Wabash
12-19-2006, 10:00 PM
December 19: General Interest
1998 : President Clinton impeached
After nearly 14 hours of debate, the House of
Representatives approves two articles of impeachment
against President Bill Clinton, charging him with
lying under oath to a federal grand jury and
obstructing justice. Clinton, the second president in
American history to be impeached, vowed to finish his
term.
In November 1995, Clinton began an affair with Monica
Lewinsky, a 21-year-old unpaid intern. Over the course
of a year and a half, the president and Lewinsky had
nearly a dozen sexual encounters in the White House.
In April 1996, Lewinsky was transferred to the
Pentagon. That summer, she first confided in Pentagon
co-worker Linda Tripp about her sexual relationship
with the president. In 1997, with the relationship
over, Tripp began secretly to record conversations
with Lewinsky, in which Lewinsky gave Tripp details
about the affair.
In December, lawyers for Paula Jones, who was suing
the president on sexual harassment charges, subpoenaed
Lewinsky. In January 1998, allegedly under the
recommendation of the president, Lewinsky filed an
affidavit in which she denied ever having had a sexual
relationship with him. Five days later, Tripp
contacted the office of Kenneth Starr, the Whitewater
independent counsel, to talk about Lewinsky and the
tapes she made of their conversations. Tripp, wired by
FBI agents working with Starr, met with Lewinsky
again, and on January 16, Lewinsky was taken by FBI
agents and U.S. attorneys to a hotel room where she
was questioned and offered immunity if she cooperated
with the prosecution. A few days later, the story
broke, and Clinton publicly denied the allegations,
saying, "I did not have sexual relations with that
woman, Ms. Lewinsky."
In late July, lawyers for Lewinsky and Starr worked
out a full-immunity agreement covering both Lewinsky
and her parents, all of whom Starr had threatened with
prosecution. On August 6, Lewinsky appeared before the
grand jury to begin her testimony, and on August 17
President Clinton testified. Contrary to his testimony
in the Paula Jones sexual-harassment case, President
Clinton acknowledged to prosecutors from the office of
the independent counsel that he had had an
extramarital affair with Ms. Lewinsky.
In four hours of closed-door testimony, conducted in
the Map Room of the White House, Clinton spoke live
via closed-circuit television to a grand jury in a
nearby federal courthouse. He was the first sitting
president ever to testify before a grand jury
investigating his conduct. That evening, President
Clinton also gave a four-minute televised address to
the nation in which he admitted he had engaged in an
inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky. In the brief
speech, which was wrought with legalisms, the word
"sex" was never spoken, and the word "regret" was used
only in reference to his admission that he misled the
public and his family.
Less than a month later, on September 9, Kenneth Starr
submitted his report and 18 boxes of supporting
documents to the House of Representatives. Released to
the public two days later, the Starr Report outlined a
case for impeaching Clinton on 11 grounds, including
perjury, obstruction of justice, witness-tampering,
and abuse of power, and also provided explicit details
of the sexual relationship between the president and
Ms. Lewinsky. On October 8, the House authorized a
wide-ranging impeachment inquiry, and on December 11,
the House Judiciary Committee approved three articles
of impeachment. On December 19, the House impeached
Clinton.
On January 7, 1999, in a congressional procedure not
seen since the 1868 impeachment trial of President
Andrew Johnson, the trial of President Clinton got
underway in the Senate. As instructed in Article 1 of
the U.S. Constitution, the chief justice of the U.S.
Supreme Court (William Rehnquist at this time) was
sworn in to preside, and the senators were sworn in as
jurors.
Five weeks later, on February 12, the Senate voted on
whether to remove Clinton from office. The president
was acquitted on both articles of impeachment. The
prosecution needed a two-thirds majority to convict
but failed to achieve even a bare majority. Rejecting
the first charge of perjury, 45 Democrats and 10
Republicans voted "not guilty," and on the charge of
obstruction of justice the Senate was split 50-50.
After the trial concluded, President Clinton said he
was "profoundly sorry" for the burden his behavior
imposed on Congress and the American people.
1998 : President Clinton impeached
After nearly 14 hours of debate, the House of
Representatives approves two articles of impeachment
against President Bill Clinton, charging him with
lying under oath to a federal grand jury and
obstructing justice. Clinton, the second president in
American history to be impeached, vowed to finish his
term.
In November 1995, Clinton began an affair with Monica
Lewinsky, a 21-year-old unpaid intern. Over the course
of a year and a half, the president and Lewinsky had
nearly a dozen sexual encounters in the White House.
In April 1996, Lewinsky was transferred to the
Pentagon. That summer, she first confided in Pentagon
co-worker Linda Tripp about her sexual relationship
with the president. In 1997, with the relationship
over, Tripp began secretly to record conversations
with Lewinsky, in which Lewinsky gave Tripp details
about the affair.
In December, lawyers for Paula Jones, who was suing
the president on sexual harassment charges, subpoenaed
Lewinsky. In January 1998, allegedly under the
recommendation of the president, Lewinsky filed an
affidavit in which she denied ever having had a sexual
relationship with him. Five days later, Tripp
contacted the office of Kenneth Starr, the Whitewater
independent counsel, to talk about Lewinsky and the
tapes she made of their conversations. Tripp, wired by
FBI agents working with Starr, met with Lewinsky
again, and on January 16, Lewinsky was taken by FBI
agents and U.S. attorneys to a hotel room where she
was questioned and offered immunity if she cooperated
with the prosecution. A few days later, the story
broke, and Clinton publicly denied the allegations,
saying, "I did not have sexual relations with that
woman, Ms. Lewinsky."
In late July, lawyers for Lewinsky and Starr worked
out a full-immunity agreement covering both Lewinsky
and her parents, all of whom Starr had threatened with
prosecution. On August 6, Lewinsky appeared before the
grand jury to begin her testimony, and on August 17
President Clinton testified. Contrary to his testimony
in the Paula Jones sexual-harassment case, President
Clinton acknowledged to prosecutors from the office of
the independent counsel that he had had an
extramarital affair with Ms. Lewinsky.
In four hours of closed-door testimony, conducted in
the Map Room of the White House, Clinton spoke live
via closed-circuit television to a grand jury in a
nearby federal courthouse. He was the first sitting
president ever to testify before a grand jury
investigating his conduct. That evening, President
Clinton also gave a four-minute televised address to
the nation in which he admitted he had engaged in an
inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky. In the brief
speech, which was wrought with legalisms, the word
"sex" was never spoken, and the word "regret" was used
only in reference to his admission that he misled the
public and his family.
Less than a month later, on September 9, Kenneth Starr
submitted his report and 18 boxes of supporting
documents to the House of Representatives. Released to
the public two days later, the Starr Report outlined a
case for impeaching Clinton on 11 grounds, including
perjury, obstruction of justice, witness-tampering,
and abuse of power, and also provided explicit details
of the sexual relationship between the president and
Ms. Lewinsky. On October 8, the House authorized a
wide-ranging impeachment inquiry, and on December 11,
the House Judiciary Committee approved three articles
of impeachment. On December 19, the House impeached
Clinton.
On January 7, 1999, in a congressional procedure not
seen since the 1868 impeachment trial of President
Andrew Johnson, the trial of President Clinton got
underway in the Senate. As instructed in Article 1 of
the U.S. Constitution, the chief justice of the U.S.
Supreme Court (William Rehnquist at this time) was
sworn in to preside, and the senators were sworn in as
jurors.
Five weeks later, on February 12, the Senate voted on
whether to remove Clinton from office. The president
was acquitted on both articles of impeachment. The
prosecution needed a two-thirds majority to convict
but failed to achieve even a bare majority. Rejecting
the first charge of perjury, 45 Democrats and 10
Republicans voted "not guilty," and on the charge of
obstruction of justice the Senate was split 50-50.
After the trial concluded, President Clinton said he
was "profoundly sorry" for the burden his behavior
imposed on Congress and the American people.