Politics

21 Years Ago, Hillary Clinton Condemned Sex Allegations Against Bill As ‘A Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy’

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On January 27, 1998, former first lady Hillary Clinton called allegations of sexual misconduct against her husband Bill Clinton the work of a “vast right-wing conspiracy.”

“I think as this matter unfolds, the entire country will have more information, but we’re right in the middle of a feeding frenzy right now, and people are putting out rumor and innuendo,” Hillary Clinton said during a 1998 interview with NBC’s Matt Lauer, urging everyone to “just to be patient, take a deep breath, and the truth will come out.”

The former first lady defended her husband, saying she loved him and believed his denial that he had an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, the Washington Post reported at the time.

“The great story here, for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it, is this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president,” she said.

Bill Clinton has faced a number of allegations of rape and sexual assault. He also reportedly traveled and vacationed with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. He also notoriously had an affair with Lewinsky, while he was president and she was a 22-year-old White House intern. Clinton was 27 years older than Lewinsky at the time.

House Republicans impeached him, saying that Clinton had lied to federal investigators after he initially denied the relationship with Lewinsky, but the Senate acquitted him and Clinton stayed in the White House until 2001.

Apart from suspicions about his relationship with Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 from apparent suicide while facing charges of sexual trafficking, Clinton has been accused of sexually harassing Paula Jones, of raping Juanita Broaddrick, of sexually assaulting Kathleen Willey, and of repeatedly sexually assaulting Leslie Millwee.

The Washington Post broke Broaddrick’s allegations in February 1999. Willey’s allegations were made public in an interview with Ed Bradley broadcast March 15, 1998, and Millwee made her allegations to Breitbart News in October 2016.