Sen. Gillibrand Says Bill Clinton Should Have Resigned Over Lewinsky Affair

Statement sends shockwaves through democratic party

US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand attends the 25th annual Brooklyn tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. at BAM Howard Gilman Opera House on Jan. 17, 2011 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s statement that Bill Clinton should have resigned as president over the Monica Lewinsky scandal has sent shockwaves through the Democratic Party.

Gillibrand’s comments came in an interview with The New York Times, where she was asked whether Clinton should have resigned over his affair with the 22-year-old White House intern.

“Yes, I think that is the appropriate response,” Gillibrand said.

Gillibrand has been a staunch supporter of the Clinton’s over the years. In 2008, she filled Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat when she became the Secretary of State in the Obama administration.

She has however received backlash from Clinton supporters, as well as Hillary Clinton herself, following her statements.

Senator-designate Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (L) during a lunch meeting with New York Gov. David A. Paterson and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel on Jan. 25, 2009 in New York City. (Hiroko Masuike/Getty Images)

Longtime Clinton aide Philippe Reines called her a “hypocrite” for saying Bill Clinton should have resigned.

“Over 20 yrs you took the Clintons’ endorsements, money, and seat. Hypocrite,” Reines said in a tweet.

In an interview with WABC radio, Clinton said that her husband “was held accountable” for his actions and that we can’t “rewrite and revise history.”

The topic of Bill Clinton’s affair with Lewinsky has been off-limits for Democrats for many years, but the issue was again propelled to the forefront after new allegations of sexual assaults involving politicians came out.

Talking to MSNBC on Sunday, Gillibrand did not reiterate her statement that Clinton should have resigned but instead gave a more tempered response.

Philippe Reines, campaign adviser to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, speaks to members of the traveling press aboard the campaign plane on Nov. 2, 2016, while traveling to Las Vegas. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

“My point is that the tolerance that we had 25 years ago, what was allowed 25 years ago, will not be tolerated today, is not allowed today,” Gillibrand said.

Clinton became one of only two presidents to have been impeached in American history. He was impeached in 1998 for lying under oath about his affair with Lewinsky as well as obstruction of justice.

Former White House strategist to President Donald Trump Steve Bannon said Gillibrand’s statement set off an “earthquake in the Democratic Party.”

“I think you saw the first opening shot of the 2020 primary with Gillibrand, who clearly has presidential aspirations. She put a shot right across the bow of the Clintons,” Bannon told radio host John Catsimatidis.

(L-R) Kathleen Willey, Juanita Broaddrick and Kathy Shelton sit before the town hall debate at Washington University in St Louis, Miss., on Oct. 9, 2016, Wiley has accused Bill Clinton of sexually harassing her, and Broaddrick has accused him of raping her. In a controversial defense of one of the two men who had raped the 12-year-old Shelton, Hillary Clinton attacked the child's character.  (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The New York Times’ Michelle Goldberg took the surprising action of defending Juanita Broaddrick, who has accused Bill Clinton of raping her.

In an article headlined “I Believe Juanita,“ Goldberg writes that ”we should look clearly at the credible evidence that Juanita Broaddrick told the truth when she accused Clinton of raping her.”

Juanita Broaddrick came out in 1999 accusing Clinton of raping her in 1978 when she was 35-years-old and Clinton served as Arkansas Attorney General.

President Trump invited Broaddrick to the second presidential debate, along with Kathleen Wiley and Paula Jones, who had each accused Clinton of sexual harassment, and Kathy Shelton, who was raped by two men in Arkansas in 1975 when she was 12 years old. Hillary Clinton attacked the child’s character in a controversial defense of one of the rapists as a criminal defense lawyer.

For decades, Broaddrick’s claims have been dismissed in mainstream media. Broaddrick has said that at the time when the allegations came out, Hillary Clinton had intimidated her in an effort to keep her silent.

Broaddrick told Fox News on Nov. 17 that it is “absolutely disgusting” that the backlash against Clinton only comes after he and his wife exited electoral politics.

“We were not believed,” Jones said. “[We] did not get any kind of help whatsoever from any of those liberal women.”

“This great epiphany should’ve occurred 20 years ago,” she said. “I should feel ecstatic about it but don’t.”

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