by: Michael Calderone | Huffington Post

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Associated Press defended its invoking of the Monica Lewinsky scandal in a Thursday fact-check of former President Bill Clinton's speech, amid criticism of its relevance to a point Clinton was making about welfare.

During his Wednesday night speech, Clinton criticized a Romney campaign ad for falsely suggesting that the Obama administration has ended work requirements for people on welfare and noted that a Romney pollster recently said their campaign would not be "dictated by fact-checkers."