Impeachment inquiry into Bill Clinton

In 1994, Paula Jones filed a lawsuit accusing Clinton of sexual harassment when he was governor of Arkansas. 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. Separate from this, in January 1994, Attorney General Janet Reno appointed Robert B. Fiske as an Independent counsel to investigate the Whitewater controversy. Paula Jones's attorneys wanted to prove Clinton had engaged in a pattern of behavior with women who supported her claims. In late 1997, Linda Tripp began secretly recording conversations with her friend Monica Lewinsky, a former intern and Department of Defense employee. In those recordings, Lewinsky divulged that she had a sexual relationship with Clinton. Tripp shared this information with Jones's lawyers, who added Lewinsky to their witness list in December 1997. According to the Starr Report, a U.S. federal government report written by Ken Starr on his investigation of President Clinton, after Lewinsky appeared on the witness list Clinton began taking steps to conceal their relationship. Some of the steps he took included suggesting to Lewinsky that she file a false affidavit to misdirect the investigation, encouraging her to use cover stories, concealing gifts he had given her, and attempting to help her find gainful employment to try to influence her testimony. In May 1997, the United States Supreme Court rejected Clinton's argument that he, as president, should have immunity from civil case, thus allowing Paula Jones' lawsuit against him to proceed. 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, on January 26, 1998, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." But months later, Clinton admitted his relationship with Lewinsky was "wrong" and "not appropriate". Lewinsky engaged in oral sex with Clinton several times. The judge in the Jones case later ruled the Lewinsky matter immaterial, and threw out the case on April 1, 1998, on the grounds that Jones had failed to show any damages. However, Jones appealed this decision. The Starr Report was released to congress on September 9, 1998 and to the public on September 11. 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. Early actions by the House Committee on the Judiciary On September 11, 1998, by a vote of 363-63, the House of Representatives voted for a resolution that would release the Starr Report to the public and authorize a "deliberative review" of it by the House Committee on the Judiciary. On September 18, over the objections of the Democratic members, the House Committee on the Judiciary voted to release the video of Clinton's grand jury testimony, and more the 3,000 pages of the Starr Report's supporting material, including a sexually explicit testimony by Lewinsky. This content was released on September 21, with the videotape of Clinton's deposition, immediately after its release, being aired by many cable channels across the United States. The committee announced on September 24 that, in an open session on either October 5 or 6, it would consider a resolution that would initiate an impeachment inquiry against Clinton. On October 2, the committee released 4,610 more pages of supporting material from the Starr investigation, a cache which included transcripts of grand jury testimony and transcripts of the recordings Linda Tripp made of phone calls and conversations she had with Lewinsky. On October 5, in a 21–16 vote, the House Committee on the Judiciary voted to recommend a formal impeachment inquiry. ==House vote authorizing the inquiry==

and other Republican members of the committee hold a press conference on October 8, 1998 On October 8, 1998, the Republican controlled House of Representatives authorized an inquiry through a bipartisan vote (House Resolution 581) of 258–176, with 31 Democrats joining Republicans. The resolution authorize the House Committee on the Judiciary to investigate whether grounds existed for an impeachment of Clinton. Before the vote on the bill authorizing the inquiry, a vote was held on a motion that would send the bill back to the House Committee on the Judiciary with recommended revisions. This motion was rejected by a House vote of 236–198. All but ten Democrats had supported the failed motion, along with one Republican (Jay Dickey) and the House's sole independent congressman (Bernie Sanders). One Republican (Deborah Pryce) did not vote. ==Members of the House Committee on the Judiciary==

The table below shows the members of the House Committee on the Judiciary, who conducted the inquiry. The names are divided by party, and ranked by seniority. ==Pre-midterm election developments==

Since Ken Starr had already completed an extensive investigation, the House Committee on the Judiciary conducted no investigations of its own into Clinton's alleged wrongdoing and held no serious impeachment-related hearings before the 1998 midterm elections. ==Impact of inquiry on midterm elections==

Impeachment was one of the major issues in the 1998 midterm elections. In the closing week of campaigning, Republicans changed tactics and began running television ads attacking Democrats for Clinton's sexual affair with Lewinsky. ==Post-midterm developments==

Shortly after the elections, House speaker 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. Gingrich would ultimately fulfill this pledge, and officially resigned from Congress on January 3, 1999. 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. On November 9, a house subcommittee heard from legal experts as to whether Clinton's behavior had risen to the level of an impeachable offense. Charles Ruff at November 19 hearing On November 19, Ken Starr presented his case against Clinton to the House Committee on the Judiciary. Starr declared that Clinton had repeatedly chosen "deception" and engaged in an "unlawful effort to thwart the judicial process". Republicans voiced disappointment and outrage at Clinton's responses, which they criticized as being evasive, incomplete, weak in defense, and legalistic. The next day, December 12, the committee voted to send a fourth and final article, for abuse of power, to the full House by a 21–17 vote, again, along party lines. ==Subsequent impeachment process developments==

Also on December 12, a Democratic proposal to censure Clinton as an alternative to impeaching him was defeated. In the same speech, Livingston also encouraged Clinton to resign. Clinton chose to remain in office and urged Livingston to reconsider his resignation. On December 19, after thirteen and a half hours of debate spread over two days, the House of Representatives narrowly approved two of the four proposed articles of impeachment sent to it by the House Committee on the Judiciary. ==Public opinion==

Per Pew Research Center polling, the impeachment process against Clinton was generally unpopular. ==External links==