Impeachment Of Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on two charges, one of perjury and one of obstruction of justice, on December 19, 1998. Two other impeachment articles, a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of power, failed in the House. The charges arose from the Lewinsky scandal and the Paula Jones lawsuit.
He was acquitted by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Requiring a two-thirds majority for a conviction, only 50 senators (out of 100) voted guilty on the obstruction charge and 45 on the perjury charge. The Senate was 17 votes short of removing Clinton from office .
The voting in the House and Senate was largely partisan. In the House, only five Democratic Representatives voted to impeach. In the Senate, which had 55 Republican Senators, none of the Democratic Senators voted for conviction. It was only the second impeachment of a President in American history, the other being that of Andrew Johnson, who was also acquitted by the Senate, but by the margin of one vote.
Read more about Impeachment Of Bill Clinton: Independent Counsel Investigation, January 1998 Press Conference, Impeachment By House of Representatives, Acquittal By The U.S. Senate, Senate Votes
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“I believe I’m a better authority than anybody else in America on my own wife. I have never known a person with a stronger sense of right and wrong in my life—ever.”
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