Hillary Clinton's first 60 Minutes interview

sixty minutes rewind it's been quite a week for Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton on Monday his picture was on the cover of Time magazine anointed by the press as the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination six days later he's trying to salvage his campaign his problem long rumored allegations of marital infidelity finally surfaced in a supermarket tabloid and last week they were picked up and reprinted unsubstantiated by the mainstream press since then for better or for worse Governor Clinton's private life has become the overriding issue in the Democratic presidential campaign earlier today Governor Clinton and his wife Hillary sat down with me to try to put the issue to rest keep in mind as we said earlier all of the allegations are unsubstantiated all have been denied by everyone involved except for the case of Jennifer flowers a former television reporter and cabaret singer Jennifer flowers in a tabloid interview for which she was paid says she carried on a long-term affair with Governor Clinton from the late 1970s through the end of 1989 who is Jennifer flowers you know oh yeah how do you know how would you describe your relationship very limited but until this you know friendly but limited I had met her in the late 70s when I was Attorney General and she was one of a number of young people who were working for the television stations around Little Rock people in politics the people in the media knew each other then just as they do now she left our state and for years I didn't really hear from her and know what she was doing then she came back I don't sometimes a few years ago and went to work again in the state so that's how that's who she is was she a friend an acquaintance did your wife know oh yes she was an acquaintance I would say a friendly acquaintance uh when this story this rumor story got started in the middle of 1980 and she was contacted and told about it she was so upset and she called back she said how can I be listed on this I haven't seen you for more than ten minutes in ten years she would call from at a time when she was upset or thought she was really in being hurt by the rumors and I would call her back either she would call the office or I'd call her back there at the office or I'd call her back at the house and Hilary knew when I was calling her back I think once a cauldron when we were together and so there's nothing out of the ordinary there she's a legend and is described in some detail in a supermarket tabloid which she calls a 12-year affair with you it that allegation is false when this woman first got caught up in these charges I felt as I felt about all of these women that you know they've just been minding their own business and they got hit by meteors I'm it was no fault of their own we reached out to them I met with two of them to reassure them they were friends of ours I felt terrible about what was happening to them you know bill talked to this woman every time she called distraught saying her life was gonna be ruined and you know 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 it was only when money came out when the tabloid went down there offering people money to say that they had been involved with me this she changed her story there's a recession on times are tough and I think you can expect more and more of these stories as long as they're down there handing out money I'm assuming from your answer that you're categorically denying that she ever had an affair with Jennifer flowers I've said that before and so is she you said that your marriages had problems that you've had difficulties what do you mean by that what does that mean is that some kind of help us break the code I mean does that mean you know were separated does that mean that you had communication problems does that mean you contemplated divorce does it mean adultery I think the American people at least people that have been married for a long time know what it means and know the whole range of things that it can mean you've been saying all week that you've got to put this issue behind you are you prepared tonight to say that you've never had an extramarital affair I'm not prepared tonight to say that any married couple should ever discuss that with anyone but themselves I'm not prepared to say that about anybody I think the governor that's what you excuse me that's what you've been saying essentially for the last but that's a couple of money's look Steve you go back and listen to what I said you know I have acknowledged wrongdoing I have knowledge causing pain in my marriage I have said things to you tonight and to the American people from the beginning that no American politician ever has I think most Americans who are watching this tonight they'll know what we're saying they'll get it and they'll feel that we have been more candid and I think what the press has to decide is are we going to engage in a game of gotcha you know I can remember a time and it was sad when a divorced person couldn't run for president and that time it thank goodness is past nobody's prejudiced against anybody because they're divorced are we going to take the reverse position now that if people have problems in their marriage and there are things in their past which they don't want to discuss which are painful to them that they can't run you're trying to put this issue behind you and the problem with the answer is it's not a denial and people are sitting out there voters and they're saying look it's really pretty simple if he has never had an extramarital affair why doesn't he just say so that maybe what they're saying you know what I think they're saying I think they're saying here's a guy who's leveling with us you may think that that that we should say more and you can keep asking the question but I'm telling you I think that we've told I said I have told the American people more than any other candidate for president the result of that is men everybody going to my state and spending more time trying to play gotcha there isn't a person watching this who would feel comfortable sitting on this couch detailing everything that ever went on in their life or their marriage and I think it's real dangerous in this country if we don't have some zone of privacy for everybody I mean I think that I couldn't agree with you more and I think and I agree with you that everyone wants to put this behind you and the reason it hasn't gone away is is that your answer is not a denial is it but interesting let's assume it's not a doctor of course it's not and let's take it from your point of view if that won't make it go away you know that you can cut this round and cut this flat I mean if you deny then you have a whole other horde of people going down there offering more money trying to prove that you lied and if you say yes you have just what I've already said by being open and telling you that we vent problems you have oh good now we can proclaim God's and find out who it is now no matter what I say to pretend that the press will then let this die we're kidding ourselves I mean you know this has become a virtual cottage industry the only way to put it behind us I think is for all of us to agree that this guy has told us about all we need to know anybody who's listening gets the drift of it and let's go on and get back to the real problems of this country the problems are about what's going to happen to families in New Hampshire and the rest of this country in the future now what happened to mine in the past I don't like some of these questions any better than you do but the question of marital infidelity is an issue with the sizable portion of the electorate according to the latest CBS News poll which was just taken over the weekend 14% of the registered voters in America said they wouldn't vote for a candidate who's had an affair I know it's an issue and and but what does that mean that means 86% of the american people either don't think it's relevant to presidential performance or look at whether a person looking at all the facts is the best person to serve we've gone further than anybody we know of and that's all we're going to say and people can ask us a hundred different ways and uh from a hundred different directions and we're just gonna leave the ultimate decision up to the American people I think most Americans would agree that it's very admirable that you would have stayed together that you've worked your problems out that you seem to have read some sort of an understanding in an arrangement wait a minute wait but 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 you know I'm not sitting here at some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette I'm sitting here because I love him and I respect him and I honor what he's been through and what we've been through together and you know if that's not enough for people then heck don't vote for him a good friend of yours one of your campaign advisers told us the other day Bill Clinton has got a level with the American people tonight otherwise his candidacy is dead you feel like you glove up with the America I have absolutely level of the American people we're gonna do the best we can to level with people and then we're gonna let them make up their minds because I think if the American people get a chance and if they're trusted to exercise their vote right because people talk to them about real issues this country will be okay that's what we're betting on and we're just gonna roll the dice and see what happens you called it a gamble you came here tonight to try and put it behind you you're gonna get on the plane when you walk out of this room and go back to New Hampshire you think you've succeeded that's up to the American people and to some extent up to the press this will test the character of the press it is not only my character that has been tested

Channel: 60 Minutes

Views: 245,025

Keywords: 60 Minutes overtime, cbsepisode, rewind, hillary, rodham, clinton, bill, secretary, of, state, obama, old, interview, husband, wife, infedility, governor, arkansas, run, president

Id: -UqKNgrwK8E

Length: 10min 24sec (624 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 28 2019