(monpre)

I was involved, deeply involved, in a deception. I have deceived my friends and I had millions of them. I lied to the American people. I lied about what I knew and then I lied about what I did not know. In a sense I was like a child who refuses to admit a fact in the hope that it would go away. Of course it did not go away. I was scared, scared to death. I had no solid position, no basis to stand on for myself. There was one way out and that was simply to tell the truth.