The
following statements are those made on television by President
Clinton at key points in his impeachment and trial. Perhaps
the most remembered words (in part because of the finger-wagging
gesture that accompanied them) to come out of the President's mouth
during this period were, "I did not have sexual relations with that
woman, Miss Lewinsky." That statement came during an
interview on PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer on
January 21, 1998. Here are some later statements from
the President:
Statement
from the White House Following Grand
Jury Testimony
August 17, 1998
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. Still, I must take complete responsibility for all
my
actions, both public and private. And that is why I am speaking to you
tonight.
As
you know, 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
information. Indeed, I did have a relationship with Miss Lewinsky that
was not
appropriate. In fact, it was wrong. It constituted a critical lapse in
judgment
and a personal failure on my part for which I am solely and completely
responsible.
But I told the grand jury
today and I say to you now that at no time did I ask anyone to lie, to
hide or
destroy evidence, or to take any other unlawful action. I know that my
public
comments and my silence about this matter gave a false impression. I
misled
people, including even my wife. I deeply regret that.
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. I was also very concerned about
protecting my
family. The fact that these questions were being asked in a politically
inspired lawsuit, which has since been dismissed, was a consideration
too.
In
addition, I had real and
serious concerns about an independent counsel investigation that began
with
private business dealings twenty years ago, dealings, I might add,
about which
an independent federal agency found no evidence of any wrongdoing by me
or my
wife over two years ago. The independent counsel investigation moved on
to my
staff and friends, then into my private life. And now the investigation
itself
is under investigation.
This
has gone on too long,
cost too much, and hurt too many innocent people. Now, this matter is
between
me, the two people I love most-my wife and our daughter-and our God. I
must put
it right, and I am prepared to do whatever it takes to do so. Nothing
is more
important to me personally. But it is private, and I intend to reclaim
my
family life for my family. It's nobody's business but ours. Even
presidents
have private lives.
It
is time to stop the
pursuit of personal destruction and the prying into private lives and
get on
with our national life. Our country has been distracted by this matter
for too
long, and I take my responsibility for my part in all of this. That is
all I
can do. Now it is time-in fact, it is past time-to move on. We have
important
work to do-real opportunities to seize, real problems to solve, real
security
matters to face.
And
so tonight, I ask you
to turn away from the spectacle of the past seven months, to repair the
fabric
of our national discourse, and to return our attention to all the
challenges
and all the promise of the next American century.
Thank
you for watching. And
good night.
Statement
in the Rose Garden
Before the Impeachment Vote by House
Judiciary Committee
December 11. 1998
Good
afternoon. As anyone
close to me knows, for months I have been grappling with how best to
reconcile
myself to the American people, to acknowledge my own wrongdoing and
still to
maintain my focus on the work of the presidency.
Others
are presenting my
defense on the facts, the law, and the Constitution. Nothing I can say
now can
add to that.
What
I want the American
people to know, what I want the Congress to know, is that I am
profoundly sorry
for all I have done wrong in words and deeds. I never should have
misled the
country, the Congress, my friends, or my family. Quite simply, I gave
in to my
shame. I have been condemned by my accusers with harsh words. And while
it's
hard to hear yourself called deceitful and manipulative, I remember Ben
Franklin's admonition that our critics are our friends, for they do
show us our
faults.
Mere
words cannot fully
express the profound remorse I feel for what our country is going
through and
for what members of both parties in Congress are now forced to deal
with. These
past months have been a torturous process of coming to terms with what
I did. I
understand that accountability demands consequences, and I'm prepared
to accept
them. Painful as the condemnation of the Congress would be, it would
pale in
comparison to the consequences of the pain I have caused my family.
There is no
greater agony.
Like
anyone who honestly
faces the shame of wrongful conduct, I would give anything to go back
and undo
what I did. Bur one of the painful truths I have to live with is the
reality
that that is simply not possible. An old and dear friend of mine
recently sent
me the wisdom of a poet who wrote, "The moving finger writes and having
writ,
moves on. Nor all your piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half
a line.
Nor all your tears wash out a word of it."
So
nothing, not piety, nor
tears, nor wit, nor torment can alter what I have done. I must make my
peace
with that. I must also be at peace with the fact that 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.
Meanwhile,
I will continue
to do all I can to reclaim the trust of the American people and to
serve them
well. We must all return to the work, the vital work, of strengthening
our
nation for the new century. Our country has wonderful opportunities and
daunting challenges ahead. I intend to seize those opportunities and
meet those
challenges with all the energy and ability and strength God has given
me. That
is simply all I can do-the work of the American people.
Thank
you very much.
Statement
with House Democrats after House Vote to Impeach
December 19, 1998
Let
me begin by expressing
my profound and heartfelt thanks to Congressman Gephardt and the
leadership and
all the members of the Democratic caucus for what they did today. I
thank the
few brave Republicans who withstood enormous pressures to stand with
them for
the plain meaning of the Constitution and for the proposition that we
need to
pull together, to move beyond partisanship, to get on with the business
of our
country.
I
thank the millions upon
millions of American citizens who have expressed their support and
their
friendship to Hillary, to me, to our family, and to our administration
during
these last several weeks. The words of the members here with me and
others who
are a part of their endeavor in defense of our Constitution were
powerful and
moving, and I will never forget them.
The
question is, what are
we going to do now? I have accepted responsibility for what I did wrong
in my
personal life, and I have invited members of Congress to work with us
to find a
reasonable bipartisan and proportionate response. That approach was
rejected
today by Republicans in the House, but I hope it will be embraced by
the
Senate. I hope there will be a constitutional and fair means of
resolving this
matter in a prompt manner.
Meanwhile,
I will continue
to do the work of the American people. We still, after all, have to
save Social
Security and Medicare for the twenty-first century. We have to give all
our
children world-class schools. We have to pass a patients' bill of
rights. We
have to make sure the economic turbulence around the world does not
curb our
economic opportunity here at home. We have to keep America the world's
strongest force for peace and freedom. In short, we have a lot to do
before we
enter the twenty-first century. And we still have to keep working to
build that
elusive one America I have talked so much about.
For
six years now, I have
done everything I could to bring our country together across the lines
that divide
us, including bringing Washington together across party lines. Out in
the
country, people are pulling together. But just as America is coming
together,
it must look-from the country's point of view-like Washington is coming
apart.
I
want to echo something
Mr. Gephardt said. It is something I have felt strongly all my life. We
must
stop the politics of personal destruction. We must get rid of the
poisonous
venom of excessive partisanship, obsessive animosity, and uncontrolled
anger. That
is not what America deserves. That is not what America is about. We are
doing
well now. We are a good and decent country but we have significant
challenges
we have to face. In order to do it right, we have to have some
atmosphere of
decency and civility, some presumption of good faith, some sense of
proportionality and balance in bringing judgment against those who are
in
different parties.
We
have important work to
do. We need a constructive debate that has all the different voices in
this
country heard in the halls of Congress. I want the American people to
know
today that I am still committed to working with people of good faith
and good
will of both parties to do what's best for our country, to bring our
nation
together, to lift our people up, to move us all forward together.
It's
what I've tried to do
for six years. It's what I intend to do for two more until the last
hour of the
last day of my term.
So
with profound gratitude
for the defense of the Constitution and the best in America that was
raised
today by the members here and those who joined them, I ask the American
people
to move with me-to go on from here to rise above the rancor, to
overcome the
pain and division, to be a repairer of the breach-all of us-to make
this
country as one America, what it can and must be for our children in the
new
century about to dawn.
Thank
you very much.
Statement Following Acquittal
by the Senate in Impeachment Trial
February 12, 1999
Now
that the Senate has
fulfilled its constitutional responsibility, bringing this process to a
conclusion, 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 the American people.
I
also am humbled and very
grateful for the support and the prayers I have received from millions
of
Americans over this past year.
Now
I ask all Americans,
and I hope all Americans-here in Washington and throughout our
land-will
rededicate ourselves to the work of serving our nation and building our
future
together. This can be and this must be a time of reconciliation and
renewal for
America.
Thank
you very much.
Question
from the press: In
your heart, sir, can you forgive and forget?
Clinton: I believe any person who
asks for forgiveness has to be prepared to give it.
Clinton
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