Good afternoon.<br>As anyone close to me knows, for months I have been grappling with how best to reconcile myself to the American people, to acknowledge my own wrongdoing and still to maintain my focus on the work of the presidency.<br>Others are presenting my defense on the facts, the law and the Constitution. Nothing I can say now can add to that.<br>What I want the American people to know, what I want the Congress to know is that I am profoundly sorry for all I have done wrong in words and deeds.<br>I never should have misled the country, the Congress, my friends or my family. Quite simply, I gave in to my shame. I have been condemned by my accusers with harsh words.<br>And while it's hard to hear yourself called deceitful and manipulative, I remember Ben Franklin's admonition that our critics are our friends, for they do show us our faults.<br>Mere words cannot fully express the profound remorse I feel for what our country is going through and for what members of both parties in Congress are now forced to deal with. These past months have been a torturous process of coming to terms with what I did. I understand that accountability demands consequences, and I'm prepared to accept them.<br>Painful as the condemnation of the Congress would be, it would pale in comparison to the consequences of the pain I have caused my family. There is no greater agony.<br>Like anyone who honestly faces the shame of wrongful conduct, I would give anything to go back and undo what I did.<br>But one of the painful truths I have to live with is the reality that that is simply not possible. An old and dear friend of mine recently sent me the wisdom of a poet who wrote, "The moving finger writes and having writ, moves on. Nor all your piety nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a line. Nor all your tears wash out a word of it.''<br>So nothing, not piety, nor tears, nor wit, nor torment can alter what I have done. I must make my peace with that.<br>I must also be at peace with the fact that the public consequences of my actions are in the hands of the American people and their representatives in the Congress.<br>Should they determine that my errors of word and deed require their rebuke and censure, I am ready to accept that.<br>Meanwhile, I will continue to do all I can to reclaim the trust of the American people and to serve them well.<br>We must all return to the work, the vital work, of strengthening our nation for the new century. Our country has wonderful opportunities and daunting challenges ahead. I intend to seize those opportunities and meet those challenges with all the energy and ability and strength God has given me.<br>That is simply all I can do -- the work of the American people.<br>Thank you very much.