克林顿总统对于莱文斯基事件的电视讲话

文稿：

good evening this afternoon in this room

from this chair I testified before the

office of Independent Counsel and the

grand jury I answered their questions

truthfully including questions about my

private life questions no American

citizen would ever want to answer still

I must take complete responsibility for

all my actions both public and private

and that is why I'm speaking to you

tonight as you know in a deposition in

january i was asked questions about my

relationship with Monica Lewinsky while

my answers were legally accurate I did

not volunteer information indeed I did

have a relationship with Miss Lewinsky

that was not appropriate in fact it was

wrong it constituted a critical lapse in

judgment and a personal failure on my

part for which I am solely and

completely responsible but I told the

grand jury today and I say to you now

that at no time did I ask anyone to lie

to how to destroy evidence or to take

any other unlawful action I know that my

public comments and my silence about

this matter gave a false impression i

mislead people including even my wife I

deeply regret that I can only tell you I

was motivated by many factors first by a

desire to protect myself from the

embarrassment of my own conduct I was

also very concerned about protecting my

family the fact that these questions

were being asked in a politically

inspired lawsuit which has since been

dismissed was a consideration to in

addition I had real and serious concerns

about an Independent Counsel

investigation that began with private

business dealings 20 years ago the links

i might add about which an independent

federal agency found no evidence

any wrongdoing by me or my wife over two

years ago the Independent Counsel

investigation moved on to my staff and

friends then into my private life and

now the investigation itself is under

investigation this has gone on too long

costs too much and hurt too many

innocent people now this matter is

between me the two people I love most my

wife and our daughter and our God I must

put it right and i am prepared to do

whatever it takes to do so nothing is

more important to me personally but it

is private and i intend to reclaim my

family life for my family it's nobody's

business but ours even presidents have

private lives it is time to stop the

pursuit of personal destruction and the

prying into private lives and get on

with our national life our country has

been distracted by this matter for too

long and I take my responsibility for my

part in all of this that is all I can do

now it is time in fact it is past time

to move on we have important work to do

real opportunities to seize real

problems to solve real security matters

to face and so tonight I ask you to turn

away from the spectacle of the past

seven months to repair the fabric of our

national discourse and to return our

attention to all the challenges and all

the promise of the next American Century

thank you for watching and good night

you