Dominique Strauss-Kahnâs first interview since his May 14 arrest in New York lasted longer than his mysterious encounter with the hotel maid he was accused of attempting to rape at the Times Square Sofitel. But while Franceâs top evening newscast hoped to set an audience record with DSKâs first interview since he returned home to Paris a free man two weeks ago, viewers arenât much closer to knowing what happened during those elusive nine minutes four months ago in Room 2806.
In a dark suit and a dark blue tie over a white shirt, Strauss-Kahn wore a grave expression, his hands flat on the desk in front of him as he spent more than 12 minutes of the interview on his encounter with Nafissatou Diallo and the 100-day ordeal that followed, ending his International Monetary Fund career and his hopes for a 2012 presidential run. At his side on the studioâs desk, Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vanceâs August report asking that the criminal charges against Strauss-Kahn be dropped was a ready prop, Strauss-Kahn picking it up several times, even audibly poking it, to illustrate his innocence.
âWhat happened includes neither violence, nor coercion, nor aggression, nor any criminal act. It is the district attorney who says that, not me,â the one-time frontrunner to become Franceâs next president told Claire Chazal, the popular weekend anchor on the TF1 newscast.
The choice of Chazal, a friend of Strauss-Kahnâs wife, Anne Sinclair, and the TF1 channel, where Sinclair, a former television journalist, worked for many years, was controversial. Chazal did however spend more time questioning Strauss-Kahn on the so-called Sofitel Affair than may have been expectedâan IFOP poll released today had provided an easy out, suggesting only 35 percent of the French public wanted Strauss-Kahn to explain what happened in Room 2806, while 64 percent were interested in hearing his expertise and solutions for the economic crisis, the former IMF chiefâs last remaining asset in the eyes of the public, according to the pollster. Strauss-Kahn nevertheless handily set the rhythm of the interview, sometimes pausing at length, and never seemed troubled by the questions posed. (Chazal, not known for hard-hitting interviews, recently made the cover of the glossy weekly Paris Match, herself the celebrity interviewee, pictured frolicking on a beach.) âThere wasnât a trial because there was no longer a single accusation that held and the district attorneyâit is his roleâsaid that since there is no longer any accusation that holds, nor material proof, nor credible statement, then, one can only renounce,â Strauss-Kahn told Chazal.
âWhat happened [with Diallo at the Sofitel] was a relationship that was not only inappropriate, but more than that, an error. An error with regard to my wife, to my children, to my friends. But also an error with regard to the French people, who had placed in me their hope for change,â Strauss-Kahn said. âAnd from that point of view, it must be said, I missed my rendez-vous with the French people,â he said, admitting he would otherwise have declared his candidacy for the Socialist nomination for 2012.
Strauss-Kahn denied that his sexual encounter with the chambermaid was paid sex, but was not pressed on why the sexual encounter he claimed was consensual and non-violent, after which he says he did not attempt to flee, was so short. âI think it was a moral error. And I am not proud of it. And I regret it infinitely. I have regretted it all of these days over the past four months,â he said.
Strauss-Kahn played to the home crowd, twice using the phrase âus French.â âItâs a bit curious for us French that, when all the charges have disappeared on the penal side, one can nevertheless bring a civil case, but that is the case in the United States,â he said. âBy the way, the existence of this civil case clearly shows the financial motivation that is behind all of this.â
Furthermore, DSK left open the suggestion that he may have been set up: âA trap, itâs possible. A conspiracy, weâll see,â he told Chazal. He noted bitterly that the Sofitel provided more access to information on Dialloâs movements in the hotel that day to her own lawyers than to his.
Strauss-Kahnâs shot at a presidential run may in factâat least among Socialist Party supporters in Franceâhave been damaged as much by the allegations against him as by his strikingly easy access to millions of dollars in bail money and other fees. To Chazal, Strauss-Kahn, an economist by trade, deplored the role money plays in the court system in the United States and claimed that he didnât, in any case, like the $50,000 a month TriBeCa townhouse he and his heiress wife rented, but they had no choice.
âFirst of all, the role of money, for us French, the role of money in the American justice system is very shocking. And in the face of the daily difficulties of life of French people, the sums in question were shocking, thatâs for sure,â Strauss-Kahn said. âWhat was there to do? When you have a few hours to either find housing or you return to Rikers Island, you donât hesitate if you are lucky enough to be able to not hesitate.â
DSK explained that the media attention made it impossible to rent an apartment, that few houses were available, and that his accommodations had to meet strict security conditions set by the judge. âSo we found this house. I didnât like this house. It was expensive. But it was that or return to Rikers Island,â he explained.
When Chazal asked Strauss-Kahn to get personal about his ordeal, he sought sympathy. âWhat can I tell you? I was scared. I was very scared. When you are caught in those sorts of jaws, in that machine, you have the impression it can shred you. I had the sentiment that I had been trampled on, humiliated, before even being able to say a word. And in this affair, I experienced some violent things, yes,â Strauss-Kahn says. âTerrible attacks,â he went on, raising his voice as Chazal tried to ask another question. âAnd I lost a lot, even though others in other circumstances may sometimes have lost more than me.â
Strauss-Kahn paid tribute to his wife, although he suggested she wouldnât have stood by her man if he had been guilty. âShe is an exceptional woman. I would not have resisted, I would not have been able to resist through all of this without her,â DSK said of Sinclair, whom he married 20 years ago this November. âI am wildly lucky to have her at my side. I hurt her. I know it. I am angry at myself for it.â He went on, âBut you know, she would not have been at my side, she would not have supported me in that way, if from the first second she hadnât known that I was innocent.â
As has been their habit after every key DSK TV moment over the past four months, Strauss-Kahnâs closest allies were out in force, the first to react in the media after the interview. Fellow former Socialist cabinet minister Jack Lang told the BFMtv news channel that he felt Strauss-Kahn had spoken the âlanguage of the heart.â âI am proud to be his friend,â said Lang. âI hope today that those who fought him will accept to surrender their weapons.â
But the lawyer representing Nafissatou Dialloâs interests in France, Thibault de Montbrial, was clearly not ready to bury the hatchet. He told Agence France Presse he thought the interview was âa public relations operation that was totally controlled, without any spontaneity, in either the questions or the answers.â Montbrial accused Strauss-Kahn of making Vanceâs report âsay things it doesnât say.â
There is, of course, another case against Strauss-Kahn in progress in France, an attempted rape accusation brought by the writer Tristane Banon, 30 years his junior, for a 2003 incident. Strauss-Kahn did not linger when asked about that case, but told Chazal, âThe version that has been presented is a version that is imaginary, that is slanderous,â saying he has filed his own complaint against Banon for slander.
Banonâs mother, Anne Mansouret, told AFP after the interview, âHe explained nothing and engaged in an exercise in theater after having had to practice a lot.â Mansouret, an elected Socialist, said, âHe told us a very nice story without giving us the basics that would have enabled us to know what really happened.â
The Monday morning pundits may not be as ready, either, to lay down arms, now that Strauss-Kahn has finally given them something to work with. But he may have saved himself the worst of the brickbats by not making any promises to return to politics. Indeed, 53 percent of those polled by IFOP for the Journal du Dimanche weekly hoped DSK would use this interview to retire from politics. With the Socialist primary now well underway without him, Strauss-Kahn refused to endorse a candidate and seemed in no hurry to return to the ring himself. If there were any need for more evidence of how much of a careless wasteâat the very bestâStrauss-Kahnâs nine-minute interlude in Sofitel Room 2806 was on that day in May, it was in the early reactions to the end of the interview, with even rivals and critics praising DSKâs analysis of the economic crisis. Strauss-Kahn, looking more comfortable than he had over the previous 18 minutes, urged drastic action in favor of Greece, pressing European allies to take the losses and eat Greek debt. Jean Quatremer, the Brussels correspondent for the left-leaning daily LibĂ©ration who famously blogged as early as 2007 that Strauss-Kahnâs skirt-chasing could cost him dearly in the United States as he took the IMF job, tweeted in French as the interview wrapped up, âOn the crisis, DSK is excellent. âWe must take the loss.â Too bad, after all.â