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Clinton: My goodness. We made lots of mistakes. We never should have made the investment for one. And I suppose the other big mistake that I made was not appreciating how other people view this when I knew we had done everything we knew to make good on obligations, like paying property taxes and other things, to try to be as careful as possible. So yes, we made lots of mistakes and obviously wish we hadn't. But those are things you look at in retrospect. We didn't do anything wrong. We never intended to do anything wrong.
TIME: Why did you oppose naming a special counsel?
Clinton: Well, there were no allegations of wrongdoing against the President or me. There were lots of wild and unsubstantiated stories that are filled with hurtful claims about people.
TIME: How do you and your husband explain this to each other?
Clinton: I just tell him that I'm very sad that this kind of situation has occurred and that I'm sure we could have handled it differently or better. I know when all is said and done there's nothing in this whole Whitewater situation except a lot of confused documents that . . . will be put into some sensible order and presented to the world when the special counsel gets done. So I don't even worry about that.
TIME: And Chelsea?
Clinton: She doesn't need an explanation. She is fully aware of what happens in politics. With it comes a lot of the worst that human nature has to offer. We've been telling her that since she was six.
TIME: What effect does this have on you?
Clinton: I feel, on most days, good about what I'm doing, but on other days I get down like anybody else. People can lie about you on a regular basis and you have to take it. That's very hurtful. Then when you stop and think that now that we're in public life at the level we are, we have no protection against any of that.