Strauss-Kahn admits 'moral weakness'

Strauss-Kahn calls scandal 'a mistake'STORY HIGHLIGHTSThe former IMF head acknowledges "moral weakness"He denies any sexual assault took place at a New York hotelThe woman's attorneys question his claim of consensual sexStrauss-Kahn denies attempting to assault French writer Tristane Banon Paris (CNN) -- The former head of the International Monetary Fund, arrested on sexual assault charges and then released after his accuser's credibility was questioned, acknowledged "moral weakness" in an interview Sunday but denied any violence or aggression.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn told French television station TF1 the incident at the Sofitel involving a Guinean maid was "not only an inappropriate relationship, but more than that -- an error, a mistake, a mistake concerning my wife, my children, my friends, but also a mistake that the French people placed their hope in change on me."

"There was a weakness," he said. "It was greater than a weakness, it was a moral weakness, a moral mistake, and I'm not proud of this. I regret this. I've regretted it throughout these days, through these four months, and I believe I've not finished regretting.

"I had a feeling I was trapped, humiliated," he said of the accusations. He said he was deeply wounded by the images and the media reports surrounding the allegations.

French police question Strauss-Kahn

He spoke of being hounded by reporters and scrambling to find a place to stay that would satisfy court security requirements. "This was expensive," he said, but "... either that or return back to (jail)."

Once considered a front-runner candidate for the French presidency, Strauss-Kahn, 62, was pulled off a Paris-bound plane on May 14 and arrested after the sexual assault allegations. Days later, he resigned from the IMF and was put on house arrest after spending a few days in New York's Rikers Island jail.

But questions arose about the credibility of the maid, identified as Nafissatou Diallo, prompting prosecutors to drop the charges against Strauss-Kahn. He returned to France earlier this month.

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