Bill Clinton told a close friend in 1999 that he signed the Defense of Marriage Act because he "thought it was right at the time," according to an audio recording obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The explanation contradicts Hillary Clinton’s recent comment that her husband signed the 1996 law banning same-sex marriage as a "defensive action" because he wanted to prevent gay marriage opponents from passing a constitutional amendment.
Bill Clinton discussed DOMA with his close friend and biographer Taylor Branch in June 1999 and said he initially supported the law but was starting to have doubts, according to Branch’s contemporaneous audio diary.
Branch recorded dozens of late-night interviews with Bill Clinton for an oral history project between the early 1990s and 2000. Although the president kept the sole copies of the interviews, Branch took notes and recounted the conversations into a tape recorder after each of the interview sessions ended.
"[Clinton] said, ‘You know I signed the Defense of Marriage Act, and I thought it was right at the time, but I’m not sure that it is. Generally I support the gay agenda right down on the line,’" said Branch in the June 10, 1999, recording.
The recording challenges Hillary Clinton’s argument her husband signed DOMA as "a defensive action" during an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow on Friday.
"I think what my husband believed—and there was certainly evidence to support it—is that there was enough political momentum to amend the Constitution of the United States of America, and that there had to be some way to stop that," said the Democratic presidential frontrunner.
Hillary Clinton has come under fire for the comments from Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders and gay rights advocates, who argue that her account is a "rewrite of history."
Branch wrote a history of the Clinton White House called The Clinton Tapes based on his audio diary in 2009. The conversation on gay rights was not discussed in detail in his book.
The Free Beacon first reported on the account in September.
According to the recording, Branch had been interviewing Bill Clinton at the White House when the president stepped out to take a phone call from Hillary. When Bill returned, he brought up his wife’s positions on gay rights.
"[Bill] came in and he said, ‘You know I’ve had much more contact in my life with gay people than Hillary has,’" recounted Branch. "He said, ‘I think she’s really a little put off by some of this stuff.’"
According to Branch’s recordings, Bill Clinton said his wife found some gay rights issues "harder to swallow than I do."
"[Bill] said, ‘This is hard for me, and there are still a few things that are hard for me to swallow. But I think Hillary, emotionally speaking, still finds the issue harder to swallow than I do. It could be difficult for her in New York politics, how far she’ll be asked to go’," said Branch.
According to the tape, the president indicated that his wife had a "general discomfort" around "gay people who were kind of acting out."
Branch said Clinton was "essentially I think saying that Hillary had kind of a conservative religious temperament, and was not likely to be comfortable around gay people who were kind of acting out, or pushing her to the limit. She did have general discomfort."
The Clinton campaign declined to comment in September.