Monica’s father doesn’t believe in Linda’s tapes

He said Monica when a child wanted to be the first woman President of the United States. He was sorry that she might not be able to achieve her ambition now.

He said a picture that was being portrayed of her daughter was unconscionable. “When you realise that her true friends are standing behind her you will know they support her because they know who she is,” he added.He wanted the world to know that “Monica is vibrant, intelligent, beautiful, spontaneous, andgregarious. She is a peoples person.”

Dr Lewinsky also hit out at Linda Tripp, who secretly recorded his daughter, reportedly saying that she had an affair with Clinton while a low-level aide in the White House and was urged to lie about it under oath by the President which set off a grand jury investigation.

“She (Linda Tripp) is a pathetic specimen of humanity,” he remarked.Asked whether “Monica at any time say to you, daddy, I did not have a sexual relationship with the President,” Dr Lewinsky said: “I have never talked to Monica about that and she had never said that to me about it. I don’t have the reason to talk about it. This subject never came up.”

When interviewer Barbara Walters found it strange that his daughter was being accused of a sexual relationship with the President and he never cared to inquire about it. Dr Lewinsky, in reply, said “I will not talk to her (Monica) about her sexual life. Many fathers are not going to sit down and direct questions to their daughters about theirsex life. I don’t want to know. I don’t want to believe it happened. I don’t know.”

When asked what he thought of President Clinton, Dr Lewinsky said “he is President of the United States and he is commander-in-chief. I respect him for the office of presidency.”

Asked whether he believed in Clinton’s denial of a sexual relationship with Monica, Dr Lewinsky said: “I have no reason not to believe him.”

When his attention was drawn to speculation in the media that these allegations might ultimately bring down the Clinton presidency, Dr Lewinsky said “I can not imagine that this incident is going to erode the confidence of the people of this country with the job he is doing.” He, however, said it would be a sad day, were something like this to bring down the presidency. Dr Lewinsky also questioned whether the tapes “are for real.” at the same time, when asked if he thought Monica could have fabricated her relationship with Clinton, Dr Lewinsky replied, “I can’t imagine her making that up.”

Hewas critical of independent counsel Kenneth Starr, accusing him of being “out of control” and exhorting him to “lay off”.

Dr Lewinsky accused Starr of “terrorising his family, what is going on, and what ken Starr has brought upon her, is unconscionable in my mind.”

What he hated most was Starr’s move to bring Monica’s mother Marcia Lewis, before the grand jury. “To pit a mother against her daughter, to coerce her to talkto me, it is reminiscent of the McCarthy era, or the inquisition, and even, you know, you could stretch it and say the Hitler era. It’s awful. I can’t believe this is happening.”

Earlier, replying a question, he said he knew that his daughter had a five-year relationship with a married teacher from her high school and while he considered it “a major mistake” he did not stop it.