Newt Gingrich Admits Affair During Clinton Era

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich acknowledged he was having an extramarital affair while he was leading the push to impeach President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair, Fox News and the Associated Press reported today. Gingrich admitted the affair in an interview on a conservative Christian radio program to be aired today.

"The honest answer is yes," Gingrich, a potential 2008 Republican presidential candidate, said in the interview with Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, according to a transcript provided to The Associated Press. "There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards." He also told Dobson that he had "gotten on my knees and sought God's forgiveness" for his personal moral failings.

Gingrich argued in the interview, however, that he should not be viewed as a hypocrite for pursuing Clinton's infidelity.

"The president of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge," the former Georgia congressman said of Clinton's 1998 House impeachment on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. "I drew a line in my mind that said, 'Even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept ... perjury in your highest officials."

Widely credited with orchestrating the Republican revolution that swept Congress in the 1994 elections, Gingrich remains extremely popular among many conservatives. He has placed near the top of recent Republican presidential polls, even though he has not formed a campaign. Gingrich has said he is waiting to see how the Republican field shapes up before deciding in the fall whether to run.