December 19, 1998: The House of Representatives impeached President Bill Clinton, charging him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. Clinton, the second president to be impeached, was later acquitted in a Senate trial.
The House decision to impeach came after a four-year investigation into Clinton and his wife Hillary's alleged involvement in an assortment of real estate, fundraising, and sexual harassment scandals. During this investigation, an independent prosecutor, Kenneth Starr, learned of an affair between Clinton and a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The president had denied the affair as part of another lawsuit (the Paula Jones case), but when questioned by Starr, Clinton tried to invoke executive privilege to avoid responding. Starr then charged the president with obstruction of justice, forcing the president to testify before a grand jury in August 1998.
In his testimony, Mr. Clinton acknowledged that he had an "inappropriate" relationship with Lewinsky. But he insisted that his testimony had been "legally accurate." When addressing the investigation into his past business dealings, Clinton insisted the investigation did not prove that he or his wife Hillary had engaged in any illegal activity.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Public opinion polls showed that many people disapproved of the Lewinsky affair, but didn't think it justified impeachment or resignation.
Clinton was the first president to be impeached by the House of Representatives since Andrew Johnson in 1868. Johnson was also acquitted.
Quote of the Day
“You can never get all the facts from just one newspaper, and unless you have all the facts, you cannot make proper judgments about what is going on." - Harry S. Truman
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
