Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton defended her husband’s philandering with Monica Lewinsky, asserting that the president taking advantage of a 22-year-old intern didn’t amount to an abuse of power.
When asked in a CBS interview on Sunday if former President Clinton abused his power over Lewinsky, the former First Lady responded, “No.”
When the CBS host pointed out critics’ claims that the most powerful person in the world can’t have a consensual relationship with a subordinate like an intern due to the vast power imbalance, Clinton retorted that Lewinsky “is an adult.”
Clinton then immediately pivoted to hypotheticals about President Trump, questioning why he’s not being investigated despite zero evidence to back up similar allegations.
“But let me ask you this,” Clinton continued, “Where’s the investigation of the current incumbent, against whom numerous allegations have been made, and which he dismisses, denies, and ridicules?”
Former President Clinton outright admitted the affair following a separate sexual harassment lawsuit filed by former Arkansas employee Paula Jones which led to his impeachment proceedings in 1998.
Lewinsky reflected on the power differential between her and former President Clinton in an op-ed from February, saying the “idea of consent” is “rendered moot” when it comes to the leader of the free world.
“He was my boss. He was the most powerful man on the planet,” she wrote. “He was 27 years my senior, with enough life experience to know better. He was, at the time, at the pinnacle of his career, while I was in my first job out of college.”
Clinton’s position of defending her husband puts her at odds with the #MeToo movement, according to Vanity Fair.
“Over the past year, the #MeToo movement has seen handfuls of powerful men accused of sexual abuse or harassment resign, lie low, or, in exactly one high-profile case so far, face legal penalties. Some men have re-examined ideas of sexual power dynamics, and re-evaluated their past behavior in the current context. Bill Clinton does not appear to be one of them.”
Additionally, not only did Hillary not believe her husband’s accusers at the time, she went out of her way to smear and intimidate them into silence.
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