Bill Clinton: “The only thing I regret--and I regret this very much, as I have said--is that a decision was made, which I did not…”

“The only thing I regret--and I regret this very much, as I have said--is that a decision was made, which I did not approve of or know about, to stop the rigorous review of checks coming in to the Democratic Committee so that some funds were accepted which should not have been accepted. I regret that very much. And I have said that I feel--as the titular head of the Democratic Party, I feel responsible for that. I think all of us in the line of command are. And I was very proud of Governor Romer and Mr. Grossman and the entire Democratic Committee. When they made a full accounting, they went over all the checks, they did something as far as I know no party has done in modern history, and they gave back money that was not only clearly illegal but that was questionable, and they're going on. I regret that very much, because that never should have happened in the first place. For the rest, I think the Vice President said he thought that some changes were in order, but I don't regret the fact that we worked like crazy to raise enough money to keep from being rolled over by the biggest juggernaut this country had seen in a very long time. And I think it would have been a very bad thing for the American people if that budget had passed, if their plans to dramatically dismantle the environmental protections and the public health protections the country had passed, and I am glad we stood up to it. I'm glad we fought the battles of '95 and '96, and I'm glad it came out the way it did. And we had to be aggressive and strong within the law, and I'm very proud of what the Vice President did.”