Obama adviser jabs Hillary Clinton over Monica Lewinsky comments

Former Obama adviser David Axelrod on Monday took a jab at former presidential nominee Hillary Clinton following her comments about her husband’s affair with Monica Lewinsky.

“Just guessing this isn’t the story Democratic candidates were looking for in the homestretch of the midterms,” Axelrod tweeted, linking to a story from the New York Daily News regarding Clinton’s dismissal of claims that her husband, then-President Clinton, took advantage of Lewinsky when he was president.

Clinton said Sunday in an interview with CBS that her husband “absolutely” should not have stepped down over the affair with Lewinsky, who was then a White House intern.

{mosads}She denied that it was an abuse of power for Clinton to engage Lewinsky sexually, saying that Lewinsky “was an adult.”

Lewinsky was 22 when Clinton, who was then 49, had an affair with her.

Lewinsky has previously referred to the relationship she had with the then-president as an “abuse of power.”

“[W]hat transpired between Bill Clinton and myself was not sexual assault, although we now recognise that it constituted a gross abuse of power,” Lewinsky wrote for Vanity Fair in March this year.

Four other women have also publicly accused Bill Clinton of varying degrees of sexual misconduct. Juanita Broaddrick has accused Clinton of raping her.

The former president has denied all the allegations against him. 

Having long been subjects of criticism from those on the right, the Clintons have fallen under fire from some on the left over Bill Clinton’s alleged sexual misconduct.

Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said last fall that Clinton should have resigned over the Lewinsky scandal.

The allegations in Bill Clinton’s past have been brought back to the spotlight following the “Me Too” movement and have had particular political weight following the Democrats’ furious fight over the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who has been accused of sexual misconduct himself.

Kavanaugh has denied all the allegations made against him by three women. Senate Republicans said an FBI investigation into the accusations provided no corroborating evidence.

Democrats do not dispute that point, instead contending that the investigation was not sufficiently thorough. 

Kavanaugh’s confirmation battle galvanized both the GOP and Democratic bases as the midterm elections approach, a momentum Axelrod indicates could be hurt by Clintons’s past scandals coming back to the forefront.