Impeachment of Bill Clinton

Impeachment of Bill Clinton
Floor proceedings of the U.S. Senate during the trial of President Bill Clinton in 1999, Chief Justice William Rehnquist presiding
Accused	Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States
Proponents	Newt Gingrich (Speaker of the House of Representatives) Dick Armey (House Majority Leader) Tom DeLay (House Majority Whip)
Date	December 19, 1998 (1998-12-19) to February 12, 1999 (1999-02-12)
Outcome	Acquitted by the U.S. Senate, remained in office
Charges	Perjury (2), obstruction of justice, abuse of power
Cause	Clinton's testimony denying that he had engaged in a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky in a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Clinton by Paula Jones; allegations made in the Starr Report
Congressional votes
Voting in the U.S. House of Representatives
Accusation	Perjury / grand jury
Votes in favor	228
Votes against	206
Result	Approved
Accusation	Perjury / Jones case
Votes in favor	205
Votes against	229
Result	Rejected
Accusation	Obstruction of justice
Votes in favor	221
Votes against	212
Result	Approved
Accusation	Abuse of power
Votes in favor	148
Votes against	285
Result	Rejected
Voting in the U.S. Senate
Accusation	Article I – perjury / grand jury
Votes in favor	45 "guilty"
Votes against	55 "not guilty"
Result	Acquitted (67 "guilty" votes necessary for a conviction)
Accusation	Article II – obstruction of justice
Votes in favor	50 "guilty"
Votes against	50 "not guilty"
Result	Acquitted (67 "guilty" votes necessary for a conviction)

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Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States, was impeached by the United States House of Representatives of the 105th United States Congress on December 19, 1998, for "high crimes and misdemeanors". The House adopted two articles of impeachment against Clinton, with the specific charges against Clinton being lying under oath and obstruction of justice. Two other articles had been considered but were rejected by the House vote.

Clinton's impeachment came after a formal House inquiry, which had been launched on October 8, 1998. The charges for which Clinton was impeached stemmed from a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Clinton by Paula Jones. During pre-trial discovery in the lawsuit, Clinton gave testimony denying that he had engaged in a sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The catalyst for the president's impeachment was the Starr Report, a September 1998 report prepared by Ken Starr, Independent Counsel, for the House Judiciary Committee. The Starr Report included details outlining a sexual relationship between Clinton and Lewinsky^[1] Clinton was the second American president to be impeached, the first being Andrew Johnson, who was impeached in 1868.^[a]

The approved articles of impeachment would be submitted to the United States Senate on January 7, 1999. A trial in the Senate then began, with Chief Justice William Rehnquist presiding. On February 12, Clinton was acquitted on both counts as neither received the necessary two-thirds majority vote of the senators present for conviction and removal from office—in this instance 67 votes were needed. On Article One, 45 senators voted to convict while 55 voted for acquittal. On Article Two, 50 senators voted to convict while 50 voted for acquittal.^[3] Clinton remained in office for the remainder of his second term.^[4]

In 1994, Paula Jones filed a lawsuit accusing Clinton of sexual harassment when he was governor of Arkansas.^[5] Clinton attempted to delay a trial until after he left office, but in May 1997 the Supreme Court unanimously rejected Clinton's claim that the Constitution immunized him from civil lawsuits, and shortly thereafter the pre-trial discovery process commenced.^[6]

Separate from this, in January 1994, Attorney General Janet Reno appointed Robert B. Fiske as an Independent counsel to investigate the Whitewater controversy.^[7] In August of that year, Ken Starr was appointed to replace Fiske in this role.^[7]

In 1997, the first effort in Congress to start an impeachment against Clinton was launched by Republican Congressman Bob Barr.^[8]

In a January 17, 1998, sworn deposition, Clinton denied having a "sexual relationship", "sexual affair", or "sexual relations" with Lewinsky.^[9] His lawyer, Robert S. Bennett, stated with Clinton present that Lewinsky's affidavit showed there was no sex in any manner, shape or form between Clinton and Lewinsky. The Starr Report states that the following day, Clinton "coached" his secretary Betty Currie into repeating his denials should she be called to testify.

Remarks including response to Clinton–Lewinsky scandal (January 26, 1998)

Bill Clinton makes a presentation that ends with a short commentary on the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal. The presentation is known for the quote "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." (6:22)

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Remarks including response to the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal (January 26, 1998)

audio-only version

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Problems playing these files? See media help.

After rumors of the scandal reached the news, Clinton publicly said, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."^[10] But months later, Clinton admitted his relationship with Lewinsky was "wrong" and "not appropriate". Lewinsky engaged in oral sex with Clinton several times.^[11][12]

One of Clinton's defenses against the charges was claiming his testimony have been dismissed in the Jones case because the judge had ruled it immaterial to her lawsuit. The media and other defenders pickup on this and reported this as fact. However as noted in Hofstra Law Review citing Judge Wrights contempt ruling and referral to the Arkansas Bar for disbarment:

"Effectively taking judicial notice of the "immateriality" spin which Clinton defenders had put on that ruling, Judge Wright later expressly held that "contrary to numerous assertions, this Court did not rule that evidence of the Lewinsky matter was irrelevant or immaterial to the issues in plaintiff's case."' Judge Wright repeated "that such evidence might have been relevant to plaintiff's case," probative to "'establish, among other things, intent, absence of mistake, motive, and habit on the part of the President." ^[13] Jones vs Clinton 993 F. Supp. 1217, 1222 (E.D. Ark. 1998) Judge Wright ruling ^[14]

The Starr Report was released to Congress on September 9, 1998, and to the public on September 11.^[7][15] In the report, Starr argued that there were eleven possible grounds for impeachment of Clinton, including perjury, obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and abuse of power. The report also detailed explicit and graphic details of the sexual relationship between Clinton and Lewinsky.^[7][16]

The charges arose from an investigation by Ken Starr, an Independent Counsel.^[17] With the approval of United States Attorney General Janet Reno, Starr conducted a wide-ranging investigation of alleged abuses, including the Whitewater controversy, the firing of White House travel agents, and the alleged misuse of FBI files. On January 12, 1998, Linda Tripp, who had been working with Jones's lawyers, informed Starr that Lewinsky was preparing to commit perjury in the Jones case and had asked Tripp to do the same. She also said Clinton's friend Vernon Jordan was assisting Lewinsky. Based on the connection to Jordan, who was under scrutiny in the Whitewater probe, Starr obtained approval from Reno to expand his investigation into whether Lewinsky and others were breaking the law.

A much-quoted statement from Clinton's grand jury testimony showed him questioning the precise use of the word "is". Contending his statement that "there's nothing going on between us" had been truthful because he had no ongoing relationship with Lewinsky at the time he was questioned, Clinton said, "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If the—if he—if 'is' means is and never has been, that is not—that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement."^[18] Starr obtained further evidence of inappropriate behavior by seizing the computer hard drive and email records of Monica Lewinsky. Based on the president's conflicting testimony, Starr concluded that Clinton had committed perjury. Starr submitted his findings to Congress in a lengthy document, the Starr Report, which was released to the public via the Internet a few days later and included descriptions of encounters between Clinton and Lewinsky.^[19] Starr was criticized by Democrats for spending $70 million on the investigation.^[20] Critics of Starr also contend that his investigation was highly politicized because it regularly leaked tidbits of information to the press in violation of legal ethics, and because his report included lengthy descriptions which were humiliating and irrelevant to the legal case.^[21][22]

On October 8, 1998, the United States House of Representatives voted to authorize a broad impeachment inquiry, thereby initiating the impeachment process.^[23] The Republican controlled House of Representatives had decided this with a bipartisan vote of 258–176, with 31 Democrats joining Republicans.^[24] Since Ken Starr had already completed an extensive investigation, the House Judiciary Committee conducted no investigations of its own into Clinton's alleged wrongdoing and held no serious impeachment-related hearings before the 1998 midterm elections.^{[citation needed]} Impeachment was one of the major issues in those elections.^{[citation needed]}

In the November 1998 House elections, the Democrats picked up five seats in the House, but the Republicans still maintained majority control. The results went against what House Speaker Newt Gingrich predicted, who, before the election, had been reassured by private polling that Clinton's scandal would result in Republican gains of up to thirty House seats. Shortly after the elections, Gingrich, who had been one of the leading advocates for impeachment, announced he would resign from Congress as soon as he was able to find somebody to fill his vacant seat;^[25][26] Gingrich fulfilled this pledge, and officially resigned from Congress on January 3, 1999.^[27]

Impeachment proceedings were held during the post-election, "lame duck" session of the outgoing 105th United States Congress. Unlike the case of the 1974 impeachment process against Richard Nixon, the committee hearings were perfunctory but the floor debate in the whole House was spirited on both sides. The Speaker-designate, Representative Bob Livingston, chosen by the Republican Party Conference to replace Gingrich as House Speaker, announced the end of his candidacy for Speaker and his resignation from Congress from the floor of the House after his own marital infidelity came to light.^[28] In the same speech, Livingston also encouraged Clinton to resign. Clinton chose to remain in office and urged Livingston to reconsider his resignation.^[29] Many other prominent Republican members of Congress (including Dan Burton,^[28] Helen Chenoweth,^[28] and Henry Hyde,^[28] the chief House manager of Clinton's trial in the Senate) had infidelities exposed about this time, all of whom voted for impeachment. Publisher Larry Flynt offered a reward for such information, and many supporters of Clinton accused Republicans of hypocrisy.^[28]

On December 11, 1998, the House Judiciary Committee agreed to send four articles of impeachment to the full House for consideration. The vote on two articles, grand jury perjury and obstruction of justice, was 21–17, both along party lines. On the other, perjury in the Paula Jones case, the committee voted 20–18, with Republican Lindsey Graham joining with Democrats, in order to give President Clinton "the legal benefit of the doubt".^[30] The next day, December 12, the committee agreed to send a fourth and final article, for abuse of power, to the full House by a 21–17 vote, again, along party lines.^[31]

Although proceedings were delayed due to the bombing of Iraq, on the passage of H. Res. 611, Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 19, 1998, on grounds of perjury to a grand jury (first article, 228–206)^[32] and obstruction of justice (third article, 221–212).^[33] The two other articles were rejected, the count of perjury in the Jones case (second article, 205–229)^[34] and abuse of power (fourth article, 148–285).^[35] Clinton thus became the second U.S. president to be impeached; the first, Andrew Johnson, was impeached in 1868.^[36][37] The only other previous U.S. president to be the subject of formal House impeachment proceedings was Richard Nixon in 1973–74. The Judiciary Committee agreed to a resolution containing three articles of impeachment in July 1974, but Nixon resigned from office soon thereafter, before the House took up the resolution.^[38]

H. Res. 611 – Impeaching President Bill Clinton December 19, 1998
First article (perjury / grand jury)	Party			Total votes[32]
	Democratic	Republican	Independent
Yea Y	005	223	000	228
Nay	200	005	001	206
Second article (perjury / Jones case)	Party			Total votes[34]
	Democratic	Republican	Independent
Yea	005	200	000	205
Nay Y	200	028	001	229
Third article (obstruction of justice)	Party			Total votes[33]
	Democratic	Republican	Independent
Yea Y	005	216	000	221
Nay	199	012	001	212
Fourth article (abuse of power)	Party			Total votes[35]
	Democratic	Republican	Independent
Yea	001	147	000	148
Nay Y	203	081	001	285

Five Democrats (Virgil Goode, Ralph Hall, Paul McHale, Charles Stenholm and Gene Taylor) voted for the first three articles of impeachment, but only Taylor voted for the abuse of power charge. Five Republicans (Amo Houghton, Peter King, Connie Morella, Chris Shays and Mark Souder) voted against the first perjury charge. Eight more Republicans (Sherwood Boehlert, Michael Castle, Phil English, Nancy Johnson, Jay Kim, Jim Leach, John McHugh and Ralph Regula), but not Souder, voted against the obstruction charge. Twenty-eight Republicans voted against the second perjury charge, sending it to defeat, and eighty-one voted against the abuse of power charge.

Article I, charging Clinton with perjury, alleged in part that:

On August 17, 1998, William Jefferson Clinton swore to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth before a federal grand jury of the United States. Contrary to that oath, William Jefferson Clinton willfully provided perjurious, false and misleading testimony to the grand jury concerning one or more of the following:

1. the nature and details of his relationship with a subordinate government employee;
2. prior perjurious, false and misleading testimony he gave in a federal civil rights action brought against him;
3. prior false and misleading statements he allowed his attorney to make to a federal judge in that civil rights action; and
4. his corrupt efforts to influence the testimony of witnesses and to impede the discovery of evidence in that civil rights action.^[43][44]

Article II, charging Clinton with obstruction of justice alleged in part that:

The means used to implement this course of conduct or scheme included one or more of the following acts:

1. ... corruptly encouraged a witness in a Federal civil rights action brought against him to execute a sworn affidavit in that proceeding that he knew to be perjurious, false and misleading.
2. ... corruptly encouraged a witness in a Federal civil rights action brought against him to give perjurious, false and misleading testimony if and when called to testify personally in that proceeding.
3. ... corruptly engaged in, encouraged, or supported a scheme to conceal evidence that had been subpoenaed in a Federal civil rights action brought against him.
4. ... intensified and succeeded in an effort to secure job assistance to a witness in a Federal civil rights action brought against him in order to corruptly prevent the truthful testimony of that witness in that proceeding at a time when the truthful testimony of that witness would have been harmful to him.
5. ... at his deposition in a Federal civil rights action brought against him, William Jefferson Clinton corruptly allowed his attorney to make false and misleading statements to a Federal judge characterizing an affidavit, in order to prevent questioning deemed relevant by the judge. Such false and misleading statements were subsequently acknowledged by his attorney in a communication to that judge.
6. ... related a false and misleading account of events relevant to a Federal civil rights action brought against him to a potential witness in that proceeding, in order to corruptly influence the testimony of that witness.
7. ... made false and misleading statements to potential witnesses in a Federal grand jury proceeding in order to corruptly influence the testimony of those witnesses. The false and misleading statements made by William Jefferson Clinton were repeated by the witnesses to the grand jury, causing the grand jury to receive false and misleading information.^[43][45]