DSK admits to "moral failing," denies any violence
Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn answers questions by French journalist Claire Chazal on French TV station TF1, in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. The 62-year-old Socialist politician, whose hopes for the French presidency have been torpedoed, still faces a civil suit from his New York accuser, as well as a probe into allegations he tried to rape writer Tristane Banon, which he denies. / FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP/Getty Images
Last Updated 3:26 p.m. ET
PARIS - Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, has dismissed a French writer's claims that he tried to rape her during a 2003 interview as "imaginary" and insisted there was "no act of aggression, no violence."
Writer Tristane Banon has charged Strauss-Kahn tussled on the floor during an interview in an empty apartment, with the politician trying to open her jeans and bra and putting his fingers in her mouth and underwear.
Because a police investigation into the claims is ongoing, Strauss-Kahn said he would not say anything more about the matter.
He was speaking Sunday in his first television interview since his May arrest in New York City, where he faced charges of sexually assaulting a hotel maid. The charges - which he denied - were subsequently dismissed.
In a television interview on the French channel TF1, Strauss-Kahn called his sexual encounter with the maid a "moral failing."
He said there was no "violence, constraint or aggression" involved.
He added that he regrets the incident "infinitely."
Still, he maintained the encounter with the maid was consensual, and that she "lied" in accusing him of attacking her after she came into his room at New York's Sofitel hotel to clean.
New York prosecutors dropped criminal charges against him last month, though Strauss-Kahn is still facing a lawsuit brought by the maid, an immigrant from the African nation of Guinea.
Asked whether he had any intention of returning to politics, Strauss-Kahn said he would "take time to reflect" and rest first.
"But all my life was consecrated to being useful to the public good," he said, adding "we will see."
The interview came off as somewhat scripted, with Strauss-Kahn - in a dark suit and navy tie - looking unruffled and responding calmly to the questions.
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Ummm...Mimi: RAPE IS NOT SEX. IT'S AN ASSAULT, worse than if someone broke into your house and punched you out.
I've had sex with a wide variety of women for 30 years. Not one of them has ever accused me of rape. And yet, this old geezer gets accused of rape by two different women in two different countries? Two women that have zero in common with one another? C'MON!
You do not know this woman. She fled her country so her daughter wouldn't have her genitals mutiltated like she did, and the media made outrageous claims about her to further their agenda of perpetuating racist thought. As a fellow naval aviator, you should know about the tail-hook incident and act like a gentleman.
This guy is working at a job paying millions and is in NYC to do a job, not to recreate. He was supposed to go there, work, then leave. Not go there and dally around with maids. Instead of bending Ms. over the chair he should have been making use of the time to sit at his laptop and do work. His fun and games wasn't a moral failing it was fraud - being paid to work and then not working.