Bill Clinton tries to clarify controversial comments on Monica Lewinsky - and makes it worse

After former President Bill Clinton angrily responded Monday to questioning about his affair with Monica Lewinsky, the public outcry led him to attempt to clarify his comments at a later event.

Here's what he said

Clinton was promoting his new book at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in York City Monday evening when he addressed the furor over his earlier comments.

"The truth is, the hubbub was I got hot under the collar," Clinton explained. "Because of the way the questions were asked, and I think what was lost are the two points that I made, that are important to me."

"The suggestion was that I never apologized for what caused all the trouble for me 20 years ago," he continued. "So first point is, I did."

'I live with it all the time'

"I meant it then, and I mean it now," he said. "I apologized to my family, to Monica Lewinsky and her family, and to the American people. Before a panel of ministers in the White House, which was widely reported, so I was, I did that. I meant it then, and I mean it today. I live with it all the time."

"The second is, that I support the 'Me Too' movement, and I think it's long overdue," he added. "And I have always tried to support it in the decisions and policies that I have advanced."

Watch the CNN video report on Clinton's second comment:

Keith Boykin, a former White House aide to Clinton, said on CNN that the former president needed to apologize to Lewinsky, and he listed off the three times he hurt Democratic presidential candidates.

'I’ve tried to do a good job since then'

In the earlier interview, Clinton protested that he didn't owe Lewinsky an apology, leading many to condemn the former president. As noted by CNN's Erin Burnett, Clinton doubled down in his clarification by saying that he had already apologized publicly.

“I dealt with it 20 years ago. And the American people, two-thirds of them, stayed with me,” Clinton said. “And I’ve tried to do a good job since then with my life and with my work. That’s all I have to say to you.”