Investigative journalist and author Matthew Vadum appeared Oct. 2, 2026, on NewsX World in India in a pretaped segment recalling the Monica Lewinsky scandal and its aftermath.

The anchor was Keren Nanyaro. Also appearing on the show were renowned American lawyer Neama Rahmani and former Indian Ambassador Bhaswati Mukherjee.

Vadum said Lewinsky “became a punchline in jokes, dirty jokes told all around the country. Cable TV panels argued about her weight, her fashion choices, her parents, and what her real motives might be.”

“January 21st [1998], the story was on the front page of every newspaper in America. From that morning on, it was no longer merely a gossip item; it was a constitutional investigation with an intense media focus,” he said.

“They really couldn’t argue about the dress. Monica Lewinsky had kept a navy blue dress. It had a semen stain on it. The speed of the story: it did not move on a typical newspaper clock. It could move basically at the speed of light and sound through the internet,” Vadum said.

“Monica Lewinsky became the scandal herself. That picture was used by people who wanted the story to be about her character instead of his [i.e. President Bill Clinton’s] oath in court to tell the truth,” he said.

Watch the video clip: