Clinton Says He Is Sorry for Affair

In a plain-spoken display of public contrition, President Clinton on Friday offered his first unqualified apology for his sexual relationship with former White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky and said he agrees with those who have condemned his behavior.

“I can’t disagree with anyone else who wants to be critical of what I have already acknowledged was indefensible,” Clinton told reporters. Clinton made the remarks at a photo opportunity while standing beside Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who has his own history of extramarital involvement.

Clinton’s comments came just hours after he learned that Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Conn.) had denounced his conduct from the Senate floor Thursday. Lieberman, a close political ally of the president, said Clinton had compromised his moral authority and disputed Clinton’s assertion that his behavior is his personal business.

Lieberman’s remarks were widely interpreted as a wake-up call to the president, letting Clinton know that potentially he faces serious political damage.

Asked Friday about the senator’s comments, Clinton said that he agreed with them.

“I’ve already said that I made a bad mistake, it was indefensible and I’m sorry about it,” he said in a calm, apologetic manner.

Those few words, spoken without visible strain, were notable for a politician who has long avoided articulating his acceptance of responsibility for conduct that could tar him before others, such as avoiding the military draft or smoking marijuana.

The House of Representatives, however, continued gearing up to handle the independent counsel’s report on the Lewinsky matter. House Rules Committee Chairman Gerald B.H. Solomon (R-N.Y.) recommended procedures for handling the potentially explosive document, and top House leaders scheduled a planning session for next week.

The tone of the president’s comments Friday differed dramatically from the defiance of his Aug. 17 televised address to the nation, when he admitted having had an inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky but also lashed out at independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr. He had denied a sexual relationship, sometimes vehemently, for seven months.

In his Aug. 17 admission and again in comments he made Wednesday during a news conference in the Kremlin, Clinton pointed a finger at the process that caught him, Starr’s investigation.

The shift, White House officials said, was an effort to reach out to the many people inside his partywho have expressed outrage at the president’s lack of contrition. There was also speculation that hearing such scathing criticism from a friend finally impressed upon Clinton the seriousness of his situation.

Although the president has declared publicly that it is time for the matter to be put to rest, White House spokesman Mike McCurry said that Clinton now has a “very realistic outlook” about the staying power of this scandal.

On Wednesday, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) will discuss how to handle Starr’s report, which could be delivered as early as next week. Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas), Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.) and ranking minority member John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) also will attend the meeting.

Solomon recommended Friday that the full report go first to members of the Judiciary Committee, which could vote to launch impeachment proceedings against Clinton, but that any executive summary be made available to all 435 House members.

He ‘Intends to Keep Addressing It’

Clinton’s latest public comments followed numerous private conversations with members of Congress and other supporters through the week, his aides said.

“I think the president clearly does not believe that one conversation, one statement, one speech is going to be sufficient in addressing this matter the way he wants to, and he intends to keep addressing it both personally and to the degree he needs to, publicly, as he sees fit,” McCurry said.

Indeed, the initial reaction from lawmakers Friday indicated that, while Clinton’s latest remarks are a step in the right direction, he still has a long way to go.

“A lot of people wanted to hear the words, ‘I’m sorry,’ ” said an aide to the House Democratic leadership. “As far as members go, I think it will be helpful.”

A spokesman for Lieberman said that the senator “appreciates the president’s statement” but that Lieberman for now has nothing more to say.

No one seemed to think the apology would quell the unease of restive members of Congress.

“The president is aware of his circumstances, and he’s probably in a different mind-set than he was the day of his testimony to the Starr grand jury,” said Rep. Vic Fazio (D-West Sacramento), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus. “But, while I find [his apology] reflective of a guy who understands now more clearly than he did earlier the magnitude of his failings, I also think there will be no propitiating his critics.”

Clinton’s posture also did not satisfy Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), a close Clinton ally, who said Friday that the president still needs to address the controversy in greater public detail--preferably before Starr submits his report to Congress.

“His statements in Ireland were appropriate and certainly a step in the right direction, but . . . he needs to try again what he did not accomplish on Aug. 17,” Dodd said. “The president needs to have a more direct conversation with the country.”

But other Democrats argued that there is no sense in Clinton making another major speech until after the Starr report is released. For now, they said, there may be no way to really make up for the inadequacy of his initial comments.

“We lost a great opportunity that night,” said a senior House Democrat who asked not to be named. “He should have waited another day to have time to think it through and put it in context. We won’t get that audience again.”

A spokesman for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said she intends to keep her own counsel until she sees Starr’s report.

“She feels at this point that it’s more appropriate to wait and see the full range of allegations,” the aide said. Feinstein was in California on Friday.

Subtle Change in Introspection

In Ireland, McCurry said that the president is deciding “one day at a time” how best to make reparations for his actions--both the affair and how he handled it.

While Clinton’s direct apology was the most striking aspect of his brief back-and-forth with reporters, a more subtle change was the introspection his words revealed.

“There is nothing anyone else could say in a personally critical way that . . . I would disagree with, since I have already said it myself to myself,” Clinton said.

“What he was saying was, nothing [Lieberman] said is not what I have said to myself,” said one senior White House official on condition that he not be identified. “It was the curtain on his conscience, and he pulled it aside so you could look.”

He was giving the public a peek at “the anguish and introspection that he is going through,” the official added.

Many lawmakers, even Democrats, are quietly suggesting that public censure may be in order. Most Republicans want to wait until they get Starr’s report, apparently because of their belief that a more serious punishment may be appropriate--perhaps impeachment.

Lieberman declared Thursday that Clinton’s “immoral” conduct should be followed “by some measure of public rebuke and accountability.” Surely, he added, Congress is capable of “expressing such disapproval through a resolution of reprimand or censure but it is premature to do so” before Starr submits his report.

Asked Friday whether he believes an official censure would be inappropriate, Clinton said that he did not want to comment.

“My understanding is that was not a decision that was made or advocated clearly yesterday,” Clinton said, continuing in the same nonconfrontational manner. “If that’s not an issue, I don’t want to make it one--one way or the other.”

But resignation still seemed far from Clinton’s mind. Responding to an unrelated question from an Irish journalist, Clinton said that he believes the fight against international terrorism and drug trafficking would be going on “in 2001 when I leave office.”

While Clinton was speaking in contrite tones, his aides were developing a hard-hitting presentation for Congress that they hope would knock holes in Starr’s report.

“We will probe how weak this legal case is,” said a senior White House official. Aides will try to invalidate Starr’s expected assertions--that Clinton obstructed justice or suborned perjury--by showing that there is no evidence Clinton found Lewinsky a job as a payoff for her silence or provided her with talking points on what she should say about their affair.

The goal, the official said, is to prove that the case is nothing more than “legal camouflage” for Starr’s goal of forcing Clinton out of office.

Times staff writers Edwin Chen, Janet Hook and Marc Lacey in Washington contributed to this story.

What do you think of President Clinton’s apology? Join a continuing discussion of the Monica S. Lewinsky matter on The Times’ Web site. Go to: https://www.latimes.com/scandal

* BURTON REVELATION: Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) admitted that he fathered a child out of wedlock. A18