The former secretary of Health and Human Services under President Obama took aim at former President Clinton's administration for its handling of sexual misconduct and abusive behavior.

Speaking to former Obama adviser David Axelrod on his podcast, Kathleen Sebelius Kathleen SebeliusSpecial counsel investigating DeVos for potential Hatch Act violation: report The Hill's Coronavirus Report: Mike Roman says 3M on track to deliver 2 billion respirators globally and 1 billion in US by end of year; US, Pfizer agree to 100M doses of COVID-19 vaccine that will be free to Americans The Hill's Coronavirus Report: Former HHS Secretary Sebelius gives Trump administration a D in handling pandemic; Oxford, AstraZeneca report positive dual immunity results from early vaccine trial MORE said Clinton-era officials looked the other way when sexual misconduct allegations were made and railed against the administration for doubling down on "abusive behavior."

"Not only did people look the other way, but they went after the women who came forward and accused him," Sebelius said. "And so it doubled down on not only bad behavior but abusive behavior. And then people attacked the victims."

Sebelius, a former governor of Kansas, hit Democrats for dismissing women who came forward with sexual harassment allegations against then-President Clinton. She said the pattern of Democrats' dismissal is prevalent today amid a recent slew of misconduct allegations against sitting lawmakers.

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"You can watch that same pattern repeat. It needs to end. It needs to be over," she said.

"It breaks my heart is to know that here we are 40 years later, and very much the same atmosphere prevails," she said. "And it's about power, it's never been about sex. It's all about power. And men who have power over women use that power in all kinds of ways."

Sebelius pointed to Franken's immediate public apology and request for the Senate Ethics Committee to open an investigation into the matter, but did not say whether the senator and former comedian should resign.