Politics

Denise Rich: I Did Nothing Wrong

April 27, 2001 / 10:38 AM EDT / AP

Denise Rich says she contributed generously to Democrats because she wanted to support her country, and she did nothing wrong in helping her ex-husband get a presidential pardon.

"I feel that what I did is right, and I would do it again," she said in an interview on the ABC News program "20/20."

Rich also denied she ever had a sexual relationship with President Clinton, who pardoned her ex-husband, Marc Rich, in January.

"I never had a sexual relationship or anything that's improper, any kind of relationship that would be improper with President Clinton," Rich said. She also said she visited the White House 12 to 18 times but never spent the night there.

Rich's interview with Barbara Walters airs Friday. The 57-year-old songwriter also spoke at length in the June issue of Vanity Fair.

In an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live" that will air on Monday, Rich said she did not expect all the fallout from her ex-husband's pardon.

"I was very surprised at the uproar ... if we went into the pardons that have happened before this with the past presidents...Oliver North, Caspar Weinberger and many others ... all I know is that there have been many questionable pardons."

Denise and Marc Rich moved to Switzerland with their children after U.S. prosecutors brought charges against him for alleged tax fraud, racketeering and trading with the enemy. They later divorced and Denise Rich return to America.

After one of their three daughters, Gabrielle, died of leukemia, Rich made peace with her ex-husband and began lobbying Clinton for a pardon, she said.

"When you've lost a child, everything changes, and I felt in my heart forgiveness," she said.