode

was truly the one that
hit us the hardest.

King: You can go back
to that moment.

That is your playbook

for Clinton's response
to crisis.

Hit back hard

to cast up a lot of doubt
and confuse people.

We had a conference call in
the campaign manager's office,

and they told us,
"We're going to fight it,"

and so we fought it.

Franken: Obviously,
his campaign was on the line,

and so they agreed to do

a "60 Minutes" interview.

She's alleging

and has described in some detail
in a supermarket tabloid

what she calls a 12-year affair
with you.

It --
That allegation is false.

They walked right up
to the line.

"We have had problems
in our marriage.

I think the American people
know what we're talking about.

We're not going to get
into the details,"

and then the most powerful
part of all --

I'm not sitting here
as some little woman

standing by my man,
like Tammy Wynette.

I'm sitting here
because I love him,

and I respect him,

and I honor what
he's been through

and what we've been
through together.

It was --
It was just a trademark,

stellar, you know,

historic moment
in American politics.

If it weren't for
that interview,

I don't think
he would have survived

much less won the nomination.

Andersen: Clearly,
the Gennifer Flowers Scandal

was a sign of things to come,
unfortunately,

for the Clintons
and the country.

There was a general agreement

that he should basically
come out fighting,

and that's what they did.

I want you to listen to me.

I'm going to say this again.

Larry: Were you shocked
when you heard about Monica?

Yeah, and I was glad, too,
because I was thinking,

"Well, good, this is gonna,
you know, show people

that I'm not just
making this up,

and it's still happening
right now

even in the Oval Office,

our house,
the people's house."

Explosive accusations are
flying around Washington today,

and the president
is reportedly outraged.

♪♪

Sesno: The remarkable thing was,
that on the day the news broke,

the president had
scheduled interviews,

and one of them was
with Jim Lehrer of PBS.

Of course, we all thought

the White House would pull
the plug on it.

No, the president
wanted to go forth.

Lehrer: Kenneth Starr,
Independent Counsel,

is investigating allegations
that you suborn perjury

by encouraging
a 24-year-old woman,

former White House intern,
to lie under oath

in a civil deposition

about her having had
an affair with you.

Mr. President,
is that true?

That is not true.

That is not true.

I did not ask anyone
to tell anything

other than the truth.

There is no improper
relationship.

Isikoff: He says there is
no sexual relationship,

which the tense
a lot of people seized on.

There's no
sexual relationship now,

but what about before?

The guy is, how shall I say it,
quite the wordsmith.

The Jim Lehrer moment was
instructive to me.

What I'm trying to do...

is to contain
my natural impulses

and get back to work.

If you look at the interview
and watch it,

how uncomfortable he was.

He kept looking down.

Bill Clinton is
an eye-contact guy.

It freaked me out.

It's just like,
"There's something wrong."

Andersen:
Bill consulted his friend,

the Hollywood producer,
Harry Thomason,

and Thomason
was honest with him,

and he said, "Look,
that was pretty mealymouthed,

and you really should
come out swinging,"

and five days later,

that's exactly
what the president did.

Hillary: Welcome to
the White House.

It is a pleasure
to have all of you

join the president
and the vice president.

King: So the following Monday,

the president has one of
his events in the White House.

This one was about education.

This is a cookie-cutter
White House event.

Thank you very much.
Thank you.

Please be seated.

I was the network pool reporter.

In fact,
I was the only TV reporter

in the room that day.

This has been
the most important year

in a generation
for education reform.

So everybody is there.

Microphones,
cameras are rolling.

Hillary is standing
right next to him.

Now, I have to go back to work
on my State of the Union speech,

and I worked on it till
pretty late last night.

He draws his line in the sand.

But I want to say one thing
to the American people.

I want you to listen to me.
I'm going to say this again.

I did not have sexual relations

with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky.

As he was saying that,
he was looking right in my eyes

because I was right next
to the camera.

I never told anybody to lie
not a single time, never.

I hollered back at the TV set,
and I said, "What are you doing?

You're putting your neck
in a noose on this thing."

These allegations are false,

and I need to go back to work
for the American people.

That became one
of the great moments

in television history.

I said, "That's it.
The guy is hosed.

H-He's done for.

That's it. It's over."

Because how in the heck is
he going to get out of this one?

When you point your finger
at the American people,

you better be telling the truth.

You better be.

It probably wasn't exactly what

I would have recommended,

given the facts.

When he made that statement,
by the way,

how did you feel --
that famous...
Right.

..."I have never"?
Well, I -- I --

I certainly didn't want him
to lose his job and --

But there was also certainly
a part of me that was hurt.

I did not have sexual relations
with that woman.

With that emphasis
and that anger and --

and that emotion, must --

He must be telling the truth,
right?

♪♪

President Clinton's denial today

of the charges
threatening his presidency

is the strongest
we've heard from him.

Blitzer: It sounded like,
you know, it was over,

but we all know it wasn't over.

The whole defense really shifted
in a very smart way,

and it shifted largely
by Hillary Clinton.

♪♪

Andersen: The day after
the president's denial,

Hillary went on
"The Today Show."

Morning.
Morning.

Solis Doyle: We couldn't
cancel the interview

because it would seem like
we were hiding something,

and it would give credence
to the story.

And she wasn't going
to concede an inch.

Her intuition is
always to fight --

fight, fight, fight,
fight, fight.

The great story here for anybody
willing to find it

and write about it
and explain it is

this vast
right-wing conspiracy

that has been conspiring
against my husband

since the day
he announced for president.

When she first uttered
the words right-wing conspiracy,

it was as if Hillary Clinton
kind of reset the storyline,

and she reset it

from the tawdry
Monica Lewinsky affair

to, "These people are out
to get my husband."

I really didn't have
a lot of trouble

believing that
this was one more

in a long series
of accusations

because, by that time,

I'd been accused
of so many things.

She wasn't entirely wrong.

There was
a right-wing conspiracy,

but they framed a guilty man.

If Hillary Clinton had not
defended her husband,

I think the women's groups
would've gone the other way.

She gave him a lifeline,
and without that lifeline,

I don't know
where he'd be today.

King: As this is
just bubbling up --

Oh, and by the way,
it's Tuesday night,

and it's time to give
the State of the Union address.

Mr. Speaker,

the president
of the United States!

[ Applause ]

Borger: All I remember thinking,

"He can't possibly give
his State of the Union speech

when this scandal
was happening."

Were they going to applaud
or not?

The presidency hung in
the balance at that moment.

Ladies and gentlemen,

the state of our union
is strong.

[ Applause ]

And the minute they applauded
in the opening,

I knew that we would
survive this

and that this would not derail
his presidency...

at least not now.

With barely 700 days left
in the 20th century,

this is not a time to rest.

After Bill Clinton gave that
State of the Union,

I thought, "He's in it."

He was going to manage this
like a campaign,

and he was going to win it.

[ Cheers and applause ]

I'm you.

I'm just like you.

Toobin: Starr's complete focus
began to be,

"Break Monica Lewinsky."

Larry: Was it emotionally
tough to testify?

Larry: Did you not want to see
him leave office?

Flowers: I would want to see him
leave office if, in fact,

he did encourage her to lie
in a deposition.

That's obviously illegal,

and we don't need someone
in power that would --

would participate
in that kind of activity.

He certainly encouraged me,
so do I think he would do it?

Yes, I do.

The Whitewater
Independent Counsel

took these latest allegations
against the president

to a higher level today.

Less than a week after
the original story broke,

a federal grand jury
had been impaneled

to investigate
what exactly went on

in the White House.

Ruh-roh.

♪♪

We did what anybody conducting
a federal investigation

would do.

We're testing the statement
made that,

"I was never alone
with this woman

in the White House,"

and we're calling anybody

who might have knowledge
of that.

Woman: Clinton personal
secretary Betty Currie...

Man: Monica Lewinsky's mother,
Marcia Lewis.

Man #2: Clinton pal
Vernon Jordan.

Man #3: Pentagon staffer
Linda Tripp.

I'm you.

I'm just like you.

I'm an average American

who found herself in a situation
not of her own making.

As this went on and on
and on, again,

either Ken Starr was a jerk

and was, like, just deciding
he was going to drag everybody

who set foot inside
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

through the grand jury,

or he must have something.

You cannot defile
the Temple of Justice.

Starr's complete focus
began to be,

"Break Monica Lewinsky."

Get her to tell the truth

about her relationship
with Bill Clinton

and, thus, turn on him.

She wanted immunity
from prosecution.

Why didn't you
speak out more then?

I didn't know what was going
to happen to me.

Was I going to
be indicted?

Was I going to
get immunity?

Toobin: Finally, after lengthy,

torturous negotiations,

Monica Lewinsky
is given immunity

and goes in to testify

before the grand jury.

♪♪

That was now
the news event of the year.

Man: Monica Lewinsky herself

arrived
at the Federal Courthouse

this morning to begin testifying
to Ken Starr's grand jury.

Blitzer: She spent nine hours
inside of that courthouse,

and she did allege that --
that she had a certain kind

of sexual relationship
with the president.

Larry: Was it emotionally
tough to testify?

It was --
It was difficult for me because

I have-- I haven't dealt
with those emotions

or really thought

about the events of that time
for a while.

It was just --
It was stressful.

Woman: Please welcome

the president
of the United States.

Man: At the other end
of Pennsylvania Avenue,

President Clinton talked about
gun control in the Rose Garden

as if nothing else was going on.

On that day, Bill Clinton,
like presidents do,

holds a public ceremony
in the Rose Garden,

and he wears a tie
that Monica Lewinsky later says

is one that she gave him,

and she says she interpreted
his decision to wear that tie

as a signal to her that
he was still on her side.

Stay strong.

Bill Clinton, of course, says

it was just some tie
in his closet.

Bill: I don't believe
she gave me this tie.

I don't remember
her giving me this tie,

and I had absolutely no thought
of this in my mind

when I wore it.

♪♪

Larry: Are you saying
that no dress,

there never would have
been an admission

by the president
of any relationship?

You're asking me that
seriously?

No, I'm --
I'm asking you, yeah.

Well, I think --
I think the facts are --

are clear on that.

Sesno: What made it impossible
for Bill Clinton

to run and to lie

and to dissemble any longer
really were two things.

One was the clarity
and specificity

of Monica Lewinsky's testimony,

and the second thing,
the killer thing,

exhibit "A,"

was that blue dress.

Larry: What reason
did Monica keep it?

I testified before
the grand jury

that it was my opinion

that Monica would hold on to it
for reasons of security.

So, she was afraid?
I think so.

Of course, Monica had a dress.

She'd kept the dress
at Linda Tripp's urging,

and that dress had semen stains
on it,

and the question is,

were those President Clinton's?

Judd: So, prosecutors went
over to the White House.

They sat with the president
as his blood was drawn.

Toobin: It is impossible
to overstate how important

the dress is as a piece
of evidence

because it creates
mathematical certainty

that there was
a sexual relationship

between the two of them.

Absent that dress,
in my opinion,

Bill Clinton would be denying
a relationship to this day.

At that point, Clinton knew

that there was no way out.

He couldn't deny it anymore.

Good evening.

This afternoon, in this room,
from this chair,

I testified before the office
of Independent Counsel

and the grand jury.

Larry: Was it,
as has been reported,

one-sided,
in that you were the giver,

and he was the taker?

That's absolutely false,

and I think that's another
big misconception

that I certainly hope
is cleared.

He gave as much
as he took?

[ Stammers, chuckles ]

I mean, to put it --
There's no other way to put
it.

I -- It was a mutual
relationship.

It was a mutual
physical relationship,

and emotional.

Welcome back to
"How It Really Happened."

I'm Hill Harper.

August 1998,

President Clinton
was set to testify

before Ken Starr's prosecutors
in a grand jury

looking into allegations
of obstruction of justice

and perjury.

He knew they had that blue
Gap dress and his DNA,

and there'd be no more
denying the affair,

but like every other moment

in this Clinton/Lewinsky saga,

nothing would go quite
as anticipated.

Larry: Would you know
why he would not have had

a sexual act of the kind
we're talking

with Ms. Lewinsky?

'Course, she certainly,
in her testimony,

said that
she was amenable.

Bill came to me one evening
way into our relationship --

several years after
it had started --

and told me that he had found
something in the bible

that led him to believe
that oral sex

did not determine that someone
had committed adultery.

At which time, I said,
"Don't be ridiculous,"

and do not want -- you know,
don't even discuss that with me.

I'm not gonna go there.

So, if he truly believes that,
and I think he does,

he then felt, I guess,

that he was not
committing adultery.

Man: Grand jury's
in session.

♪♪

I think when it came to
preparing for the testimony,

there was a lot of discussion.

First, should he testify?

Should he try to exert
executive privilege?

Should he take
the fifth amendment?

And -- And all of those
suggestions were rejected

by -- by him,

and they wouldn't have
gone down very well

with the American public.

I do.

Bill Clinton insisted

on doing a video deposition,

but that may have been
a political miscalculation

because that video tape
of his deposition

turned out to be one
of the defining memories

of his presidency.

Wisenberg: Good afternoon,
Mr. President.

Good afternoon.

Would you please
state your full name

for the record, sir?

William Jefferson Clinton.

Wisenberg: The people
who seek to demonize Ken Starr

and say that he was out
to destroy the president,

many of them don't know
about an interesting fact.

King: When Bill Clinton sat in
that chair and took that oath,

he knew, not everything,

but he knew the highlights
of what Ken Starr knew.

Judge Starr kind of made
it clear through channels,

"Don't lie in your
grand jury testimony.

We know what happened."

He didn't have to do that.

I did not wish to do the work
of the Jones' lawyers.

I deplored what they were doing.

Did I want this to come out? No.

Was I embarrassed about it? Yes.

Now, a big mistake we made was,

we agreed to
a four-hour time limit.

We knew the president was going
to give very long answers,

which he's very good at,

and so that limited
what we could do

in terms of trying to get
to the bottom of what happened.

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.

His entire argument was
based on the fact that,

according to
his definition of sex,

he hadn't had any with Monica.

And I said, "You knew when
your lawyer said that, that,

'There is no sex of any kind,'
that that was false,

and you did that in front
of a federal judge,"

and that's when the president
kind of cocked his head

and looked at me and said...

It depends upon what
the meaning of the word "is" is.

Top advisers describe
the president

as contrite but confident,

most of all,

eager to get his testimony
over with.

The minute he testified,
the president also had to make

something of an apology
to the public.

Larry:
Tonight, a critical moment
in American History --

In one hour,
President Clinton speaks

to the nation live
from the White House.

Knowing the president as I do,
which is pretty well,

I suspect that, right now,
he's in a room by himself

and is making his own notes
and -- and -- and --

and working on --
working on it right to the end.

Man: In about 5 seconds.

[ Inhales deeply ]

Good evening.

This afternoon, in this room,
from this chair,

I testified before the office
of Independent Counsel

and the grand jury.

I answered their questions
truthfully,

including questions
about my private life,

questions no American citizen
would ever want to answer.

Andersen: The president offered
a very strange apology.

He said he'd acted
inappropriately.

Indeed, I did have
a relationship

with Ms. Lewinsky
that was not appropriate.

In fact, it was wrong.

I misled people,

including even my wife.

I deeply regret that.
[ Crowd murmurs ]

If you listen to it,
you'll see that he's somebody

who's -- who's got to
admit something that --

that is an embarrassment to him.

I can only tell you
I was motivated by many factors.

First,
by a desire to protect myself

from the embarrassment
of my own conduct.

He needed a reason
for not telling the truth,

and Bill Clinton's reason
was that he was under attack.

Now this matter is between me,

the two people I love most,

my wife and our daughter,

and our God.

Thank you for watching

and good night.

James Carville.

He -- He had to come out
and admit that what --

what he did was wrong.

He said that
he misled people.

He said
he misled his wife.

Penn: After he made the speech,
I came over.

It was a small group,
Hillary, and Chelsea.

Sesno: Hillary helped him,

supposedly, draft
or put this thing together,

what he was going to say.

Can you imagine?

Solis Doyle: I've known her
for close to 30 years,

and I have never seen her as
angry and as dejected as I had

during those days.

I thought to myself,

if they had not been president
and First Lady,

she would've left him.

Andersen: The next day,
the family was off

on its summer vacation
at Martha's Vineyard.

Never forget that walk
to the helicopter.

Andersen: It's Chelsea
who makes a point of grabbing

both her mother's
and father's hands.

That was just a powerful moment.

Solis Doyle: The image
of Chelsea literally

and figuratively keeping them

together is just striking.

Hillary: I had
to really figure out

how I was going
to keep going.

You know,
on the one hand,

I had this horrible
personal betrayal

that I had to deal with.

On the other hand,
he was not only my husband.

He was my president,

and I thought what
was being done to him

was really out of bounds.

♪♪

This has been a stunning,
some might say,

shocking day
in Washington.

The Independent Counsel's
report to Congress

has been made public.

There are stories

of the president
receiving oral sex.

Bill: I agree with those
who have said that,

in my first statement
after I testified,

I was not contrite enough.

I don't think there is
a fancy way to say

that I have sinned.

♪♪

Today's Main Development --
Ken Starr's report.

Woman: It is a day
in Washington,

the likes of which
I think is fair to say,

none of us
has ever seen.

Sesno: Starr investigation
is complete.

Starr comes out,
and here are 11 --

11 reasons to impeach
the president --

obstruction of justice, perjury.

I mean, you know,
on and on it goes.

The report got a police escort

from Ken Starr's office

up to Capitol Hill.

It was very lurid details
about the encounters

between the president

and Monica Lewinsky.

It was uncomfortable.

Judge Starr's report
is 445 pages

filled with complex arguments,

excruciating detail,

and graphic description.

Candy Crowley was our
Congressional correspondent,

and it was her job to be at
a desktop computer reading it,

including some of the most
awkward paragraphs

in that Starr Report.

W-We're going page by page.

He touched her genitals,
both through her underwear

and directly,

bringing her to orgasm
on two occasions.

Sesno: We were placed in some
very, very awkward positions.

We never reported
on oral sex before.

There are stories

of the president
receiving oral sex

while talking on the phone
to a congressman

during the government shutdown.

It is that sort of thing.

It was shocking.

And after phone sex one night,

she says the p-president
fell asleep "mid-conversation."

Well, I'll be glad
to get on with politics

after this, I'll tell you.

I sat down with a group
of middle schoolers,

and they had heard everything.

I remember the part where
they were having this DNA thing

on Monica Lewinsky's dress.

Were you upset at all

the sexual references
in the Starr Report,

all of the details of it?
Oh.

Yes, of course.

It was humiliating
to have to give

those details under oath

so just even
being deposed

and being asked questions
like that,

but for them -- for them
to be disseminated in a way

knowing that people
were reading them,

you just --

you just feel naked
in front of the whole world.

You can see that entire report
at CNN.com.

I let this country down,

but I'm trying to make it right,

and I'm determined never

to let anything like that
happen again.

Penn: There were several
key strategies

that would be developed
in terms of handling this.

One of those strategies
was to make sure

that people felt confident
that the presidency

could operate
in this environment.

One of the phrases that we got
sick and tired of hearing is,

"Well, we're not going
to respond to that

because we are too busy doing
the people's business."

I need to keep working
on the people's business.

That's what I intend to do.

The people's business.
The people's business.

We've got to go back
to -- to --

to doing the people's business.

That was an effective line.

Clearly, it -- it resonated
with the American public.

Hillary: I must say,
the American people

got it straight and right
from the very beginning.

They understood that
this was between us

as it would have been
between them in a marriage

and that what was important
is the job

that Bill was doing
as president.

Morris: Only 40% after Lewinsky
thought he was a good person,

but 60% thought
he was a good president.

The Republicans smelled blood.

They thought that people
would be revolted

by what Bill Clinton did,
and they were.

Be honest, it reads like --
like soft porn.

But then they overreached.

After a little while,

the public was like,
"What is this?

Why -- Why are we even
talking about this?"

The real mistake was on the part
of the Republicans

and Congress who used this

as the basis for impeachment.

The house debate on impeachment
is scheduled to begin

less than an hour from now.

We must stay together
as a family!

If you ran into Monica...
Yeah.

...would there be
any apology?

Hillary: I knew what
was being attempted

against this president
was absolutely out of line

with what the founders
had thought,

what people had
always believed

was the basis for
Constitutional impeachment.

It was several weeks
after Congress

had received Ken Starr's report

that the house began
impeachment proceedings.

There's only one precedent
for modern impeachment,

1974, Richard Nixon,

and
the House Judiciary Committee

sort of set up procedures,

and one of the lawyers
on the staff

was young Hillary Rodham,

and Hillary Rodham
set up procedures

that a generation later

were used to orchestrate

the impeachment of her husband.

Not piety nor tears

nor whit nor torment

can alter what I have done.

The public consequences
of my actions

are in the hands
of the American people

and their representatives
in the Congress.

Should they determine
that my errors of word and deed

require their rebuke
and censure,

I am ready to accept that.

The accusations,
the evidence, and the arguments

have set the stage now

for a very momentous debate
on Capitol Hill --

that debate over
whether president

William Jefferson Clinton
should be impeached.

Man: A resolution impeaching
William Jefferson Clinton,

President of the United States

for high crimes
and misdemeanors.

Graham: Let it be said
that any president

who cheats our institutions
shall be impeached.

My God, what kind of country

are we becoming?

We must stay together
as a family,

one house, one family,

the American house,
the American family!

We were kind of glued
to the TV sets

as everyone else.

President is now in
the residence behind me.

I used to say to myself,
"Wow, I've really got

a front-row seat to history
right now."

♪♪

Bill: Now it is up
to the members

of the House of Representatives

to vote their conscience
on the Constitution

and the law,

which I believe are clear,

and I have no intention
of resigning.

It's never crossed my mind.

Judd: Ultimately,
the House voted

to impeach Mr. Clinton
on two charges --

one, perjury,

and two, obstruction of justice.

Woman: There it is.

President
William Jefferson Clinton

is now the second President

in the history
of the United States

to be impeached

by the House of Representatives.

Now this goes to trial.

The Senate trial was

basically a big anticlimax

because it was quite clear

that the Senate would never
have 66 votes, two-thirds,

to force Bill Clinton
out of office.

♪♪

Man: It is therefore
ordered and adjudged

that the said
William Jefferson Clinton be,

and he hereby is,
acquitted of the charges

in the said articles.

We all have our own opinions
of the president,

but under our system,
impeachment is hard.

It was meant to be hard,
and it's over.

What did you think, Paula
Jones,
of the vote in the Senate?

Well, I'm -- I'm disappointed,
to say the least.

Penn: I remember
we called the president

to say it was over now,

and he said, "Well, you know,

should I go out
and give a statement?"

And I think America wanted
closure at that point.

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.

This can be...

and this must be,

a time of reconciliation

and renewal for America.

Thank you very much.

I believe any person
who asks for forgiveness...

has to be prepared to give it.

♪♪

Man: Do you feel
vindicated, sir?

Isikoff: There were so many
points along the way

where all of this could have
been avoided, you know.

We can start with Bill Clinton

summoning Paula Jones to
his hotel room back in 1991.

Had he settled
the Paula Jones lawsuit,

had Bill Clinton told the truth
in his deposition,

had he told the truth
after his deposition,

he probably could've spared
the country a lot of turmoil.

Man: Mr. President,
do you have any thoughts on it

that you can share
with us that --

that perhaps might
bring closure to this?

The irony is, the person
who had the least impact

on his historical memory

was Bill Clinton.

And I hope that
the efforts that I have made

and that I continue to make
every day at home and at work

will bear fruit.

Goldberg: Bill Clinton,

he was a naughty, naughty boy.

He shouldn't have done that,

and he got caught.

This was a pretty tough thing
for everybody involved.

Larry: 73% percent
of Americans considered

Starr a loser
right after the Senate acquittal

of President Clinton.

How do you
react to that?

Toobin: Starr went into
this investigation thinking

that he would be a hero,

and he turned into
a completely partisan figure.

Well, my the reaction is --
is that judges and lawyers

should not be following
opinion polls.

Morris:
Was in the Justice Department,

in line for the Supreme Court,

and then he was asked
to take this job

as Special Prosecutor that
destroyed his entire career,

and he became a villain

for the rest of his life.

Larry: You think
you changed this country?
Oh, heavens.

Are you saying this presidency,
do you think?

No, I mean, look.
Certainly a big player.

I'm sorry, I believe
he tarnished the presidency.

I think the country, at least,
realizes that much.

Linda made a very good marriage.

She lives in a small town
in Virginia.

They own a shop there,
and she has a nice life.

If you ran into Monica...
Yeah.

...would there be
any apology?

I would want to
give Monica a hug.

Judd: 20 years later,
I would say that the person

who paid the biggest price,

the most long-lasting price,

was Monica Lewinsky, herself.

You know,
I was exploited, I think,

for no other reason
but a political agenda.

She paid quite a high price
for a long time,

and I feel badly for that,

so I just hope it works out
all right.

Do you equate with yourself
that you're a part of history?

Lewinsky: No. I --
No, you don't think that --

You're going to be studied
in textbooks.

I think that sort of
not recognizing

the -- the overall
grandness of it

in terms of history is --
is, I guess,

a little immature,
and so I do,

but I -- I try to not
pay attention to it

because it's just --

It's too awesome in a sense,
and I --

I really hope that...
as time goes on,

it will become a shorter
and shorter footnote

in the history books.

Today, the Clintons remain
among the most prominent

and influential couples
in the world.

Monica Lewinsky has tried
to move on with her life,

getting a graduate degree
and writing forVanity Fair,

and recently she became
an advocate for anti-bullying,

calling herself patient zero
of Internet shaming.

Thanks for watching.

Good night.