On impeachment, Lindsey Graham says you can't compare Trump to Bill Clinton, as Trump 'did nothing wrong'

Lindsey Graham.
(Image credit: Alex Wroblewski/Getty Images)

With all this talk of impeachment going on, people have been playing close attention to something Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in January 1999.

After independent counsel Kenneth Starr released his report stating that President Bill Clinton lied during a deposition about his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, Graham stood on the Senate floor and declared: "You don't even have to be convicted of a crime to lose your job in this constitutional republic if this body determines your conduct as a public official is clearly out of bounds in your role." Impeachment, he said, is "not about punishment. Impeachment is about cleansing the office. Impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.