Paula Jones Reacts to Clinton Memoir

July 1, 2004 -- -- Paula Jones, the former Arkansas state employee who launched a sexual harassment suit against then-President Clinton, tells ABC News she was the first step in an effort by anti-Clinton forces that eventually led to his impeachment.

Hillary Rodham Clinton famously blamed the scandals that led to her husband's impeachment on a "vast right-wing conspiracy." Jones told ABC News "Primetime's" Cynthia McFadden: "I agree that I was a small little entity in this big vast whatever-you-want-to-call-it that got erected."

She continued, "It started with me — and they did use me for their own agendas."

Jones spoke to McFadden in a "Primetime" interview about her reactions to the former president's newly released memoir, "My Life."

She said she was shocked by Clinton's recent explanation of why he had an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton told CBS' "60 Minutes" that he did it "because I could."

Jones said her first thought was: "Oh, my! He actually admitted that — and that's why he did that with me." (Jones' lawsuit accused Clinton of exposing himself and making a sexual proposition to her in an Arkansas hotel room.)

Jones feels that Clinton's motivations were the same with former White House volunteer Kathleen Willey and former cabaret singer Gennifer Flowers, who also accused Clinton of sexual misbehavior.

Flowers rocked Clinton's campaign for the Democratic nomination for president in 1992 when she announced to the media she had had a 12-year affair with the would-be candidate. Clinton later admitted her allegations were at least partially true.

"You know, he did it because he could," Jones said. "Because he used his power. So that's exactly my thought when he said that."

Jones also told McFadden she knew about the president's relationship with Lewinsky before his wife learned of it. One of Jones' lawyers confronted Clinton before the Lewinsky news became public, she said.

"I knew very little about her except she was an intern, that she worked in the White House … and that they had some relations," Jones said.