#MeToo founder says it's 'tragic' for Hillary Clinton to deny Bill abused power

William Cummings | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Hillary Clinton: Husband's affair with Lewinsky not an abuse of power Former First Lady Hillary Clinton and Monica Lewinsky are at odds over whether former President Bill Clinton abused his power when he had an affair with the former White House intern. Veuer's Chandra Lanier has the story.

The founder of the #MeToo movement strongly disagreed with Hillary Clinton's recent statement that her husband did not abuse his presidential power when he had an affair with a White House intern.

"Sexual violence is not about sex," explained Tarana Burke, who began the "MeToo" movement 10 years before figures like Alyssa Milano helped make it viral with a hashtag. "It's about power. And it's about the abuse of power."

Burke told The Root in an interview published Tuesday that it "is just tragic and it's wrong" for Hillary Clinton's to deny that former President Bill Clinton abused his power when he began an affair with 22-year-old Monica Lewinsky

"It’s absolutely an abuse of power," Burke said. "Two people made a choice and one of those people was the most powerful man in the world."

While Lewinsky has said the relationship was consensual, "you're talking about an age dynamic, but you're also talking about the president of the United States. The amount of power, the amount of accumulated power that is in that position alone, versus an intern, it's absolutely an abuse of power," she said.

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In a recent interview, Hillary Clinton denied that Bill Clinton's affair with then intern Monica Lewinsky was an abuse of power. #MeToo founder @TaranaBurke sat down with us to talk about how power plays into sexual violence. https://t.co/VG94GNQHel pic.twitter.com/UsOXZ2Lv5k — The Root (@TheRoot) October 16, 2018

Lewinsky came to the same conclusion in a Vanity Fair article she penned in March and credited the movement started by Burke for her change in perspective on her affair with Bill Clinton.

"Now, at 44, I’m beginning (just beginning) to consider the implications of the power differentials that were so vast between a president and a White House intern," she wrote. "I’m beginning to entertain the notion that in such a circumstance the idea of consent might well be rendered moot."

Lewinsky added that "it’s very likely that my thinking would not necessarily be changing at this time had it not been for the #MeToo movement – not only because of the new lens it has provided but also because of how it has offered new avenues toward the safety that comes from solidarity"

During an interview that aired on CBS's "Sunday Morning" this week, the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate said her husband was right not to resign in the wake of his affair with Lewinsky.

"In retrospect, do you think Bill should've resigned in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal?" correspondent Tony Dokoupil asked Hillary Clinton.

"Absolutely not," Clinton said.

"It wasn't an abuse of power?" Dokoupil asked.

"No. No," she said, adding that Lewinsky "was an adult."

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