CNN Interview _{o=I?+]
LARRY KING, HOST +xwz
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Good evening – I think. And welcome to LARRY KING LIVE. I don‘t see myself; I assume we‘re on. Senator HILLARY Rodham Clinton, or should I say "Harry Potter," is our guest. Two hundred thousand copies, according to Simon and Shuster, sold yesterday of her book Living History. What do you make of that?. JI}(R4uV
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON , NEW YORK ]+W+8)f 1M
Well, I‘m very gratified. Qt
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KING . oUaq|O
Why did you do this? l/_3H\iM
HILLARY =/" Of
Well you know every first lady-- and you know this so well, because I think you‘ve interviewed everyone, I don‘t know how far back-- but many of my predecessors -- and I always enjoyed their books. I thought they gave us insight and information about what the experience was like in the White House. lC +p2OG^[
So long before Bill‘s term ended, I began thinking about thinking to do the same. And I‘m really glad I did, because although it was difficult in many respects, it gave me a chance to talk about the full range of the extraordinary time I had. mk1;22o{TX
KING })Rmu."\
Has it been hard to talk about the Lewinsky thing and the things you had to deal with? bh?Vufd%)
HILLARY /J8AnA1
Yes. {>G\3|^D
KING l0g#&V--
Hard? Va06(Cq
HILLARY gqJ&Q
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Yes, it was hard. I mean you know that. It was hard because these were very personal, private, painful matters that unfortunately were made public and I regret that. But given the fact that they were, they became part of history, not just my personal history. So when I had to sit down and write the book and think about what would go in, I felt obligated to address these issues. >/EmC3?b!
KING f
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You do think, though, that once it came out it was a journalistic story ?. BG"~yyKA
HILLARY ` &|Rs
Yes, yes. : KZI+
KING }3Pz{{B&+O
But what about the author, what about HILLARY? She has to stand by and yet be hurt. Fg?Gx( g4
HILLARY ,v$gQ U2
You summed it up very well.
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KING }.4`zK&SB
Supporting your president and you‘re pretty mad at your husband. |t|+pBB
HILLARY } ?#<)|_5
That about sums it up. 0kpRvdEr-
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Was that conflicted feelings? 18Vtk"j
HILLARY (} "r 5
It was having to carry these two competing feelings in my head and heart at the same time. I was, as I say in the book, ready to wring his neck. I was so upset and angry with him, very disappointed. 4kNf4l9Y
And yet at the same time, he was my president. And I had this additional, rather unique perspective. I had been on the impeachment staff in back 1974 and I had actually researched the historical and legal grounds for impeachment. And I knew that 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. ]OM|Oo
KING S 3:Pjz}t
Clear up something for us. You‘ve written this details of how he told you, the morning he told you, the grand jury. Others are saying you had to know before. There‘s a book out that said David Kendall told you before. Now no one knows it better than you. - f z
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HILLARY 5P
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That‘s right... q>%KIBh(
KING VCcLS3
What do you make of the stories that you knew before? ]/H
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HILLARY
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Well one of the reasons I did want to write book was so many people are on the sidelines saying I should have done this or l would have done that or in some way talking about my life without having lived it, and I have. So I think I know a little bit about what I did and what l knew. *Z KI02M
You know back in January of 1998 when my husband woke me up the first time and said there was going to be a story in the paper, I cross examined him, I asked him some hard questions. But 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. There had been front page stories around the country that had no basis in fact, that said all kinds of things about me. S$+vRX7
So, I viewed this as another in a line of those kinds of accusations. And one of the things that I did to get up every day and keep going was really not pay attention to the press. ^u:7U4
KING fr;>`u[;
Didn‘t read the paper? qWGnIPk
HILLARY
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I did not read the paper. >,y291p2
KING K \nN2y
Didn‘t watch the news? O>w Gc8Of\
HILLARY ~+A?!f;-J
I did not watch the news. I was focused on doing what I thought of as important, the issues I cared about, working on things like children‘s health and foster care and the like. U voX\
KING =_\5h=`Yx
So when he told you is when he told you? yN5 g]U. Q
HILLARY
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When he told me is when he told me. And of course, David Kendall, who‘s a dear friend as well as my lawyer, has said that account is not true. And so I think we can put that to rest. dd@^e)VZB
KING CuR\JKdRo
Can you say you were shocked? Is that a good word or… *j? tcx q
HILLARY xM8}Xo
I was so upset. And I was... xKWqDt
KING
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Upset more than shocked? }Xr-xh \v
HILLARY {2vk<
Well, shocked, upset, dumbfounded. You know, as I describe in the book, I couldn‘t believe that what he had told me and everybody else, for a very long period of time, was, you know, not the facts, AMG}'P:
KING WM
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Did you at all, when this happening to someone -- I‘ve interviewed a lot of psychiatrists over the years. They say one of the first things the injured party feels is guilt. What did I do wrong? Did I do something that led to this? Did you feel that way? $HF. 02{|
HILLARY WW{5[;LYiB
Oh, I don‘t think I felt that way about that particular instance, But it is the case that we did have to work very hard to decide whether we were going to stay married. And we did have counseling, I write about that… i6?,2\ K
KING rI H/<@+
Did you lay any blame at yourself? QM2Y? ."#
HILLARY PUV)w\!&is
Well I think in a marriage you have to be honest and ask yourself, you know, what is my role? What is my responsibility?. SUINV_>7
You know, marriage, like any relationship, has two people involved in it, whether it‘s a problem at a particular period in time or a difficulty that you have to confront together. So I certainly asked myself a lot of hard questions. +>/ariRr
KING [9(tIb!x
How, HILLARY, did he explain it to you? I know you, you didn‘t let it go at just this was a passing affair. How did he explain what happened? `uM:>
HILLARY ;,[6 n|M
Well, in the book, Larry, I say that that‘s his story to tell. I have told this from my perspective, you know? 5ppOG_
KING $}_N379&
Why didn‘t you get divorced ? X ,
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HILLARY !O6e,l
Well, I had to ask myself that. It was a very prominent question in my mind. And we had to work really hard to decide what was going to happen with our marriage. But... ^E\{&ka Up
KING _BO:~x
Did it come -- almost think of that? I mean, was it... + % Q:
HILLARY S-}
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Well, I certainly entertained it. I think anybody in my position had to or would have. But, you know, as I write in the book, we‘ve been together now more than 30 years, started dating in law school, started working together. We‘re very proud of the daughter we raised. We‘ve been through a lot with our families. We‘ve done so much for each other. And we decided that, you know, we really wanted to grow old together. So we made that decision.
