Clinton's Legal Troubles: Which Laws Were Broken?

William Jefferson Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives in 1998 for perjury and obstruction of justice. The impeachment proceedings were initiated after allegations of a sexual relationship with a subordinate employee, Monica Lewinsky, and subsequent attempts to cover up the relationship. Clinton was accused of providing false and misleading testimony under oath, corrupting the judicial process, and undermining the integrity of his office. The scandal led to a divided nation and a damaged presidency, with Clinton being the second US president to be impeached.

Perjury

The perjury charge stemmed from a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Paula Jones, who alleged that Clinton had sexually harassed her when he was governor of Arkansas. During the pre-trial discovery process, Clinton gave testimony under oath, denying that he had engaged in a sexual relationship with Lewinsky. This testimony was later contradicted by evidence, including taped interviews and DNA samples.

In January 1998, news of Clinton's affair with Lewinsky broke, creating a political scandal. Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, who was already investigating Clinton's financial affairs, expanded his investigation to include the President's sexual behaviour. Starr believed that Clinton had lied under oath to cover up the affair and instructed others to do the same.

The Starr Report, released in September 1998, outlined 11 possible grounds for Clinton's impeachment, including perjury, obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and abuse of power. The report included explicit details of the sexual relationship between Clinton and Lewinsky.

On August 17, 1998, Clinton acknowledged in a televised address that he had engaged in an "inappropriate" relationship with Lewinsky and admitted to misleading the nation and his family. However, he stopped short of admitting to perjury or instructing others to lie.

Clinton was formally impeached by the House of Representatives on December 19, 1998, on two charges: perjury and obstruction of justice. The Senate trial began on January 7, 1999, with Chief Justice William Rehnquist presiding. On February 12, 1999, Clinton was acquitted on both charges, as the Senate failed to produce the required two-thirds majority vote for conviction and removal from office.

While Clinton remained in office, the impeachment process had significant political ramifications. It damaged his reputation for honesty and moral character, and the scandal became a factor in the subsequent presidential election.

Manipulation of the judicial process

Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 19, 1998, on grounds of perjury to a grand jury and obstruction of justice. The catalyst for the impeachment was the Starr Report, a September 1998 report prepared by Ken Starr, an Independent Counsel, for the House Judiciary Committee. The report outlined 11 possible grounds for impeachment, including perjury, obstruction of justice, witness tampering, and abuse of power.

The specific charges of perjury and obstruction of justice stemmed from Clinton's efforts to cover up his sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. In January 1998, Clinton denied having a sexual relationship with Lewinsky, both in a sworn deposition and publicly. However, evidence emerged, including taped interviews and a dress containing samples of Clinton's DNA, that contradicted his denial.

During the impeachment inquiry, it was revealed that Clinton had instructed his secretary, Betty Currie, to repeat his denials if she was called to testify. Additionally, there were signs of tampering with Lewinsky-related evidence, further indicating Clinton's attempts to obstruct the investigation.

The manipulation of the judicial process by Clinton involved lying under oath, influencing witnesses, and tampering with evidence, ultimately leading to the charges of perjury and obstruction of justice that formed the basis for his impeachment.

Obstruction of justice

Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 19, 1998, on two charges: perjury and obstruction of justice. The obstruction of justice charge was levelled against Clinton for his alleged attempts to cover up his sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, a 21-year-old unpaid intern at the White House.

Clinton's impeachment was catalysed by the Starr Report, a September 1998 report prepared by Independent Counsel Ken Starr for the House Judiciary Committee. The report outlined a sexual relationship between Clinton and Lewinsky and alleged that Clinton had lied under oath and obstructed justice.

The obstruction of justice charge was based on Clinton's alleged attempts to tamper with witnesses and buy their silence. In January 1998, Clinton allegedly recommended that Lewinsky file an affidavit denying their affair. Lewinsky did so, but five days later, she was questioned by FBI agents and offered immunity if she cooperated with the prosecution. In August 1998, Clinton testified before a federal grand jury and acknowledged his extramarital affair with Lewinsky. However, he denied having lied or instructed anyone else to lie or orchestrate a cover-up.

The House Judiciary Committee approved two articles of impeachment against Clinton, including obstruction of justice, on December 11, 1998. On December 19, the House impeached Clinton on the two charges. The Senate trial began on January 7, 1999, and Clinton was acquitted on both charges on February 12, 1999, as the votes fell short of the required two-thirds majority.

Abuse of power

Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 19, 1998, on grounds of perjury to a grand jury and obstruction of justice. He was later acquitted by Congress on February 12, 1999.

The impeachment proceedings were sparked by a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by Paula Jones, who accused Clinton of making unwanted advances towards her in 1991. During the pre-trial discovery, Clinton denied having a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. This denial formed the basis for the impeachment charge of perjury.

The Starr Report, prepared by Independent Counsel Ken Starr, outlined eleven possible grounds for Clinton's impeachment, including abuse of power. The report detailed the sexual relationship between Clinton and Lewinsky and alleged that Clinton had lied and instructed others to obstruct justice by lying on his behalf.

The abuse of power allegation centred on Clinton's position of power over Lewinsky, who was a 22-year-old intern at the time. Many people, including lawyer Lindsey Barrett and columnist Kristen Powers, have argued that the power differential between the President and an intern constituted an egregious abuse of power. This view has been supported by Lewinsky herself, who has characterised the relationship as "a gross abuse of power".

However, others, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, have disagreed with this characterisation. Hillary Clinton has stated that Lewinsky "was an adult" and that the relationship was consensual. Some Twitter users have also defended Clinton's view, highlighting Lewinsky's consent and arguing that a 22-year-old is capable of making their own decisions.

The debate surrounding Clinton's relationship with Lewinsky highlights a key fault line in the #MeToo movement: whether young women in consensual relationships with powerful men are being "victimised" or "infantilised" by describing their relations as abusive.

Lewinsky scandal

The Clinton–Lewinsky scandal was a sex scandal involving Bill Clinton, the president of the United States, and Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. Their sexual relationship began in 1995 and lasted 18 months, ending in 1997.

Clinton and Lewinsky began their affair in June 1995 when Lewinsky was a 21-year-old unpaid intern in the office of Clinton's Chief of Staff, Leon Panetta. Over the course of a year and a half, the president and Lewinsky had nearly a dozen sexual encounters in the White House. In April 1996, Lewinsky was transferred to the Pentagon because her superiors felt she was spending too much time around Clinton. That summer, she confided in Pentagon co-worker Linda Tripp about her sexual relationship with the president. In 1997, with the relationship over, Tripp began secretly recording conversations with Lewinsky, in which Lewinsky gave Tripp details about the affair.

In December 1997, lawyers for Paula Jones, who was suing the president on sexual harassment charges, subpoenaed Lewinsky. In January 1998, Lewinsky filed an affidavit in which she denied ever having had a sexual relationship with Clinton. Five days later, Tripp contacted the office of Kenneth Starr, the Whitewater independent counsel, to talk about Lewinsky and the tapes she had made of their conversations. On January 16, Lewinsky was taken by FBI agents and US attorneys to a hotel room where she was questioned and offered immunity if she cooperated with the prosecution. A few days later, the story broke, and Clinton publicly denied the allegations, saying, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms Lewinsky."

In late July 1998, lawyers for Lewinsky and Starr worked out a full-immunity agreement covering Lewinsky and her parents, all of whom Starr had threatened with prosecution. On August 6, Lewinsky appeared before the grand jury to begin her testimony, and on August 17, Clinton testified. Contrary to his testimony in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case, Clinton acknowledged that he had had an extramarital affair with Lewinsky. That evening, Clinton gave a televised address to the nation in which he admitted he had engaged in an inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky.

On September 9, Starr submitted his report and 18 boxes of supporting documents to the House of Representatives. Released to the public two days later, the Starr Report outlined a case for impeaching Clinton on 11 grounds, including perjury, obstruction of justice, witness-tampering, and abuse of power, and also provided explicit details of the sexual relationship between the president and Lewinsky. On October 8, the House authorized a wide-ranging impeachment inquiry, and on December 11, the House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment. On December 19, the House impeached Clinton, charging him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice.

On January 7, 1999, the trial of President Clinton got underway in the Senate. Five weeks later, on February 12, the Senate voted on whether to remove Clinton from office. The president was acquitted on both articles of impeachment. The prosecution needed a two-thirds majority to convict but failed to achieve even a bare majority. Clinton was held in civil contempt of court by Judge Susan Webber Wright for giving misleading testimony in the Paula Jones case regarding Lewinsky, and was also fined $90,000. His license to practice law was suspended in Arkansas for five years, and he was disbarred from presenting cases in front of the US Supreme Court.

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