DSK admits to "moral failing," denies any violence

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.