President bill clinton impeachment results

presidential impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton

For the trial in the U.S. Senate, see Impeachment trial of Bill Clinton.

Impeachment of Bill Clinton
Floor proceedings of the U.S. Senate during the trial of President Bill Clinton in , Chief Justice William Rehnquist presiding
Accused	Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States
Proponents
Date	December&#;19,&#;&#;(), to February&#;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
Accusation	Perjury&#;/ grand jury
Votes in favor
Votes against
Result	Approved
Accusation	Perjury&#;/ Jones case
Votes in favor
Votes against
Result	Rejected
Accusation	Obstruction of justice
Votes in favor
Votes against
Result	Approved
Accusation	Abuse of power
Votes in favor
Votes against
Result	Rejected
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)

Bill Clinton, the 42ndpresident of the United States, was impeached by the United States Home of Representatives of the th United States Congress on December 19, 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, 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 Notify, a September report prepared by Ken Starr, Independent Counsel, for the House Judiciary Committee.

During his presidency, Bill Clintonthe 42nd president of the United Statessaw multiple efforts to impeach him. An early effort in congress saw Republican congressman Bob Barr write a resolution, co-signed by eighteen fellow House Republicans, which sought to launch an impeachment inquiry in In October ofin the aftermath of the Clinton—Lewinsky scandal and the release of the Starr Reportwhich largely focused on the scandal, an impeachment inquiry was launched, and in December Clinton was impeached on allegations of perjury and obstruction of justice. Clinton was acquitted in his subsequent impeachment trial.

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 organism Andrew Johnson, who was impeached in ^[a]

The approved articles of impeachment would be submitted to the United States Senate on January 7, A trial in the Senate then began, with Chief JusticeWilliam Rehnquist presiding.

On February 12, Clinton was acquitted on both counts as neither received the necessary two-thirds majority vote of the senators introduce 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

Further information: Paula Jones §&#;Clinton v.

House report on IMPEACHMENT OF WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. This report is by the Government Reform and Oversight.

Jones, Clinton–Lewinsky scandal, and Efforts to impeach Bill Clinton

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

In a January 17, , 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 possess sexual relations with that gal, 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 assess had ruled it immaterial to her lawsuit.

The media and other defenders pickup on this and reported this as evidence. 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 own 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 F.

Supp.

After nearly 14 hours of debate, the House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clintoncharging him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. Clinton, the second president in American history to be impeached, vowed to conclude his term. In NovemberClinton began an affair with Monica Lewinskya year-old unpaid intern. Over the course of a year and a half, the president and Lewinsky had nearly a dozen sexual encounters in the Colorless House.

, (E.D. Ark. ) Judge Wright ruling ^[13]

The Starr Report was released to Congress on September 9, , and to the public on September ^[7][14] In the report, Starr argued that there were eleven possible grounds for impeachment of Clinton, including perjury, obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and overuse of power.

The report also detailed explicit and graphic details of the sexual relationship between Clinton and Lewinsky.^[7][15]

Independent counsel investigation

The charges arose from an enquiry by Ken Starr, an Independent Counsel.^[16] With the approval of United States Attorney GeneralJanet Reno, Starr conducted a wide-ranging study of alleged abuses, including the Whitewater controversy, the firing of White House travel agents, and the alleged misuse of FBI files.

On January 12, , 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 similar. She also said Clinton's ally 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.

America was captivated by the story, especially as it played out in televised hearings, often with graphic detail. By Russell Riley. This story was political dynamite, not just because it was a sex scandal, but also because it had dire legal implications. Kenneth Starr's vast investigations into the Whitewater land transaction had stalled, with several prospective witnesses existence uncooperative.

A much-quoted statement from Clinton's grand jury testimony showed him questioning the precise exploit 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."^[17] Starr obtained further evidence of inappropriate behavior by seizing the computer hard pilot 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.^[18] Starr was criticized by Democrats for spending $70&#;million on the investigation.^[19] 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 announce included lengthy descriptions which were humiliating and irrelevant to the legal case.^[20][21]

Impeachment inquiry by the House Committee on the Judiciary

Main article: Impeachment inquiry against Bill Clinton

On October 8, , the United States House of Representatives voted to authorize a broad impeachment inquiry, thereby initiating the impeachment process.^[22] The Republican regulated House of Representatives had decided this with a bipartisan vote of –, with 31 Democrats joining Republicans.^[23] 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 midterm elections.^{[citation needed]} Impeachment was one of the major issues in those elections.^{[citation needed]}

In the November Property elections, the Democrats picked up five seats in the Residence, but the Republicans still maintained majority control.

The results went against what House SpeakerNewt Gingrich predicted, who, before the election, had been reassured by secret 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;^[24][25] Gingrich fulfilled this pledge, and officially resigned from Congress on January 3, ^[26]

Impeachment proceedings were held during the post-election, "lame duck" session of the outgoing th United States Congress.

Unlike the case of the impeachment process against Richard Nixon, the committee hearings were perfunctory but the floor debate in the whole House was spirited on both sides.

On December 19, the House voted in favor of two articles of impeachment, finding that Clinton had dedicated perjury before the grand jury and had obstructed justice, but rejected the remaining articles. The Senate held a trial in early ; on February 12, , the Senate acquitted Clinton.

The Speaker-designate, Representative Bob Livingston, chosen by the Republican Party Conference to replace Gingrich as House Speaker, announced the terminate of his candidacy for Speaker and his resignation from Congress from the floor of the House after his own marital infidelity came to light.^[27] In the same speech, Livingston also encouraged Clinton to resign.

Clinton chose to remain in office and urged Livingston to reconsider his resignation.^[28] Many other prominent Republican members of Congress (including Dan Burton,^[27]Helen Chenoweth,^[27] and Henry Hyde,^[27] 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.^[27]

Impeachment by House of Representatives

On December 11, , the Dwelling Judiciary Committee agreed to dispatch four articles of impeachment to the full House for consideration.

The vote on two articles, grand juryperjury and obstruction of justice, was 21–17, both along party lines.

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 Dwelling inquirywhich had been launched on October 8, The charges for which Clinton was impeached stemmed from a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Clinton by Paula Jones.

On the other, perjury in the Paula Jones case, the committee voted 20–18, with Republican Lindsey Graham joining with Democrats, in order to grant President Clinton "the legal advantage of the doubt".^[29] The next day, December 12, the committee agreed to send a fourth and final article, for exploitation of power, to the occupied House by a 21–17 vote, again, along party lines.^[30]

Although proceedings were delayed due to the bombing of Iraq, on the passage of H.

Res. , Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 19, , on grounds of perjury to a grand jury (first article, –)^[31] and obstruction of justice (third article, –).^[32] The two other articles were rejected, the count of perjury in the Jones case (second article, –)^[33] and abuse of power (fourth article, –).^[34] Clinton thus became the second U.S.

president to be impeached; the first, Andrew Johnson, was impeached in ^[35][36] The only other previous U.S. president to be the subject of formal Residence impeachment proceedings was Richard Nixon in – The Judiciary Committee agreed to a resolution containing three articles of impeachment in July , but Nixon resigned from office soon thereafter, before the House took up the resolution.^[37]

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 influence charge.

Five Republicans (Amo Houghton, Peter King, Connie Morella, Chris Shays and Mark Souder) voted against the first perjury attack. 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.