Articles of Impeachment of Bill Clinton

Context

On May 6, 1994, Paula Jones filed a lawsuit against President Clinton for sexual harassment. Seeking $700,000 in damages, she claimed that Clinton, while he was governor of Arkansas, had made unwanted sexual advances that were later reported in such a way as to demean her reputation and hold her up to public ridicule. Although the lawsuit was eventually settled on November 13, 1998, for $850,000 without requiring Clinton to admit to wrongdoing or to issue an apology, the impression that he had lied about his sexual history continued to be the focus of stories in the press and criticism of the president in Congress and in the media.

The Jones lawsuit was the culmination of years of rumors that Clinton had had numerous affairs with Arkansas state employees and others. During his campaign for the presidency, Gennifer Flowers had come forward with testimony and tape recordings alleging a twelve-year intimate affair with Clinton. Although he admitted wrongdoing in his marriage, he successfully won the support of his wife and the American people.

But the Jones lawsuit erupted in the midst of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's investigation of other improprieties, including what came to be known as Whitewater, a real estate investment involving Morgan Guaranty, an Arkansas savings-and-loan association that engaged in speculative land deals, insider lending, and hefty commissions involving the Whitewater Development Corporation. Although Bill and Hillary Clinton were never directly implicated in the scandal, several of their associates were convicted and sent to prison, and Congress continued to investigate Whitewater during the first two years of Clinton's presidency.

When Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr learned of Clinton's alleged involvement with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, he secured Attorney General Janet Reno's approval to expand his probe of the president to include these charges of sexual misconduct while in office. On January 17, 1998, Clinton testified under oath in the Paula Jones case, denying that he had had sexual relations with Lewinsky but admitting to having had an affair with Gennifer Flowers, a charge he had previously denied.

On January 22, Clinton made his first statement to the press denying his affair with Lewinsky and likewise denying that he had urged Lewinsky or others to lie about the affair. Then, in a March 12 interview (which aired on March 15), Kathleen Willey, a White House employee, told Ed Bradley of CBS's 60 Minutes television newsmagazine program that the president had made unwelcome sexual advances to her.

On August 17, 1998, Clinton appeared on national television to acknowledge that he had misled the American people. He was admitting for the first time that the allegations of sexual misconduct with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, were true. On September 9, the House of Representatives received Starr's report. Amid mounting criticism from Democrats and Republicans that Clinton had not been truthful about the charges against him, the House Judiciary Committee released Starr's report to the public and, after an impeachment inquiry, voted to bring to the floor of the House four impeachment articles, accusing the president of perjury, obstruction of justice, and abuse of power. The Republican leadership in Congress demanded that Clinton resign and won endorsement from the Republican majority in the House of two Articles of Impeachment, which were sent to the Senate for a trial that began on January 7, 1999.

After arguments presented by representatives from both parties and from the White House and a question-and-answer period, the Senate acquitted Clinton on both Articles of Impeachment, voting 45–55 on perjury and 50–50 on obstruction of justice. In a brief White House Rose Garden speech, Clinton accepted the verdict and called on the nation to begin a period of “reconciliation and renewal.”