Clinton Allies Strike Back at Gillibrand

Some of Bill and Hillary Clinton's key allies are hitting back at Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's comments that the former president should have resigned over the Monica Lewinsky scandal, with one saying they found her comments "strange" coming 20 years after his presidency, and another saying he believes there is a "special place in hell" for people like her.

"Why she wouldn't have in the last 20 years vocalized it is strange to me," Philippe Reines, a former senior aide of Hillary Clinton's, told the Fox News "The Story with Martha MacCallum" program. "Nothing was stopping her."

On a separate Fox News program, "Outnumbered Overtime," Doug Schoen, a former aide of Bill Clinton's, also slammed Gillibrand, saying that there is a "special place in hell" for people like her.

"Sen. Gillibrand, having accepted endorsements, campaign funding and support for many, many years, to turn on President Clinton gratuitously, boy, I think there's just a special place in hell for people like that," Schoen said.

Reines said that Gillibrand's comments were "strange to me," as she most likely "didn't come to this feeling and thought and position yesterday."

Gillibrand, who now holds Hillary Clinton's former Senate seat, is one of the most high-profile elected Democrats to say the ex-president should have stepped down. On Thursday, she told The New York Times that she thinks his resignation would have been the "appropriate response."

However, she'd told the Times that not only should Clinton have resigned, but claims of sexual harassment and assault that have been made against President Donald Trump should be reexamined.

“Things have changed today, and I think under those circumstances there should be a very different reaction,” she said. “And I think in light of this conversation, we should have a very different conversation about President Trump, and a very different conversation about allegations against him.”

Both presidents have been accused of inappropriate sexual conduct by several women through the years. In addition to Lewinsky, other women have accused Clinton in several incident, including rape, with the former president denying the claims.

Trump, meanwhile, has been accused by as many as 16 women of sexual assault. He also has faced accusations after the "Access Hollywood" tape, where he was recorded bragging about how his being a celebrity allowed him to grope and kiss women.

Reines' comments Friday were the latest salvo between him and Gillibrand after her comments about Clinton and Lewinsky, a White House intern at the time of their affair.

He echoed a tweet he posted on Thursday, when he called Gillibrand a "hypocrite" who accepted the support of both Clintons for the past 20 years, and referred to the actions between Lewinsky and Clinton as "consensual."

Gillibrand, though told MSNBC that Reines' complaints that she is a hypocrite were "ridiculous" and "wrong."

Like Reines, Schoen said the Clintons probably did more than anyone else to help Gillibrand, but she turned on them because she thought they could hinder her in a potential 2020 presidential race.

"Sen. Gillibrand to have jumped to answer that question made a profound mistake as an opportunist," Schoen said, predicting her comment will hurt her because the former president remains a key figure among Democrats.

He said it will hurt her politically, because former President Clinton is still one of the most popular figures in the Democratic Party.

Gillibrand's comments could also prove a game-changer for Democrats considering their own 2020 presidential races, The Washington Post's Aaron Blake argued in an opinion piece on Friday.

Such Democrats could be wary of allowing Gillibrand to keep the spotlight, he wrote, and would be conscious of appearing to excuse Clinton's behavior while arguing that accusers in sex assault cases should be believed.