Articles of Impeachment of Bill Clinton

About the Author

From the beginning, control of the impeachment process was in the hands of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives. While the House minority leader, Dick Gephardt, and other Democrats acknowledged and deplored Clinton's disingenuous efforts to obscure his sexual misconduct, the Republican majority on the House Judiciary Committee under the leadership of Chairman Henry Hyde designed an impeachment inquiry very close in wording to the 1974 Watergate resolution that eventually led to President Richard Nixon's resignation from office. In formulating the Articles of Impeachment, Hyde was following the strategy of his predecessor, Peter Rodino, a Democrat who had chaired the Judiciary Committee during the Nixon investigation. To begin with, Hyde and his fellow Republicans placed no restrictions on the subject areas to be considered. But Democrats viewed this strategy as a way to carry on an endless investigation intended to dredge up every conceivable charge against the president. Democratic efforts to offer an alternative inquiry plan were voted down by the Republican majority. Under Hyde's leadership, the committee made Kenneth Starr the major witness and formulated eighty-one questions for Clinton to answer.

Starr's testimony was incorporated into Articles of Impeachment that focused on Clinton's efforts to cover up his affair with Monica Lewinsky. On Whitewater and other areas of investigation, Starr reported no impeachable offenses, and again his testimony weighed heavily in the decision of Hyde and other Republicans to focus on the president's efforts to obstruct inquiries into his sexual affairs.

Although the Articles of Impeachment had no single author, it is clear from all accounts that Hyde dominated the proceedings—rejecting, for example, a fellow Republican's argument that accepting the Democratic plan for an impeachment inquiry stood the best chance of making the process bipartisan. Peter Baker reports that Hyde believed that Starr would eventually submit evidence of other impeachable offenses that would be more difficult to investigate under the Democratic plan. Starr never did submit additional evidence of impeachable offenses.

Under Hyde's direction, Mitch Glazier, a thirty-two-year-old graduate of Vanderbilt University Law School, worked on the first draft of the impeachment articles. Glazier studied the articles accusing Nixon of obstruction of justice and abuse of power. He saw similarities between the Nixon and Clinton investigations insofar as the president's truthfulness and efforts to cover up wrongdoing were at issue. As far as possible, Glazier used Rodino's language, believing a precedent had been set that should be followed. (Andrew Johnson's impeachment articles in the nineteenth century had not been specified until after the House had voted an impeachment resolution.)

Glazier also received drafts of Articles of Impeachment from Republican Judiciary Committee members, including Bob Barr, one of the managers of the Republican case in the Senate trial. But Glazier avoided inflammatory words such as perjury in favor of Rodino's formulation of false or misleading statements. Although Hyde suggested some changes, committee members modified Glazier's language to focus on Clinton's improper relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Other suggested changes included references to Kathleen Willey and specific instances of Clinton's false or misleading statements. After several revisions, the Republicans reached a consensus on four Articles of Impeachment, which included references to the Paula Jones case and Monica Lewinsky, citing instances where Clinton had not been truthful under oath, and using the term “perjurious” to indicate testimony that contained perjury.

No true attempt was made to involve Democrats in the drafting of the impeachment articles, according to Peter Baker. Besides, Democrats were known to be in favor of some sort of censure resolution, stopping far short of impeachment. The impeachment articles as the Republican committee members had drafted them were passed in spite of the Democrats' efforts at amendment and disputes about procedure.