WASHINGTON -- Even while he was leading the charge against President Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was having an extramarital affair.

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Gingrich made the admission in an interview provided to The Associated Press by Focus on the Family. Its founder, James Dobson, interviewed Gingrich. It will air Friday.

Gingrich, a potential 2008 Republican presidential candidate, said there are times he's "fallen short of God's standards."

Gingrich divorced his second wife in 2000 after his attorneys acknowledged his relationship with his current wife, Callista Bisek. She's a former congressional aide more than 20 years younger than he is.

His first wife has said Gingrich discussed divorce terms with her while she was recuperating in the hospital from cancer surgery.

In a transcript of the interview posted on Gingrich's Web site, Dobson and Gingrich talk at length about Gingrich's marital life. Dobson says, "This is very, very personal and delicate and I appreciate your willingness to address it again. But you've been married three times under some circumstances that disappointed some of your supporters."

Gingrich then talks about his early relationships, leading to the following exchange:

Gingrich: "I think what I found difficult in going through all this is that I don't believe in situation ethics and I don't believe in saying, "Well, this was right and that was wrong" and then changing the rules according to my behavior, according to what … you know, to justify what I've done. And I'd have to say in all honesty, as I said to you the other week, there were times when I was praying and when I felt I was doing things that were wrong. But I was still doing them. And I look back on those as periods of weakness and periods that I'm not only not proud of, but that I would deeply urge my children and grandchildren not to follow in my footsteps."

Dobson: "On that occasion I asked you a pretty bold question. And I appreciate the fact that you didn't seem offended by it. But I asked you if the rumors were true that you were in an affair with a woman obviously who wasn't your wife at the same time that Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky were having their escapade."

Gingrich: "Well, the fact is that the honest answer is yes. But it was not related to what happened. And this is one of the things the Left tries to do and one of the places, where frankly, I think the way this report of the special counsel was written weakened the case.

"The president of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge. He was involved in a sexual-harassment lawsuit in which his behavior was a direct question of whether or not the woman who had accused him was telling the truth. The president of the United States, who was a Yale-graduated lawyer, had been attorney general of his state, knew better, deliberately committed perjury. Perjury is at the very heart of our legal system. And is very often punished very intently by the courts. I was very aware of this because of the very painful thing you've raised, which is I had been through a divorce. I had been through depositions."