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Impeachment of Bill Clinton

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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
AccusedBill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States
Proponents
DateDecember 19, 1998 (1998-12-19), to February 12, 1999 (1999-02-12)
OutcomeAcquitted by the U.S. Senate, remained in office
ChargesPerjury (2), obstruction of justice, abuse of power
CauseClinton'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
AccusationPerjury / grand jury
Votes in favor228
Votes against206
ResultApproved
AccusationPerjury / Jones case
Votes in favor205
Votes against229
ResultRejected
AccusationObstruction of justice
Votes in favor221
Votes against212
ResultApproved
AccusationAbuse of power
Votes in favor148
Votes against285
ResultRejected
Voting in the U.S. Senate
AccusationArticle I – perjury / grand jury
Votes in favor45 "guilty"
Votes against55 "not guilty"
ResultAcquitted (67 "guilty" votes necessary for a conviction)
AccusationArticle II – obstruction of justice
Votes in favor50 "guilty"
Votes against50 "not guilty"
ResultAcquitted (67 "guilty" votes necessary for a conviction)

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. 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]

Background

[edit]

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.

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]

Independent counsel investigation

[edit]

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]

Impeachment inquiry by the House Committee on the Judiciary

[edit]

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]

Impeachment by House of Representatives

[edit]
December 18, 1998: The House continued debate on four articles of impeachment against President Clinton for perjury, obstruction of justice and abuse of power.

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 checkY 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 checkY 200 028 001 229
Third article
(obstruction of justice)
Party Total votes[33]
Democratic Republican Independent
Yea checkY 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 checkY 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.

Votes by member
District Member Party Votes on proposed articles
1st
(perjury/grand jury)
[39]
2nd
(perjury/Jones case)
[40]
3rd
(obstruction of justice)
[41]
4th
(abuse of power)
[42]
Hawaii 1 Neil Abercrombie
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New York 5 Gary Ackerman
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Alabama 4 Robert Aderholt
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Maine 1 Tom Allen
D
Nay Nay Did not vote Did not vote
New Jersey 1 Rob Andrews
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Texas 7 Bill Archer
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Texas 26 Dick Armey
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Alabama 6 Spencer Bachus
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Kentucky 6 Scotty Baesler
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Louisiana 6 Richard Baker
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Maine 2 John Baldacci
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
North Carolina 10 Cass Ballenger
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Michigan 5 James A. Barcia
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Georgia 7 Bob Barr
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Nebraska 3 Bill Barrett
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Wisconsin 5 Tom Barrett
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Maryland 6 Roscoe Bartlett
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Texas 6 Joe Barton
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
New Hampshire 2 Charles Bass
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Virginia 1 Herb Bateman
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
California 30 Xavier Becerra
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Texas 25 Ken Bentsen
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Nebraska 1 Doug Bereuter
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
California 26 Howard Berman
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Arkansas 1 Marion Berry
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 49 Brian Bilbray
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Florida 9 Michael Bilirakis
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Georgia 2 Sanford Bishop
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Illinois 5 Rod Blagojevich
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Virginia 7 Thomas J. Bliley Jr.
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Florida 9 Michael Bilirakis
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Oregon 3 Earl Blumenauer
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Missouri 7 Roy Blunt
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
New York 23 Sherwood Boehlert
R
Yea Yea Nay Nay
Ohio 8 John Boehner
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Texas 23 Henry Bonilla
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Michigan 10 David Bonior
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 44 Mary Bono
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Pennsylvania 3 Robert Borski
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Iowa 3 Leonard Boswell
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Virginia 9 Rick Boucher
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Florida 2 Allen Boyd
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Pennsylvania 1 Bob Brady
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Texas 8 Kevin Brady
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
California 42 George Brown Jr.
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Ohio 13 Sherrod Brown
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Tennessee 7 Ed Bryant
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Kentucky 4 Jim Bunning
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
North Carolina 5 Richard Burr
R
Yea Nay Yea Nay
Indiana 6 Dan Burton
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Indiana 5 Steve Buyer
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Alabama 1 Sonny Callahan
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
California 43 Ken Calvert
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Michigan 4 Dave Camp
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
California 15 Tom Campbell
R
Yea Nay Yea Nay
Florida 12 Charles Canady
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Utah 3 Chris Cannon
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
California 22 Lois Capps
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Maryland 3 Ben Cardin
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Indiana 10 Julia Carson
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Delaware at-large Mike Castle
R
Yea Nay Nay Nay
Ohio 1 Steve Chabot
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Georgia 8 Saxby Chambliss
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Idaho 1 Helen Chenoweth
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Nebraska 2 Jon Christensen
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Michigan 1 Bill Clay
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
North Carolina 1 Eva Clayton
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Tennessee 5 Bob Clement
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
South Carolina 6 Jim Clyburn
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
North Carolina 6 Howard Coble
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Oklahoma 2 Tom Coburn
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Georgia 3 Mac Collins
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Texas 19 Larry Combest
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
California 18 Gary Condit
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Michigan 14 John Conyers
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Utah 2 Merrill Cook
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Louisiana 5 John Cooksey
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Illinois 12 Jerry Costello
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 47 Christopher Cox
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Pennsylvania 14 William J. Coyne
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Alabama 5 Bud Cramer
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Illinois 8 Phil Crane
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Idaho 2 Mike Crapo
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Wyoming at-large Barbara Cubin
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Maryland 7 Elijah Cummings
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 51 Duke Cunningham
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Missouri 6 Pat Danner
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Florida 11 Jim Davis
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Illinois 7 Danny K. Davis
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Virginia 11 Tom Davis
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Georgia 9 Nathan Deal
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Oregon 4 Peter DeFazio
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Colorado 1 Diana DeGette
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Massachusetts 10 Bill Delahunt
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Connecticut 3 Rosa DeLauro
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Texas 22 Tom DeLay
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Florida 20 Peter Deutsch
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Florida 21 Lincoln Díaz-Balart
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Arkansas 4 Jay Dickey
R
Yea Nay Yea Nay
Washington 6 Norm Dicks
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Michigan 16 John Dingell
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 32 Julian Dixon
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Texas 10 Lloyd Doggett
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 20 Cal Dooley
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 4 John Doolittle
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Pennsylvania 18 Mike Doyle
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 28 David Dreier
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Tennessee 2 Jimmy Duncan
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Washington 8 Jennifer Dunn
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Texas 11 Chet Edwards
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Michigan 3 Vern Ehlers
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Maryland 2 Bob Ehrlich
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Missouri 8 Jo Ann Emerson
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
New York 17 Eliot Engel
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Pennsylvania 21 Phil English
R
Yea Nay Nay Nay
Nevada 1 John Ensign
R
Yea Nay Yea Nay
California 14 Anna Eshoo
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
North Carolina 2 Bob Etheridge
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Illinois 17 Lane Evans
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Alabama 2 Terry Everett
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Illinois 15 Tom Ewing
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
California 17 Sam Farr
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Pennsylvania 2 Chaka Fattah
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Illinois 13 Harris Fawell
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
California 3 Vic Fazio
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 50 Bob Filner
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Florida 16 Mark Foley
R
Yea Nay Yea Nay
New York 1 Michael Forbes
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Tennessee 9 Harold Ford Jr.
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New York 13 Vito Fossella
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Florida 4 Tillie Fowler
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Pennsylvania 13 Jon D. Fox
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Massachusetts 4 Barney Frank
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New Jersey 7 Bob Franks
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
New Jersey 11 Rodney Frelinghuysen
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Texas 24 Martin Frost
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Oregon 1 Elizabeth Furse
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 23 Elton Gallegly
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Iowa 4 Greg Ganske
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Connecticut 2 Sam Gejdenson
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Pennsylvania 17 George Gekas
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Missouri 3 Dick Gephardt
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Nevada 2 Jim Gibbons
R
Yea Nay Yea Yea
Maryland 1 Wayne Gilchrest
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Ohio 5 Paul Gillmor
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
New York 20 Benjamin Gilman
R
Yea Nay Yea Nay
Georgia 6 Newt Gingrich
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Texas 20 Henry B. González
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Virginia 5 Virgil Goode
D
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Virginia 6 Bob Goodlatte
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Pennsylvania 19 Bill Goodling
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Tennessee 6 Bart Gordon
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Florida 14 Porter Goss
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
South Carolina 3 Lindsey Graham
R
Yea Nay Yea Yea
Texas 12 Kay Granger
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Texas 29 Gene Greene
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Pennsylvania 8 Jim Greenwood
R
Yea Nay Yea Nay
Illinois 4 Luis Gutiérrez
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Minnesota 1 Gil Gutknecht
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Ohio 3 Tony P. Hall
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Texas 4 Ralph Hall
D
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Indiana 9 Lee Hamilton
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Utah 1 Jim Hansen
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
California 36 Jane Harman
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Illinois 14 Dennis Hastert
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Florida 23 Alcee Hastings
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Washington 4 Doc Hastings
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Arizona 6 J. D. Hayworth
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Colorado 5 Joel Hefley
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
North Carolina 8 Bill Hefner
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 2 Wally Herger
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Montana at-large Rick Hill
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Tennessee 4 Van Hilleary
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Alabama 7 Earl Hilliard Sr.
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New York 26 Maurice Hinchey
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Texas 15 Rubén Hinojosa
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Ohio 7 Dave Hobson
R
Yea Nay Yea Nay
Michigan 2 Pete Hoekstra
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Pennsylvania 6 Tim Holden
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Oregon 5 Darlene Hooley
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 38 Steve Horn
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Indiana 8 John Hostettler
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
New York 31 Amo Houghton
R
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Maryland 5 Steny Hoyer
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Missouri 9 Kenny Hulshof
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
California 52 Duncan L. Hunter
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Arkansas 3 Asa Hutchinson
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Illinois 6 Henry Hyde
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
South Carolina 4 Bob Inglis
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Oklahoma 5 Ernest Istook
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Illinois 2 Jesse Jackson Jr.
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Texas 18 Sheila Jackson Lee
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Louisiana 2 William Jefferson
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Tennessee 1 Bill Jenkins
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Louisiana 7 Chris John
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Connecticut 6 Nancy Johnson
R
Yea Yea Nay Nay
Wisconsin 8 Jay Johnson
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Texas 30 Eddie Bernice Johnson
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Texas 3 Sam Johnson
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
North Carolina 3 Walter B. Jones Jr.
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Pennsylvania 11 Paul Kanjorski
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Ohio 9 Marcy Kaptur
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Ohio 12 John Kasich
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
New York 19 Sue Kelly
R
Yea Nay Yea Nay
Massachusetts 8 Joseph P. Kennedy II
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Rhode Island 1 Patrick J. Kennedy
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Connecticut 1 Barbara B. Kennelly
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Michigan 9 Dale Kildee
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Michigan 15 Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 41 Jay Kim
R
Yea Nay Nay Nay
Wisconsin 3 Ron Kind
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New York 3 Peter King
R
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Georgia 1 Jack Kingston
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Wisconsin 4 Jerry Kleczka
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Pennsylvania 4 Ron Klink
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Wisconsin 2 Scott Klug
R
Yea Nay Yea Nay
Michigan 11 Joe Knollenberg
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Arizona 5 Jim Kolbe
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Ohio 10 Dennis Kucinich
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New York 29 John LaFalce
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Illinois 18 Ray LaHood
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Texas 9 Nick Lampson
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 12 Tom Lantos
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Oklahoma 1 Steve Largent
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Iowa 5 Tom Latham
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Ohio 19 Steve LaTourette
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
New York 2 Rick Lazio
R
Yea Nay Yea Nay
Iowa 1 Jim Leach
R
Yea Yea Nay Nay
California 9 Barbara Lee
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Michigan 12 Sander Levin
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 40 Jerry Lewis
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Georgia 5 John Lewis
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Kentucky 2 Ron Lewis
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Georgia 11 John Linder
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Illinois 3 Bill Lipinski
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Louisiana 1 Bob Livingston
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
New Jersey 2 Frank LoBiondo
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
California 16 Zoe Lofgren
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New York 18 Nita Lowey
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Oklahoma 6 Frank Lucas
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Minnesota 6 Bill Luther
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Connecticut 5 James H. Maloney
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New York 14 Carolyn Maloney
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New York 7 Tomas Manton
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Illinois 16 Don Manzullo
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Massachusetts 7 Ed Markey
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 31 Matthew G. Martínez
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Pennsylvania 20 Frank Mascara
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 5 Bob Matsui
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Missouri 5 Karen McCarthy
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New York 4 Carolyn McCarthy
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Florida 8 Bill McCollum
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Louisiana 4 Jim McCrery
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Pennsylvania 10 Joseph M. McDade
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Washington 7 Jim McDermott
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Massachusetts 3 Jim McGovern
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Pennsylvania 15 Paul McHale
D
Yea Yea Yea Nay
New York 24 John M. McHugh
R
Yea Yea Nay Nay
Colorado 3 Scott McInnis
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Indiana 2 David McIntosh
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
North Carolina 7 Mike McIntyre
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 25 Buck McKeon
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Georgia 4 Cynthia McKinney
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New York 21 Michael McNulty
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Massachusetts 4 Marty Meehan
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Florida 17 Carrie Meek
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New York 6 Gregory Meeks
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New Jersey 13 Bob Menendez
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Washington 2 Jack Metcalf
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Florida 7 John Mica
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
California 37 Juanita Millender-McDonald
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 7 George Miller
D
Did not vote Did not vote Did not vote Did not vote
Florida 13 Dan Miller
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Minnesota 2 David Minge
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Hawaii 2 Patsy Mink
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Massachusetts 9 Joe Moakley
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
West Virginia 1 Alan Mollohan
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Kansas 1 Jerry Moran
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Virginia 8 Jim Moran
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Maryland 8 Connie Morella
R
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Pennsylvania 12 John Murtha
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
North Carolina 9 Sue Myrick
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
New York 8 Jerry Nadler
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Massachusetts 2 Richard Neal
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Washington 5 George Nethercutt
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Wisconsin 1 Mark Neumann
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Ohio 18 Bob Ney
R
Yea Nay Yea Nay
Kentucky 3 Anne Northup
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Georgia 10 Charlie Norwood
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Iowa 2 Jim Nussle
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Michigan 8 Jim Oberstar
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Wisconsin 7 Dave Obey
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Massachusetts 1 John Olver
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Texas 27 Solomon Ortiz
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New York 11 Major Owens
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Ohio 4 Mike Oxley
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
California 48 Ron Packard
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
New Jersey 6 Frank Pallone
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New Jersey 12 Mike Pappas
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Missouri 4 Michael Parker
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
New Jersey 8 Bill Pascrell
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Arizona 2 Ed Pastor
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Texas 14 Ron Paul
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Texas 27 Bill Paxon
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
New Jersey 10 Donald M. Payne
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Indiana 7 Ed Pease
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
California 8 Nancy Pelosi
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Minnesota 7 Collin Peterson
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Pennsylvania 5 John Peterson
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Wisconsin 6 Tom Petri
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Missouri 3 Chip Pickering
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Virginia 2 Owen B. Pickett
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Pennsylvania 16 Joe Pitts
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
California 11 Richard Pombo
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
North Dakota at-large Earl Pomeroy
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Illinois 10 John Porter
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Ohio 2 Rob Portman
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Illinois 19 Glenn Poshard
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
North Carolina 4 David Price
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Ohio 15 Deborah Pryce
R
Yea Nay Yea Nay
New York 30 Jack Quinn
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
California 19 George Radanovich
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
West Virginia 3 Nick Rahall
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Minnesota 3 Jim Ramstad
R
Yea Nay Yea Nay
New York 15 Charles Rangel
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New Mexico 3 Bill Redmond
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Ohio 16 Ralph Regula
R
Yea Yea Nay Nay
Texas 16 Silvestre Reyes
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 1 Frank Riggs
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Alabama 3 Bob Riley
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Michigan 13 Lynn Rivers
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Texas 28 Ciro Rodriguez
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Indiana 3 Tim Roemer
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 27 James E. Rogan
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Kentucky 5 Hal Rogers
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
California 45 Dana Rohrabacher
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Florida 18 Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
New Jersey 9 Steve Rothman
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New Jersey 5 Marge Roukema
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
California 33 Lucille Roybal-Allard
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 39 Ed Royce
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Illinois 1 Bobby Rush
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Kansas 2 Jim Ryun
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Minnesota 5 Martin Olav Sabo
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Arizona 1 Matt Salmon
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
California 46 Loretta Sanchez
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Vermont at-large Bernie Sanders
I
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Texas 1 Max Sandlin
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
South Carolina 1 Mark Sanford
R
Yea Nay Yea Yea
Ohio 14 Tom Sawyer
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New Jersey 3 Jim Saxton
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Florida 1 Joe Scarborough
R
Yea Nay Yea Nay
Colorado 6 Daniel Schaefer
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Colorado 4 Bob Schaffer
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
New York 9 Chuck Schumer
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Virginia 3 Bobby Scott
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Wisconsin 9 Jim Sensenbrenner
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
New York 16 José E. Serrano
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Texas 5 Pete Sessions
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Arizona 4 John Shadegg
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Florida 22 Clay Shaw
R
Yea Nay Yea Nay
Connecticut 4 Chris Shays
R
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 14 Brad Sherman
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Illinois 20 John Shimkus
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Pennsylvania 9 Bud Shuster
R
Yea Nay Yea Nay
Virginia 4 Norman Sisisky
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Colorado 2 David Skaggs
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New Mexico 2 Joe Skeen
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Missouri 4 Ike Skelton
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New York 28 Louise Slaughter
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Michigan 7 Nick Smith
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
New Jersey 7 Chris Smith
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Oregon 2 Bob Smith
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Texas 21 Lamar Smith
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Washington 9 Adam Smith
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Washington 3 Linda Smith
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Kansas 3 Vince Snowbarger
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Arkansas 2 Vic Snyder
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New York 22 Gerald Solomon
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Indiana 4 Mark Souder
R
Nay Nay Yea Nay
South Carolina 2 Floyd Spence
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
South Carolina 5 John Spratt
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Michigan 8 Debbie Stabenow
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 13 Pete Stark
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Florida 6 Cliff Stearns
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Texas 17 Charles Stenholm
D
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Ohio 11 Louis Stokes
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Ohio 6 Ted Strickland
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Arizona 3 Bob Stump
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Michigan 1 Bob Stupak
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New Hampshire 1 John E. Sununu
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Missouri 2 Jim Talent
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Tennessee 8 John Tanner
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 10 Ellen Tauscher
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Louisiana 3 Billy Tauzin
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Mississippi 5 Gene Taylor
D
Yea Yea Yea Yea
North Carolina 11 Charles Taylor
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
California 21 Bill Thomas
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Mississippi 2 Bennie Thompson
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Texas 13 Mac Thornberry
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
South Dakota at-large John Thune
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Florida 5 Karen Thurman
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Kansas 4 Todd Tiahrt
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Massachusetts 6 John F. Tierney
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
California 34 Esteban Torres
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New York 10 Edolphus Towns
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Ohio 17 James Traficant
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Texas 2 Jim Turner
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Michigan 6 Fred Upton
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
New York 12 Nydia Velázquez
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Minnesota 4 Bruce Vento
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Indiana 1 Pete Visclosky
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
New York 25 James T. Walsh
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Tennessee 3 Zach Wamp
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
California 35 Maxine Waters
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Oklahoma 3 Wes Watkins
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
North Carolina 12 Mel Watt
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Oklahoma 4 J. C. Watts
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
California 29 Henry Waxman
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Florida 15 Dave Weldon
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Pennsylvania 7 Curt Weldon
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Illinois 11 Jerry Weller
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Illinois 19 Robert Wexler
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Rhode Island 2 Robert Weygand
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Washington 1 Rick White
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Kentucky 1 Ed Whitfield
R
Yea Yea Yea Nay
Mississippi 1 Roger Wicker
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
New Mexico 1 Heather Wilson
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
West Virginia 2 Bob Wise
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Virginia 10 Frank Wolf
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
California 6 Lynn Woolsey
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Maryland 4 Albert Wynn
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Illinois 9 Sidney R. Yates
D
Nay Nay Nay Nay
Alaska at-large Don Young
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea
Florida 10 Bill Young
R
Yea Yea Yea Yea

Articles referred to Senate

[edit]

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]

Senate trial

[edit]
Tickets dated January 14 and 15, 1999, for President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial

Preparation

[edit]

Between December 20 and January 5, Republican and Democratic Senate leaders negotiated about the pending trial.[46] There was some discussion about the possibility of censuring Clinton instead of holding a trial.[46] Disagreement arose as to whether to call witnesses. This decision would ultimately not be made until after the opening arguments from the House impeachment managers and the White House defense team.[46] On January 5, the Republican Majority Leader Trent Lott, announced that the trial would start on January 7.[46]

Officers

[edit]

Thirteen House Republicans from the Judiciary Committee served as "managers", the equivalent of prosecutors: Henry Hyde (chairman), Jim Sensenbrenner, Bill McCollum, George Gekas, Charles Canady, Steve Buyer, Ed Bryant, Steve Chabot, Bob Barr, Asa Hutchinson, Chris Cannon, James E. Rogan and Lindsey Graham.[47]

Clinton was defended by Cheryl Mills. Clinton's counsel staff included Charles Ruff, David E. Kendall, Dale Bumpers, Bruce Lindsey, Nicole Seligman, Lanny A. Breuer and Gregory B. Craig.[48]

Process and schedule

[edit]

The Senate trial began on January 7, 1999, with Chief Justice of the United States William Rehnquist presiding. The first day consisted of formal presentation of the charges against Clinton, and of Rehnquist swearing in all senators.[46]

A resolution on rules and procedure for the trial was adopted unanimously on the following day;[49] however, senators tabled the question of whether to call witnesses in the trial. The trial remained in recess while briefs were filed by the House (January 11) and Clinton (January 13).[50][51]

The managers presented their case over three days, from January 14 to 16, arguing for removal of the President from office by virtue of what they characterized as Clinton's "willful, premeditated, deliberate corruption of the nation's system of justice through perjury and obstruction of justice".[52] The defense presentation took place January 19–21. Clinton's defense counsel argued that the case made against Clinton was, "an unsubstantiated, circumstantial case that does not meet the constitutional standard to remove the President from office".[52] January 22 and 23 were devoted to questions from members of the Senate to the House managers and Clinton's defense counsel. Under the rules, all questions (over 150) were to be written down and given to Rehnquist to read to the party being questioned.[46][53][54]

On January 25, Senator Robert Byrd moved for dismissals of both articles of impeachment. On the following day, Representative Bryant moved to call witnesses to the trial, a question the Senate had scrupulously avoided to that point. In both cases, the Senate voted to deliberate on the question in private session, rather than public, televised procedure. On January 27, the Senate voted on both motions in public session; the motion to dismiss failed on a nearly party line vote of 56–44, while the motion to depose witnesses passed by the same margin. A day later, the Senate voted down motions to move directly to a vote on the articles of impeachment and to suppress videotaped depositions of the witnesses from public release, Senator Russ Feingold again voting with the Republicans.

Over three days, February 1–3, House managers took videotaped closed-door depositions from Monica Lewinsky, Clinton's friend Vernon Jordan, and White House aide Sidney Blumenthal.[55] On February 4, however, the Senate voted 70–30 that excerpting these videotapes would suffice as testimony, rather than calling live witnesses to appear at trial. The videos were played in the Senate on February 6, featuring 30 excerpts of Lewinsky discussing her affidavit in the Paula Jones case, the hiding of small gifts Clinton had given her, and his involvement in procurement of a job for Lewinsky.

On February 8, closing arguments were presented with each side allotted a three-hour time slot. On the President's behalf, White House Counsel Charles Ruff declared:

There is only one question before you, albeit a difficult one, one that is a question of fact and law and constitutional theory. Would it put at risk the liberties of the people to retain the President in office? Putting aside partisan animus, if you can honestly say that it would not, that those liberties are safe in his hands, then you must vote to acquit.[52]

Chief Prosecutor Henry Hyde countered:

A failure to convict will make the statement that lying under oath, while unpleasant and to be avoided, is not all that serious ... We have reduced lying under oath to a breach of etiquette, but only if you are the President ... And now let us all take our place in history on the side of honor, and, oh, yes, let right be done.[52]

Acquittal

[edit]

On February 9, 1999, after voting against a public deliberation on the verdict, the Senate began closed-door deliberations instead. On February 12, 1999, the Senate emerged from its closed deliberations and voted on the articles of impeachment. A two-thirds vote, equal to 67 votes if all Senators voted, would have been necessary to convict on either charge and remove the President from office. The perjury charge was defeated with 45 votes for conviction and 55 against, and the obstruction of justice charge was defeated with 50 for conviction and 50 against.[3][56][57] Senator Arlen Specter voted "not proved"[b] for both charges,[58] which was considered by Chief Justice Rehnquist to constitute a vote of "not guilty". All 45 Democrats in the Senate voted "not guilty" on both charges, as did five Republicans; they were joined by five additional Republicans in voting "not guilty" on the perjury charge.[3][56][57]

Robe worn by Chief Justice William Rehnquist during the impeachment trial
Congressional Record page, February 12, 1999, opening of the final day of the impeachment trial
Articles of Impeachment, U.S. Senate judgement
(67 "guilty" votes necessary for a conviction)
Article One[59]
(perjury / grand jury)
Party Total votes
Democratic Republican
Guilty 00 45 45
Not guilty checkY 45 10 55
Article Two[60]
(obstruction of justice)
Party Total votes
Democratic Republican
Guilty 00 50 50
Not guilty checkY 45 05 50

Subsequent events

[edit]

Contempt of court citation

[edit]

In April 1999, about two months after being acquitted by the Senate, Clinton was cited by federal District Judge Susan Webber Wright for civil contempt of court for his "willful failure" to obey her orders to testify truthfully in the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit. For this, Clinton was assessed a $90,000 fine and the matter was referred to the Arkansas Supreme Court to see if disciplinary action would be appropriate.[61]

Regarding Clinton's January 17, 1998, deposition where he was placed under oath, Webber Wright wrote:

Simply put, the president's deposition testimony regarding whether he had ever been alone with Ms. (Monica) Lewinsky was intentionally false, and his statements regarding whether he had ever engaged in sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky likewise were intentionally false.[61]

On the day before leaving office on January 20, 2001, Clinton, in what amounted to a plea bargain, agreed to a five-year suspension of his Arkansas law license and to pay a $25,000 fine as part of an agreement with independent counsel Robert Ray to end the investigation without the filing of any criminal charges for perjury or obstruction of justice.[62][63] On October 1, 2001, Clinton was accordingly suspended from the practice of law in the United States Supreme Court who also issued an order to show cause in 40 days "why he should not be disbarred from the practice of law in this Court."[64] Clinton resigned from the Supreme Court bar during the show-cause period, and the Supreme Court accordingly ordered his name "stricken from the roll of attorneys admitted to the practice of law before this Court."[65]

Civil settlement with Paula Jones

[edit]

Eventually, the court dismissed the Paula Jones harassment lawsuit, before trial, on the grounds that Jones failed to demonstrate any damages. However, while the dismissal was on appeal, Clinton entered into an out-of-court settlement by agreeing to pay Jones $850,000.[66][67]

McCullam and Bryant later lost bids for the Senate while Rogan lost his seat to future lead impeachment manager Adam Schiff who led then President Donald Trump's impeachment in 2020. Graham successfully ran for the Senate in 2002 where he's currently serving.

Political ramifications

[edit]
Opponents of Clinton's impeachment demonstrating outside the Capitol in December 1998

Polls conducted during 1998 and early 1999 showed that only about one-third of Americans supported Clinton's impeachment or conviction. However, one year later, when it was clear that impeachment would not lead to the ousting of the President, half of Americans said in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll that they supported impeachment, 57% approved of the Senate's decision to keep him in office, and two-thirds of those polled said the impeachment was harmful to the country.[68]

While Clinton's job approval rating rose during the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal and subsequent impeachment, his poll numbers with regard to questions of honesty, integrity and moral character declined.[69] As a result, "moral character" and "honesty" weighed heavily in the next presidential election. According to The Daily Princetonian, after the 2000 presidential election, "post-election polls found that, in the wake of Clinton-era scandals, the single most significant reason people voted for Bush was for his moral character."[70][71][72] According to an analysis of the election by Stanford University:

A more political explanation is the belief in Gore campaign circles that disapproval of President Clinton's personal behavior was a serious threat to the vice president's prospects. Going into the election the one negative element in the public's perception of the state of the nation was the belief that the country was morally on the wrong track, whatever the state of the economy or world affairs. According to some insiders, anything done to raise the association between Gore and Clinton would have produced a net loss of support—the impact of Clinton's personal negatives would outweigh the positive impact of his job performance on support for Gore. Thus, hypothesis four suggests that a previously unexamined variable played a major role in 2000—the retiring president's personal approval.[73]

The Stanford analysis, however, presented different theories and mainly argued that Gore had lost because he decided to distance himself from Clinton during the campaign. The writers of it concluded:[73]

We find that Gore's oft-criticized personality was not a cause of his under-performance. Rather, the major cause was his failure to receive a historically normal amount of credit for the performance of the Clinton administration ... [and] failure to get normal credit reflected Gore's peculiar campaign which in turn reflected fear of association with Clinton's behavior.[73]

According to the America's Future Foundation:

In the wake of the Clinton scandals, independents warmed to Bush's promise to 'restore honor and dignity to the White House'. According to Voter News Service, the personal quality that mattered most to voters was 'honesty'. Voters who chose 'honesty' preferred Bush over Gore by over a margin of five to one. Forty four percent of Americans said the Clinton scandals were important to their vote. Of these, Bush reeled in three out of every four.[74]

Political commentators have argued that Gore's refusal to have Clinton campaign with him was a bigger liability to Gore than Clinton's scandals.[73][75][76][77][78] The 2000 U.S. Congressional election also saw the Democrats gain more seats in Congress.[79] As a result of this gain, control of the Senate was split 50–50 between both parties,[80] and Democrats would gain control over the Senate after Republican Senator Jim Jeffords defected from his party in early 2001 and agreed to caucus with the Democrats.[81]

Al Gore reportedly confronted Clinton after the election, and "tried to explain that keeping Clinton under wraps [during the campaign] was a rational response to polls showing swing voters were still mad as hell over the Year of Monica". According to the AP, "during the one-on-one meeting at the White House, which lasted more than an hour, Gore used uncommonly blunt language to tell Clinton that his sex scandal and low personal approval ratings were a hurdle he could not surmount in his campaign ... [with] the core of the dispute was Clinton's lies to Gore and the nation about his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky."[82][83][84] Clinton, however, was unconvinced by Gore's argument and insisted to Gore that he would have won the election if he had embraced the administration and its good economic record.[82][83][84]

Partial retraction from Starr

[edit]

In January 2020, while testifying as a defense lawyer for U.S. President Donald Trump during his first Senate impeachment trial, Starr himself would retract some of the allegations he made to justify Clinton's impeachment.[85] Slate journalist Jeremy Stahl pointed out that as he was urging the Senate not to remove Trump as president, Starr contradicted various arguments he used in 1998 to justify Clinton's impeachment.[85] In defending Trump, Starr also claimed he was wrong to have called for impeachment against Clinton for abuse of executive privilege and efforts to obstruct Congress, and stated that the House Judiciary Committee was right in 1998 to have rejected one of the planks for impeachment he had advocated for.[85] He also invoked a 1999 Hofstra Law Review article by Yale law professor Akhil Amar, who argued that the Clinton impeachment proved just how impeachment and removal causes "grave disruption" to a national election.[85]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Prior to Bill Clinton, the only other U.S. president aside from Andrew Johnson to be the subject of formal House impeachment proceedings was Richard Nixon in 1973–74, but he resigned from the presidency on August 9, 1974, before the House voted on his impeachment.[2]
  2. ^ A verdict used in Scots law. It was recorded as a "not guilty" vote.

References

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  13. ^ http://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlr/vol28/iss2/7
  14. ^ http://scholarlycommons.law.hofstra.edu/hlr/vol28/iss2/7
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  45. ^ Text of Article IIII Archived December 16, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Washington Post December 20, 1998
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    That is my verdict: not proved. The President has dodged perjury by calculated evasion and poor interrogation. Obstruction of justice fails by gaps in the proofs.
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