ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT OF WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1998)

On December 19, 1998, the U.S. house of representatives voted two articles of impeachment against President william j. clinton. The House charged Clinton with perjury and obstruction of justice arising from the President's concealment of an intimate relationship with a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.

The first article, approved by a vote of 228–205, accused Clinton of violating "his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President" by "willfully [providing] perjurious, false and misleading testimony" to a federal grand jury about his relationship with Lewinsky and his efforts to cover it up. The grand jury had been empaneled by the independent counsel, Kenneth Starr, who as part of his wide-ranging (and, to many, partisan) investigation of Clinton was looking into allegations that Clinton lied and suborned perjury in a civil sexual harassment lawsuit.

The second article, approved by a 221–212 margin, charged Clinton with obstruction of justice in the civil lawsuit and in the grand jury proceedings. Among its seven specifications, the article accused Clinton of encouraging witnesses (Lewinsky and Betty Curry, the President's secretary) to commit perjury, securing job assistance for a witness (Lewinsky) to corruptly influence her testimony, and allowing his attorney (Robert Bennett) to make false statements to a federal judge.

Two additional articles were approved by the House Judiciary Committee but rejected by the full House.

The impeachment trial in the U.S. senate lasted five weeks. Neither article of impeachment garnered the two-thirds supermajority required to remove the President from office.

Adam Winkler
(2000)