"When I was in England I experimented with marijuana a time or two—and didn't like it—and didn't inhale and never tried inhaling again"

"But I want to say one thing to the American people. I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again. I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never. These allegations are false."

"Indeed I did have a relationship with Ms Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact, it was wrong."

Deposition by Bill Clinton in the Pula Jones Case

Q. Mr. President, before the break, we were talking about Monica Lewinsky. At any time were you and Monica Lewinsky alone together in the Oval Office?

A. I don't recall, but as I said, when she worked at the legislative affairs office, they always had somebody there on the weekends. I typically worked some on the weekends. Sometimes they'd bring me things on the weekends. She – it seems to me she brought things to me once or twice on the weekends. In that case, whatever time she would be in there, drop it off, exchange a few words and go, she was there. I don't have any specific recollections of what the issues were, what was going on, but when the Congress is there, we're working all the time, and typically I would do some work on one of the days of the weekends in the afternoon.

Q. So I understand, your testimony is that it was possible, then, that you were alone with her, but you have no specific recollection of that ever happening?

A. Yes, that's correct. It's possible that she, in, while she was working there, brought something to me and that at the time she brought it to me, she was the only person there. That's possible.

Q. At any time were you and Monica Lewinsky alone in the hallway between the Oval Office and this kitchen area?

A. I don't believe so, unless we were walking back to the back dining room with the pizzas. I just, I don't remember. I don't believe we were alone in the hallway, no.

Q. At any time have you and Monica Lewinsky ever been alone together in any room in the White House?

A. I think I testified to that earlier. I think that there is a, it is – I have no specific recollection, but it seems to me that she was on duty on a couple of occasions working for the legislative affairs office and brought me some things to sign, something on the weekend. That's – I have a general memory of that.

Q. Did anyone other than your attorneys ever tell you that Monica Lewinsky had been served with a subpoena in this case?

A. I don't think so.

Q. Excluding conversations that you may have had with Mr. Bennett or any of your attorneys in this case, within the past two weeks has anyone reported to you that they had had a conversation with Monica Lewinsky concerning this lawsuit?

A. I don't believe so. I'm sorry, I just don't believe so.

Q. Did you have an extramarital sexual affair with Monica Lewinsky?

A. No.

Q. If she told someone that she had a sexual affair with you beginning in November of 1995, would that be a lie?

A. It's certainly not the truth. It would not be the truth.

Q. I think I used the term "sexual affair." And so the record is completely clear, have you ever had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky, as that term is defined in Deposition Exhibit 1, as modified by the Court.

A. I have never had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky. I've never had an affair with her.

Bill Clinton's testimony before Office of the Independent Counsel prosecutors investigating the president's relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky

"When I was alone with Ms. Lewinsky on certain occasions in early 1996, and once in early 1997, I engaged in conduct that was wrong. These encounters did not consist of sexual intercourse. They did not constitute sexual relations, as I understood that term to be defined at my January 17th, 1998 deposition."

"But they did involve inappropriate, intimate contact. These inappropriate encounters ended at my insistence in early 1997. I also had occasional telephone conversations with Ms. Lewinsky that included inappropriate sexual banter."

"I will try to answer to the best of my ability other questions, including questions about my relationship with Ms. Lewinsky, questions about my understanding of the term of sexual relations, as I understood it to be defined at my January 17th, 1998, deposition, and questions concerning alleged subordination of perjury, obstruction of justice and intimidation of witnesses."

"When she used two different terms, sexual relationship, if she meant by that what most people mean by it, then that is not an untruthful statement."

"believe -- I believe that the common understanding of the term, if you say two people are having a sexual relationship, most people believe that includes intercourse. So if that's what Ms. Lewinsky thought, then this is a truthful affidavit. I don't know what was in her mind, but if that's what she thought, the affidavit is true."

"Well, if you go back to my statement, I remember there were a few times in '96. I can't say with any certainty. There was once in early '97. After she left the White House, I do not believe I ever had any inappropriate contact with her in the rest of '96. There was one occasion in '97 when, regrettably, that we were together for a few minutes. I think about 20 minutes. And there was inappropriate contact."

"I do not think there is anything improper about a man giving a woman a gift or a woman giving a man a gift, that necessarily connotes an improper relationship. So it didn't bother me. I wasn't -- you know, this was December 28th. I was -- I gave her some gifts. I wasn't worried about it. I thought it was an all right thing to do."

"Sir, the truth is that most of the time, even when she was expressing her feelings for me in affectionate terms, I believe that she had accepted, understood my decision to stop this inappropriate contact. She knew from the very beginning of our relationship that I was apprehensive about it. And I think that in a way she felt a little freer to be affectionate, because she knew that nothing else was going to happen."

"Most of them were signed "Love," you know, "Love, Monica." I don't know that I would consider -- I don't believe that in most of these cards and letters she professed her love, but she might well have."

"It depends upon what the meaning of the word is means. If is means is, and never has been, that's one thing. If it means, there is none, that was a completely true statement."

"I said I was very well prepared to talk about Paula Jones and to talk about Kathleen Willey, because she had made a related charge. She was the only person that I think I was asked about who had anything to do with the -- anything that would remotely approximate sexual harassment."

"Now, someone had asked me on that day, are you having any kind of sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky -- that is ask me a question in the present tense -- I would have said no. And it would have been completely true."

"I mean that at the time of the deposition, we had been -- that was well-beyond any point of improper contact between me and Ms. Lewinsky. So that anyone generally speaking in the present tense saying that was not an improper relationship would be telling the truth if that person said there was not, in the present tense --the present tense encompassing many months."

"And it's an embarrassing and personally painful thing, the truth about my relationship with Ms. Lewinsky."

"What I meant was, and what they can infer that I meant was, that I did things that were -- when I was alone with her that were inappropriate and wrong, but that they did not include any activity that I -- that was within the definition of sexual relations that I was given by Judge Wright in the deposition. I said that I did not do those things that were in that -- within that definition and I testified truthfully to that. And that's all I can say about it. Now, you know, if there's any doubt on the part of the grand jurors about whether I believe some kind of activity falls within that definition or outside that definition, I'd be happy to try to answer that."

"Now respectfully, I believe the grand jurors can ask me if I believe -- just like that grand juror did -- could ask me, do you believe that this conduct falls within that definition. If it does, then you're free to conclude that my testimony is that I didn't do that. And I believe that you can achieve that without requiring me to say and do things that I don't think are necessary, and that I think, frankly, go too far in trying to criminalize my private life."

"You are free to infer that my testimony is that I did not have sexual relations as I understood this term to be defined."

"I had to acknowledge, because of this definition, that under this definition I had actually had sexual relations once with Gennifer Flowers, a person who had spread all kinds ridiculous, dishonest, exaggerated stories about me for money. And I knew when I did that it would be leaked. It was. And I was embarrassed. But I did it."

"I told you, in response to a grand jury's question -- you asked me did I believe that oral sex performed on the person who was being deposed was covered by that definition. And I said: No. I don't believe it's covered by the definition. I said you were free to conclude that I did not do things that I believe were covered by the definition."

"I'm not going to answer that question because I believe it's a question about conduct that, whatever the answer to it is, would -- does not bear on the perjury because oral sex performed on the deponent under this definition is not sexual relations. It is not covered by this definition."

"I recall telling a number of those people that I didn't have -- either I didn't have an affair with Monica Lewinsky or I didn't have sex with her. And I believe, sir, that you will have to ask them what they thought. But I was using those terms in the normal way people use them."

"I said there is nothing going on between us. That was true. I said I have not had sex with her, as I define it. That was true."

"So I said things that were true. They may have been misleading, and if they were, I will have take responsibility for it, and I'm sorry."

JIM LEHRER Interview I

JIM LEHRER: The news of this day is that Kenneth Starr, independent counsel, is investigating allegations that you suborn perjury by encouraging a 24-year-old woman, former White House intern, to lie under oath in a civil deposition about her having had an affair with you. Mr. President, is that true?

PRESIDENT CLINTON: That is not true. That is not true. I did not ask anyone to tell anything other than the truth. There is no improper relationship and I intend to cooperate with this inquiry, but that is not true.

JIM LEHRER: No improper relationship, define what you mean by that.

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well I think you know what it means. It means that there is not a sexual relationship, an improper sexual relationship or any other kind of improper relationship.

JIM LEHRER: You had no sexual relationship with this young woman?

PRESIDENT CLINTON: There is not a sexual relationship. That is accurate. We are doing our best to cooperate here, but we don't know much yet, and that's all I can say now. What I'm trying to do is to contain my natural impulses and get back to work. It's important that we cooperate. I will cooperate, but I want to focus on the work at hand.

JIM LEHRER: Just for the record, make sure I understand what your answer means and there is no ambiguity about it --

PRESIDENT CLINTON: There is no ambiguity.

JIM LEHRER Interview II

JIM LEHRER: You wrote about it in the book, that because we had a pre--already prearranged interview, you went ahead with the interview, and I did the first interview with you, and I asked you if you had had a sexual--improper relationship. I kept using the past tense, and you kept saying is, "There is no relationship." My question to you is, was that--that was an intentional dodge, was it not?

PRESIDENT CLINTON: It was an intentional dodge because I didn't want--I respect you. I didn't want to lie to you, and I thought that I had to, as I said in the book, buy two weeks time for things to calm down in order to avoid having Ken Starr and his boys win this long fight that they were fighting against me, and--but I also said in the book that I hated it and I tried to--after I did that interview with you--I tried to confine my comments thereafter just simply saying that I didn't violate any laws and I didn't ask anybody else to, and that's pretty much what I said from there on out.

Other Quotes

"I tried to walk a fine line between acting lawfully and testifying falsely, but I now recognize that I did not fully accomplish this goal and am certain my responses to questions about Ms. Lewinsky were false,"

"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If the--if he--if 'is' means is and never has been, that is not--that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement....Now, if someone had asked me on that day, are you having any kind of sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky, that is, asked me a question in the present tense, I would have said no. And it would have been completely true."

"African-Americans watch the same news at night that ordinary Americans do."

"When I met her more than 35 years ago, I thought Hillary had the best combination of mind and heart I’d ever seen – and I still do. But it’s going to take every dollar to make sure that Americans get to know the real Hillary, like I do.”

"We think it's important to help poor people in the world but we're going to suck up 80 percent of the savings in the world, which could be going to invest somewhere else because we think tax cuts for people who make a million dollars a year are more important,"

"Climate change is more remote than terror but a more profound threat to the future of the children and the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren I hope all of you have."

"I think we should be in the Kyoto climate change system,"

"When we got real tough on visas - because one out of a zillion of them might have a bomb - we lost a lot of brains. We might have dodged a bomb but we lost a lot of brains."

"I authorized the CIA to get groups together to try to kill bin Laden."

"I worked hard to try to kill him."

"I got closer to killing him than anybody has gotten since. And if I were still president, we'd have more than 20,000 troops there trying to kill him,"

"I tried and I failed to get bin Laden. I regret it, but I did try and I did everything I thought I responsibly could."

"I desperately wish that I had been president when the FBI and CIA finally confirmed, officially, that bin Laden was responsible for the attack on the U.S.S. Cole, .... "Then we could have launched an attack on Afghanistan early."

"I always thought that bin Laden was a bigger threat than the Bush administration did,"

"At the time, 1996, he (bin Laden) had committed no crime against America, so I did not bring him here because we had no basis on which to hold him, though we knew he wanted to commit crimes against America.

"And they will be all the more lethal if we allow them to build arsenals of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and the missiles to deliver them. ... There is no more clear example of this threat than Saddam Hussein's Iraq. His regime threatens the safety of his people, the stability of his region and the security of all the rest of us."

"The administration ... decided to launch this invasion virtually alone and before the U.N. inspections were completed - with no real urgency, no evidence that there were any weapons of mass destruction there,"

"For every one person who said they voted for Hamas because they wanted to see Israel destroyed, there were one hundred who said they just wanted a change and better life,"

"When [the U.S.] kicked out Saddam, they decided to dismantle the whole authority structure,.... "Most of the people who were part of that structure were good, decent people who were making the best out of a very bad situation,"

"I agree that we should reach out to the Iranians and the Syrians and try to get a regional solution.