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CNN Sunday Morning

Interview With Ann Lewis

Aired June 08, 2003 - 08:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: This is a story about an extraordinary time in my life and the life of our country. I've tried to write an account of those years. And both in the book and in an interview that I've given to Barbara Walters I touch on the good times, the not so good times, and try to explain what that experience was like for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Senator Clinton's book hits stands tomorrow. In an exclusive interview in today's edition of "Time" magazine, Mrs. Clinton talked about her relationship with the president after the Monica Lewinsky affair.

She said, quote, "We spent a lot of time in counseling and I found it very helpful. It began after August 1998. I'm not going to go into details. I think it's important that the process itself remain among us, because it's the kind of thing that doesn't work if you start unraveling it."

But Mrs. Clinton said she thought it was important to reveal they had sought marriage counseling.

And now we are going to get some inside perspective on Hillary's book. "Living History" is the name of it. Our guest this morning is Ann Lewis; she is a former White House adviser and senior adviser to Senator Clinton's campaign. She joins us this morning from Washington.

Ann, good morning to you. Thanks for being here.

ANN LEWIS, FMR. CLINTON ADVISER: Good morning. I'm delighted to be here.

COLLINS: Why should people read this book?

LEWIS: Because it is such an interesting story, a personal journey of a woman who you know, begins in this child-centered suburb in Chicago, the kind of home and neighborhood she would hope every child would have and goes on to be an advocate for children. Starts as a Goldwater Girl when she goes to college and becomes one of the best-known Democrats in the nation, if not in the world. A voice for women around the world. The first first lady that we think of who has being a working woman until her husband gets elected. And now the first first lady ever in our history to run for and get elected to the United States Senate. It's a terrific journey and for the first time she's telling it in her own voice.

COLLINS: Would she have written the book had there not been scandals that happened in the White House with her president?

LEWIS: Oh, yes. She said she wanted to write a memoir about this experience, this privilege to live in the White House, to be First Lady for eight years. She wanted to talk about the achievements, the joy of what was Accomplished. Other first ladies have done that. In fact, I think every recent First Lady has done such a memoir.

But she concluded that she couldn't just talk about the high spots if she didn't talk fully about what else had happened, and so she included that. I think as people read the book, they will get a much fuller picture and they will see there was so much that Hillary Clinton is proud of that they were able to do.

COLLINS: Ann, let's go ahead and take a look at some of the excerpts, if we could, from the book. The first one I have here is it says, "The most difficult decisions I have made in my life were to stay married to Bill and to run for the Senate of New York" -- or "from New York," that is.

Were these really two difficult decisions for her?

LEWIS: Oh, yes. And I think any one of us, think about it for a moment, can understand how she felt. First, was she going to keep working at that marriage? And as you said earlier, the decision to go into marriage counseling, after agonizing weeks she concluded or months perhaps, yes, this marriage is worth saving, we have a lot invested in it. We love each other, have a daughter. We're going to work to keep it together, went and sought marriage counseling. That was not easy -- not an easy decision.

Second...

COLLINS: There is another line here -- I'm sorry Ann. There's another...

LEWIS: No...

COLLINS: ... here line that says, "For me, Lewinsky imbroglio seemed just like another vicious scandal manufactured by political opponents."

But did this happen, or not?

LEWIS: Well, and again Hillary as said, as she later learned and learned from her husband in this case the allegations were true. But think about the context where for months, years, really, ever since the Clintons hit the White House, they had been the subject of accusations, charges. Accusations about her that Hillary Clinton knew were not true. So she had gotten to the point where she took all of that with not just a grain of salt but a great big salt shaker on the table when she read about the latest charge.

COLLINS: You really think she was surprised?

LEWIS: Oh, I really think she was. And, again, I think people who read the book for themselves will see that. And they will also, I think, remember what those times were like, how every day in the paper there seemed there was a different leak, a different charge.

Remember, we had $70 million of tax money, my money and yours, being spent on investigating the Clintons. So many of the charges that appeared later turned out to have no validity at all. And so, Hillary Clinton was by now in the habit of saying, I'm going to get through the day, I'm going to focus on what's important and I'm not going to pay attention to that other stuff.

COLLINS: In this next excerpt that we -- here, it says, "He now realized that he would have to testify that there had been an inappropriate intimacy. He told me that what happened between them had been brief and sporadic."

But that's not in fact what the president did. Does she speak about that at all when the president said, "I can guarantee you," talking to the American public, "that there were no sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky?" Does she address that?

LEWIS: I think people will want to read those sections of the book very carefully. But, again, what Hillary will tell you, this is what I heard, this is what I experienced, this is what my husband told me.

COLLINS: All right. And the last one, Ann., before we go, I just want to put it out there for people. "I was dumbfounded, heartbroken and outraged that I believed him at all. As a wife, I wanted to wring Bill's neck." That you can certainly understand, I guess, in this context.

Ann, this book is already No. 2, isn't it?

LEWIS: Yes, it is. Second only to "Harry Potter. " I can certainly understand the appeal of "Harry Potter. " But I think, again, this book is not only going to go on the best seller list but I think as people get it and read it and talk to their friends about it, that you're going to see that the sales are going to continue to rise because there is really so much in here. And it's such an interesting story.

COLLINS: Ann Lewis, we thank you for your time this morning so very much.

LEWIS: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired June 8, 2003 - 08:10   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: This is a story about an extraordinary time in my life and the life of our country. I've tried to write an account of those years. And both in the book and in an interview that I've given to Barbara Walters I touch on the good times, the not so good times, and try to explain what that experience was like for me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Senator Clinton's book hits stands tomorrow. In an exclusive interview in today's edition of "Time" magazine, Mrs. Clinton talked about her relationship with the president after the Monica Lewinsky affair.

She said, quote, "We spent a lot of time in counseling and I found it very helpful. It began after August 1998. I'm not going to go into details. I think it's important that the process itself remain among us, because it's the kind of thing that doesn't work if you start unraveling it."

But Mrs. Clinton said she thought it was important to reveal they had sought marriage counseling.

And now we are going to get some inside perspective on Hillary's book. "Living History" is the name of it. Our guest this morning is Ann Lewis; she is a former White House adviser and senior adviser to Senator Clinton's campaign. She joins us this morning from Washington.

Ann, good morning to you. Thanks for being here.

ANN LEWIS, FMR. CLINTON ADVISER: Good morning. I'm delighted to be here.

COLLINS: Why should people read this book?

LEWIS: Because it is such an interesting story, a personal journey of a woman who you know, begins in this child-centered suburb in Chicago, the kind of home and neighborhood she would hope every child would have and goes on to be an advocate for children. Starts as a Goldwater Girl when she goes to college and becomes one of the best-known Democrats in the nation, if not in the world. A voice for women around the world. The first first lady that we think of who has being a working woman until her husband gets elected. And now the first first lady ever in our history to run for and get elected to the United States Senate. It's a terrific journey and for the first time she's telling it in her own voice.

COLLINS: Would she have written the book had there not been scandals that happened in the White House with her president?

LEWIS: Oh, yes. She said she wanted to write a memoir about this experience, this privilege to live in the White House, to be First Lady for eight years. She wanted to talk about the achievements, the joy of what was Accomplished. Other first ladies have done that. In fact, I think every recent First Lady has done such a memoir.

But she concluded that she couldn't just talk about the high spots if she didn't talk fully about what else had happened, and so she included that. I think as people read the book, they will get a much fuller picture and they will see there was so much that Hillary Clinton is proud of that they were able to do.

COLLINS: Ann, let's go ahead and take a look at some of the excerpts, if we could, from the book. The first one I have here is it says, "The most difficult decisions I have made in my life were to stay married to Bill and to run for the Senate of New York" -- or "from New York," that is.

Were these really two difficult decisions for her?

LEWIS: Oh, yes. And I think any one of us, think about it for a moment, can understand how she felt. First, was she going to keep working at that marriage? And as you said earlier, the decision to go into marriage counseling, after agonizing weeks she concluded or months perhaps, yes, this marriage is worth saving, we have a lot invested in it. We love each other, have a daughter. We're going to work to keep it together, went and sought marriage counseling. That was not easy -- not an easy decision.

Second...

COLLINS: There is another line here -- I'm sorry Ann. There's another...

LEWIS: No...

COLLINS: ... here line that says, "For me, Lewinsky imbroglio seemed just like another vicious scandal manufactured by political opponents."

But did this happen, or not?

LEWIS: Well, and again Hillary as said, as she later learned and learned from her husband in this case the allegations were true. But think about the context where for months, years, really, ever since the Clintons hit the White House, they had been the subject of accusations, charges. Accusations about her that Hillary Clinton knew were not true. So she had gotten to the point where she took all of that with not just a grain of salt but a great big salt shaker on the table when she read about the latest charge.

COLLINS: You really think she was surprised?

LEWIS: Oh, I really think she was. And, again, I think people who read the book for themselves will see that. And they will also, I think, remember what those times were like, how every day in the paper there seemed there was a different leak, a different charge.

Remember, we had $70 million of tax money, my money and yours, being spent on investigating the Clintons. So many of the charges that appeared later turned out to have no validity at all. And so, Hillary Clinton was by now in the habit of saying, I'm going to get through the day, I'm going to focus on what's important and I'm not going to pay attention to that other stuff.

COLLINS: In this next excerpt that we -- here, it says, "He now realized that he would have to testify that there had been an inappropriate intimacy. He told me that what happened between them had been brief and sporadic."

But that's not in fact what the president did. Does she speak about that at all when the president said, "I can guarantee you," talking to the American public, "that there were no sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky?" Does she address that?

LEWIS: I think people will want to read those sections of the book very carefully. But, again, what Hillary will tell you, this is what I heard, this is what I experienced, this is what my husband told me.

COLLINS: All right. And the last one, Ann., before we go, I just want to put it out there for people. "I was dumbfounded, heartbroken and outraged that I believed him at all. As a wife, I wanted to wring Bill's neck." That you can certainly understand, I guess, in this context.

Ann, this book is already No. 2, isn't it?

LEWIS: Yes, it is. Second only to "Harry Potter. " I can certainly understand the appeal of "Harry Potter. " But I think, again, this book is not only going to go on the best seller list but I think as people get it and read it and talk to their friends about it, that you're going to see that the sales are going to continue to rise because there is really so much in here. And it's such an interesting story.

COLLINS: Ann Lewis, we thank you for your time this morning so very much.

LEWIS: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com