Hillary Clinton: Bill's affair wasn't an abuse of power because Monica Lewinsky 'was an adult'

Lauren Holter

Hillary Clinton once again defended her husband’s extramarital affair, this time stirring up backlash that she doesn’t understand abuse of power — despite the #MeToo movement.

On Sunday, the former secretary of state told CBS’s Sunday Morning that she didn’t believe her husband should have resigned from the presidency after having an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a 22-year-old White House intern at the time. When asked if she thought the affair was an abuse of power, Clinton said “no,” adding that Lewinsky was an adult at the time. She then changed the subject to the multiple allegations of sexual assault made against President Trump, all of which he has denied.

Twitter focused on the Clintons, though, calling out the former first lady for ignoring the fact that the president of the United States inevitably holds more power than a White House intern — regardless of the intern’s age.

Lewinsky herself wrote in Vanity Fair earlier this year that even though she wasn’t sexually assaulted, the president’s sexual relationship with her “constituted a gross abuse of power.” As one person pointed out on Twitter, Lewinsky has the final say when it comes to how she was treated during her time at the White House.

Stormy Daniels, the adult film star who alleges she had an affair with Trump in 2006 (which he denies), told The Cut in a just-published interview that Lewinsky was probably exploited in some way because Bill Clinton “was the president and she was an intern.”

Daniels said that’s the key difference between her alleged affair with Trump and Lewinsky’s affair with Bill.

“Trump was not the president, he was just an idiot at a golf tournament,” she said. “I don’t like the idea of sex being used for power, unless you’re into some role-playing thing.”

The former POTUS was impeached by the House of Representatives for lying under oath and obstructing justice in relation to the Lewinsky scandal, but he ultimately remained in office because he was found not guilty in the Senate. Hillary Clinton told CBS on Sunday that she believes the investigation “came out in the right place.” She also asserted that she played “no role” in criticizing the women who accused her husband of sexual misconduct over the years.

“I take responsibility for my life and my actions,” she said.

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