Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption New York prosecutors dropped all criminal charges against Strauss-Kahn last month, though he still faces a civil suit 
 
 Dominique Strauss-Kahn has described his liaison with a hotel maid in New York, over which he was charged with attempted rape, as "inappropriate". 
 
 In his first TV interview since charges were dropped, the ex-IMF chief said he regretted the affair had lost him his chance to stand for French president, but denied using violence. 
 
 He said he had been afraid and humiliated by the US justice system. 
 
 Mr Strauss-Kahn, 62, resigned as IMF chief in May after his arrest. 
 
 The maid, Nafissatou Diallo, is bringing a civil suit against him. 
 
 The criminal charges were dropped in August when prosecutors said Ms Diallo's lack of credibility meant the case could not continue. 
 
 'Missed appointment' 
 
 Mr Strauss-Kahn was questioned by Claire Chazal, a friend of his wife Anne Sinclair, on the main Sunday night bulletin of France's TF1 - watched by a huge audience. 
 
 "What happened was more than an inappropriate relationship. It was an error," he said, adding that he regretted it infinitely. 
 
 Analysis Dominique Strauss-Kahn had waited a fortnight to give his side of the story. "Everyone has had their chance", he said, "except me." He brought with him a copy of the New York prosecutor's report. "There was neither violence nor coercion nor aggression or any criminal act," he said. "Neither scratches or injuries, no sign of violence. Not my words but the words of the prosecutor." Since his return to France, a team of lawyers and advisers have been heavily involved in the negotiations for this interview. But scripted or not, there was an apology to the French people and his family. This was a very astute politician who wanted to present himself as a victim. In all it was a polished performance from a politician who has had plenty of time to consider the questions he might be asked. The reaction in the coming days from his party and the public will tell us whether there is sympathy with that position and whether ultimately his rehabilitation is possible. Strauss-Kahn's 'moment of truth' 
 
 "I think it was a moral failing and I am not proud of it," he told Ms Chazal. 
 
 He said the incident had caused him to miss his "appointment with the French people", referring to his desire to be a Socialist candidate in France's 2012 presidential elections. 
 
 Before his arrest, he had been expected to be a strong contender to challenge President Nicolas Sarkozy. 
 
 He said he could "obviously" no longer be a candidate and would play no part in the forthcoming Socialist primaries. 
 
 He would now "take time to reflect" on his future, he added. 
 
 He said the sexual encounter "did not involve violence, constraint or aggression" and that Ms Diallo had lied, but he had no intention of negotiating with her in her civil case. 
 
 But he reserved his harshest words for the US criminal justice system. 
 
 "I was afraid, very afraid," he said, "and I was humiliated, trampled before I could even utter a word." 
 
 In addition to the New York case, Mr Strauss-Kahn faces an allegation by French author Tristane Banon that he tried to rape her in 2003. 
 
 But the former IMF chief said that Ms Banon's accusations were imaginary, adding that there was "no violence". He is suing for defamation. 
 
 He was interviewed by French police last week. ||||| Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, maintained Sunday his sexual encounter with a New York hotel maid did not involve violence, constraint or aggression but still constituted a moral failing on his part. 
 
 In his first interview since his May 14 arrest over accusations of sexual assault, Strauss-Kahn told France's TF1 television channel "what happened was more than an inappropriate relation. It was an error." 
 
 He added "I regret it infinitely." 
 
 Still, he maintained the encounter with the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, was consensual and that she "lied" in accusing him of attacking her after she came into his room at New York's Sofitel hotel to clean. 
 
 Strauss-Kahn also dismissed as "imaginary" separate claims by a French writer that he tried to rape her during a 2003 interview, again insisting "no act of aggression, no violence" had taken place between the two. 
 
 The writer, Tristane Banon, has maintained she and Strauss-Kahn tussled on the floor during an interview in an empty apartment, with the politician trying to open her jeans and bra and putting his fingers in her mouth and underwear. 
 
 Because a police investigation into the claims is ongoing, Strauss-Kahn said he would not say anything more about the matter. 
 
 If Paris prosecutors decide to pursue the case, Strauss-Kahn _ once among the luminaries of France's Socialist party who was widely considered a top contender in next year's presidential race _ could face a possible trial. 
 
 New York prosecutors dropped all criminal charges against him in the Diallo case last month, though Strauss-Kahn is still facing a lawsuit brought by the maid, an immigrant from the African nation of Guinea. 
 
 Asked whether he had any intention of returning to politics, Strauss-Kahn said he would "take time to reflect" and rest first. 
 
 "But all my life was consecrated to being useful to the public good," he said, adding "we will see." 
 
 The interview came off as somewhat scripted, with Strauss-Kahn _ in a dark suit and navy tie _ looking unruffled and responding calmly to the questions. 
 
 The AP does not name people who report being sexually assaulted unless they agree to be identified or come forward publicly, as Diallo and Banon have done. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report. ||||| He took me with the vulgarity of a soldier ...says the MOTHER of girl Strauss-Khan is accused of molesting 
 
 
 
 'He took me with the vulgarity of a soldier', says former colleague Anne Mansouret 
 
 Three years later her daughter Tristane Banon claims he tried to rape her like 'rutting chimpanzee' 
 
 Was delay in coming forward down to her mother's relationship with the 'Great Seducer'? 
 
 
 
 Dominique Strauss-Kahn slept with the mother of a woman who claims the former IMF boss tried to rape her, it emerged yesterday. 
 
 Anne Mansouret admitted that she had sex with Mr Strauss-Kahn in 2000, saying her fellow socialist ‘took me with the vulgarity of a soldier’ while they were both supposed to be working. 
 
 Miss Mansouret, 65, is the mother of 32-year-old writer Tristane Banon, who has alleged that Strauss-Kahn assaulted her in 2003 as she tried to interview him. 
 
 'Tryst': Dominique Strauss-Kahn 'had brutal sex' with former colleague Anne Mansouret, the mother of attempted-rape claimant Tristane Banon 
 
 The latest revelation in one of the most squalid cases in French political history emerged in the country’s press. 
 
 The alleged sexual encounter happened in the offices of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, where Strauss-Kahn, now 64, was working as a special adviser. 
 
 Miss Mansouret’s claims were made to police last week when she was interviewed as a witness in her daughter’s allegations of attempted rape against Strauss-Kahn. 
 
 'Rutting chimpanzee': Tristane Banon claims Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her 
 
 She is said to have told officers that she and Strauss-Kahn had ‘consensual but brutal’ sex. 
 
 Miss Mansouret, a radical feminist with three marriages and scores of lovers in her past, has admitted that she was happy to have sex with a man known in France as the ‘Great Seducer’. 
 
 However, she admitted, she ‘never wanted to repeat the experience’. 
 
 She told police: ‘He doesn’t try to please women, but simply to possess them.’ 
 
 Miss Mansouret, a socialist party regional official, is said to have kept the encounter secret until her daughter told her in February 2003 that Strauss-Kahn had tried to rape her when she went to interview him for a book she was writing. 
 
 Miss Mansouret said she was so ‘incensed’ that she went to see Strauss-Kahn’s former wife Brigitte Guillemette, who later challenged him over the attack. 
 
 Strauss-Kahn is then said to have admitted: ‘I don’t know what came over me. I slept with the mother, I lost it when I saw the daughter.’ 
 
 According to Miss Mansouret, Strauss-Kahn then met her for a glass of wine in a bistro, and he apologised for trying to attack her daughter. 
 
 Attempted rape carries a sentence of up to 15 years in France – more if there are aggravating circumstances such as the use of violence. In a 2007 TV programme which is still accessible on the internet, Miss Banon gives a graphic account of the alleged attack in which she compared Strauss-Kahn to a ‘rutting chimpanzee’ and claimed he tried to unfasten her clothes. 
 
 She said that she was dissuaded from filing charges at the time by her mother, who is still a regional councillor in Strauss-Kahn’s Socialist party. 
 
 The violent but consensual sex between her mother and Strauss-Kahn is now being put forward as the reason why Miss Banon took eight years to go to the police about the alleged attack on her, claimed L’Express magazine. It also emerged yesterday that Strauss-Kahn’s daughter Camille has been questioned by police over the alleged attempted rape of Miss Banon. 
 
 The 26-year-old student, who is a friend of Miss Banon’s, was questioned on Monday. 
 
 Arrested: Strauss-Kahn appeared in court earlier this year after a maid at a hotel in New York claimed that she had been sexually-assaulted by him 
 
 In response to Miss Banon’s claims, Strauss-Kahn has denied the attack and begun legal action against her for libel. 
 
 His Paris lawyer Henri Leclerc said: ‘Her claims are imaginary. It never happened.’ 
 
 Strauss-Kahn, the disgraced former head of the International Monetary Fund and once a possible presidential candidate in France, is currently awaiting trial in New York, accused of raping a hotel maid. 
 
 That case has been adjourned until next month and looks likely to be dropped because of his victim’s alleged links with criminals. 
 
 But Strauss-Kahn faces an investigation for the attempted rape of Miss Banon as soon as he returns home to France. 
 
 All of the women involved in the French allegations are well known to Anne Sinclair, Strauss-Kahn’s current wife who, despite his non-stop philandering, is standing by him. 
 
 The French Socialist Party has been torn apart by the latest revelations, but some senior figures are still arguing that Strauss-Kahn should be allowed to run for president next year against Nicolas Sarkozy. 
 
 In another dramatic development yesterday it emerged that Francois Hollande, the current frontrunner to stand as Socialist presidential candidate next year, is set to be questioned by police about allegations that he knew about the alleged attempted rape of Miss Banon as far back as 2003, but did nothing about it.
– Making his first public appearance since his arrest on rape charges in New York four months ago, Dominique Strauss-Kahn admitted today to a moral failing: "What happened was more than an inappropriate relation. It was an error," the former IMF chief said on French television. "I regret it infinitely." But he insisted that his sexual encounter with a maid in a New York hotel was consensual and that she had "lied" about it, the AP reports. Strauss-Kahn also shrugged off a French writer's rape accusation as "imaginary," saying "no act of aggression, no violence" occurred between him and Tristane Banon. A police investigation into that claim is ongoing. Asked about his political ambitions, Strauss-Kahn said he would "take time to reflect" and rest. "But all my life was consecrated to being useful to the public good," so "we will see." Strauss-Kahn saved his strongest words for America's justice system, the BBC reports: "I was afraid, very afraid," he said, "and I was humiliated, trampled before I could even utter a word."