Saturday, February 23, 2013

Senator who tried to impeach Clinton admits lovechild - Telegraph:
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Senator who tried to impeach Clinton admits lovechild

A former United States senator who tried to have Bill Clinton impeached for his liaison with Monica Lewinsky has shocked the Republican party by admitting that he too had an extra-marital dalliance.

Monica Lewinsky with Bill Clinton and (right) former US senator Pete Domenici Photo: AP

10:41AM GMT 22 Feb 2013

Pete Domenici, 80, said he fathered a secret child in the 1970s with the 24-year-old daughter of one of his Senate colleagues.

Domenici and Michelle Laxalt sent statements to the Albuquerque Journal that announced the relationship for the first time and identified their son as Adam Paul Laxalt, a lawyer in Nevada.

They said they decided to go public with their decades-old secret because they believed someone was about to release the information in an attempt to smear Mr Domenici.

"I deeply regret this and am very sorry for my behavior," said Mr Domenici in his statement. "I hope New Mexicans will view that my accomplishments for my beloved state outweigh my personal transgression."

Mr Domenici was the longest-serving senator in New Mexico history when he retired in 2008 after six terms.

He voted for the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton in 1998 after his affair with Monica Lewinsky, but his floor statement focused on the fact that Clinton had lied under oath, noting that the trial "has never been about the President's private sex acts, as tawdry as they have been."

But in the same speech, he cited the value of "truthfulness" as the first pillar of good character.

Reached at his home in Washington on Wednesday, Mr Domenici declined to comment further. He and his wife have been married more than 50 years and have eight children.

Michelle Laxalt is the daughter of former senator Paul Laxalt, himself a significant political figure in the 1970s and 1980s as he served as Nevada governor and two terms in the Senate alongside Mr Domenici.

Ms Laxalt became a prominent lobbyist, Republican activist and television commentator after the affair. She said in the statement that she chose to raise her son as a single parent and that the two agreed that it would be a private matter.

"One night's mistake led to pregnancy more than 30 years ago," she said.

The website for Adam Laxalt's law firm said he is a former Navy officer and lawyer who served in Iraq. He also worked for the former senator John Warner and as a special assistant to an undersecretary of state.

Mr Domenici is the latest in a long line of politicians who were forced to reveal secret children, from one-time presidential candidate John Edwards to the former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Just last week, Steve Cohen, a congressman for Tennessee, acknowledged that he is the father of a 24-year-old woman after the two were seen communicating on Twitter during the State of the Union address.

Source: Associated Press