Lewinsky says US has stopped blaming her for Clinton scandal after 25 years

Monica Lewinsky, known for her relationship with former US President Bill Clinton (1993-2001), said that “the mentality of blaming women has faded over time.”

25 years ago, the front pages of North American newspapers denounced a scandal that would go down in national history: Bill Clinton was being investigated for an “affair” with an intern at the White House in Washington.

The controversy that sparked a political trial against Clinton in the US Congress changed the life of Monica Lewinsky, a 22-year-old girl with whom the former head of state had a relationship and who became the focus of the press.

On the 25th anniversary of the discovery, Lewinsky, turned anti-harassment activist, reflects in a Vanity Fair column on the changes in American society since her name was known.

The Me Too movement forced the American public to look at the scandal in a revisionist way, this time focusing on the former president who had power over his intern.

In an op-ed Wednesday, Lewinsky laments the power of social media, noting that it has the “most damaging” impact on the lives or reputations of people in the public eye and involved in scandals.

The activist also advises readers to “choose your friends carefully” and recalls the “betrayal” committed by Linda Tripp, who gave independent lawyer Kenneth Starr several tapes in which Lewinsky spoke about his relationship with Clinton.

Then the 21-year-old girl told Tripp, her colleague from the Pentagon, where she was transferred after an internship at the White House, about her relationship with the former Democratic president.

Tripp also suggested that Lewinsky keep and not wash the blue dress he wore during one of his sexual encounters with Clinton.

Later in the investigation, he took the famous dress to court, which used a blood test from the former president to see if one of the stains was his semen.

The tapes prompted Starr to decide to investigate the young woman’s relationship with Clinton.

A few months later, the US Attorney submitted a report to Congress, which decided to start the process of “impeaching” the Democrat.

Prior to the Lewinsky case, Starr was investigating Clinton over another scandal known as Whitewater involving real estate investments and allegations of sexual harassment by former employee Paula Jones.

It was in this latest investigation that Lewinsky was first contacted to testify about Clinton in which she denied having a relationship with the former president.

Before telling the truth, the girl visited the White House for the last time and met with Clinton, who instructed her to be “evasive” in her answers.

After receiving Tripp’s tapes, Starr decided to extend the investigation into the Clinton and Lewinsky case.

The prosecutor later called Clinton to testify before a grand jury, denying having had a sexual relationship with the then intern.

A week after appearing in court, the scandal reached the press, forever changing Lewinsky’s life and entering the history of the country.

Six days later, on January 26, 1998, Clinton, accompanied by his wife Hillary Clinton, gave a speech in which he denied having “sexual relations” with Lewinsky.

That same year, months after the issue first surfaced, Starr delivered his final report to the House Judiciary Committee, which was released on September 11.

In December, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted to impeach Clinton on two counts: lying before a grand jury and obstruction of justice.

This was the second impeachment of a president in US history, following the impeachment of Andrew Johnson (1865-1869).

After hearing testimony in a trial that Lewinsky did not participate in, although such a possibility was considered, on February 12, the Senate voted against the “impeachment” of Clinton.

A total of 55 senators found Clinton not guilty on charges of perjury, and 50 acquitted him of obstruction of justice charges.

JML // RBF

Lusa/The End