Bill and Hillary Clinton on 60 Minutes.Photo: CBS via Getty
Then the wife of a governor whose campaign for president was plagued with rumors of infidelity, she made her first major national media appearance in an attempt to tamp down the reports: a joint60 Minutesinterview with husbandBill Clinton
In the interview, Hillary spoke somewhat sympathetically of Flowers as she defended her husband.
Edie Falco (left), Hillary Clinton.Kurt Iswarienko/FX; Cynthia Johnson/Getty
She continued, saying that Flowers had called her husband frequently and he had attempted to calm her nerves: “Bill talked to this woman every time she called, distraught, saying her life was going to be ruined, and … he’d get off the phone and tell me that she said sort of wacky things, which we thought were attributable to the fact that she was terrified.”
The couple did not offer a flat-out denial of the affair, with Gov. Clinton telling60 Minutes: “Now, no matter what I say, to pretend that the press will then let this die, we’re kidding ourselves.”
“Most Americans would agree that it’s very admirable that you’ve stayed together, that you’ve worked your problems out, that you seem to have reached some sort of an understanding and an arrangement,” Kroft said.
The governor then interjected, saying, “Now wait a minute, wait a minute. Wait a minute. You’re looking at two people who love each other. This is not an ‘arrangement’ or an ‘understanding.’ This is a marriage. That’s a very different thing.”
She went on: “You know, if that’s not enough for people, then heck, don’t vote for him.”
From left: Bill and Hillary Clinton.PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty
In 1998 testimony delivered as part of the investigation into whether he had sexually assaulted Paula Jones — which now-President Clinton denied, though her allegations helped spur his eventual impeachment — he said that he in fact hadhad a sexual encounter with Flowers.
However, he initially denied the affair with Lewinsky.
Neither he nor Hillary were ever criminally accused in an unrelated Whitewater real estate controversy that had first fueled independent counsel Kenneth Starr.
Three separate inquiries did not find evidence to tie the Clintons to the criminal conduct of others involved in the Whitewater case.
Hillary opened up about her husband’s affair with Lewinsky in Hulu’s 2020 documentary seriesHillary.
“I was just devastated,” she said in the documentary. “I just could not believe it. I was just so personally hurt and, ‘I can’t believe this. I can’t believe you lied.’ It was — anyways, horrible. And I said, ‘If this is going to be public, you’ve got to go tell Chelsea.’ "
source: people.com
