MIAMI - GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich came out swinging this morning when accused of being a hypocrite for blasting then President Bill Clinton for having an affair at the same time the former House Speaker was cheating on his own wife.
During a wide-ranging interview with Spanish-language television Univision, the twice-divorced Gingrich said he wasn’t criticizing Clinton’s sexual dalliance with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. He said he was criticising Clinton’s response to it.
Clinton lied under oath, Gringrich said. “I have never lied under oath. I have never committed perjury. I have never committed a felony,” he said. Clinton’s lapse was more serious because the former president is a lawyer and should have known better. Gingrich is a historian.
Further, he said, he has no regrets about lacing into CNN newscaster John King for beginning a debate last week in South Carolina by asking about his ex-wife’s claims that he asked her to embrace an “open marriage” when he was having an affair with his now wife, Callista.
With all the problems facing the country, the question about his personal life was simply inappropriate, he said. His ex-wife’s claims were false, he said.
As to his attack on the media in response to the question, he noted: The audience loved it.