In the final part of the A&E documentary series "The Clinton Affair," Monica Lewinsky revealed that then President Bill Clinton urged her to lie under oath about their affair and gave her gifts in the period leading up to the testimony in the Paula Jones case.
Lewinsky, in comments reported by Fox News, said Clinton told her that if she denied their affair in a sworn affidavit, she could likely avoid being called to testify. She was, however, subpoenaed.
"I was petrified. I was frantic about my family and this becoming public. Thankfully, Bill helped me lock myself back from that and he said I could probably sign an affidavit to get out of it, and he didn't even know if 100 percent I would be subpoenaed," Lewinsky told A&E.
Clinton never encouraged Lewinsky to tell the truth, according to her account.
From there, she said a Clinton associate introduced her to lawyer Frank Carter, who encouraged her to lie in the affidavit.
"Frank Carter explained to me if I'd signed an affidavit denying having had an intimate relationship with the president it might mean I wouldn't have to be deposed in the Paula Jones case," she said. "I did feel uncomfortable about it but I felt it was the right thing to do, ironically, right? So, the right thing to do, to break the law."
After signing that affidavit, Clinton invited Lewinsky to a private White House Christmas celebration where they played with his dog, Buddy, and Clinton presented Lewinsky with several gifts.
"Over the summer he had gone to Martha's Vineyard and he brought back a bunch of different things." Lewinsky said. "He had this big canvas bag from the Black Dog. This marble bear, sunglasses. It was the most presents he'd given me at one time. He knew the subpoena was gonna ask to produce certain items and yet he was giving me more gifts. He clearly still trusted me."
Lewinsky gave the gifts to the president's secretary for safe-keeping, in case she was asked to turn them over. She also said that after the affair was revealed, she contemplated suicide.
"There was a point for me somewhere within these first several hours where I would be hysterically crying and then I would just shut down," she said. "And in the shutdown period, I just remember looking out the window and thinking the only way to fix this is to kill myself."
Back in October 2018, when asked about the affair, former presidential candidate and first lady Hillary Clinton said that she did not think the affair with the 23-year-old intern was an abuse of power on the part of her husband. In a June 2018 interview, the former president defended his actions during that time, indicating he "did the right thing" by not resigning and saying he believed his public apology to Lewinsky was enough.