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Strauss-Kahn Acknowledges 'Moral Failings' In TV Interview

PARIS (CBSNewYork) -- In his first interview since his sexual assault charges in New York were dropped, Dominique Strauss-Kahn appeared on French television to tell his side.

"What happened does not include violence, no force, no aggression, nor any unlawful act. It is the prosecutor who says this, not me. What happened is not only an inappropriate relationship but, more than that, an error," Strauss-Kahn said.

Asked if the encounter was a moral weakness, Strauss-Kahn replied: "I think it was more than weakness. I think it is a moral error and I'm not proud of it and I regret it immensely."

Strauss-Kahn's interview suggesting consensual sex drew a crowd of feminist protesters to the television studios, calling him a sexual deviant, and holding signs asked "what is seduction for you?"

The former head of the International Monetary Fund and one-time French presidential candidate returned to France two weeks ago after New York prosecutor Cy Vance dropped the sex assault case against him.

His accuser, hotel housekeeper Nafisattou Diallo, was considered not credible in her account that Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her in his room at the Sofitel Hotel in Midtown.

Strauss-Kahn called it a plot and even a possible trap.

In the end, he apologized for his "moral weakness," for letting down his country, and for the hurt he caused his family, especially wife Anne Sinclair.

Still unresolved, however, is another sexual assault case against Strauss-Kahn by a French journalist in Paris. He called that case, not an example of moral weakness, but rather imaginary.

Do you believe Strauss-Kahn? Sound off in our comments section below…

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