The Monica Lewinsky Scandal
Clinton’s second term in office was marked with scandal. It came out that between November 1995 and March 1997, Clinton was having an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton vehemently denied having any sort of relationship with Ms. Lewinsky saying “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” In April of 1996 Lewinsky’s job had been relocated to the Pentagon because it was said that she was spending too much time with the president. A bit after relocating, Lewinsky began to confide in co-worker Linda Tripp about her relationship with Clinton. In 1997, Tripp started secretly recording her telephone conversations with Lewinsky regarding the affair with the president.
On January 26, 1998 Clinton denied having had sexual relations with Lewinsky. On August 6th, 1998 Lewinsky sat in front of the jury saying that she had an 18-month sexual relationship with the President and that the pair had discussed ways of concealing the relationship. Ms. Lewinsky also presented one of her dresses as evidence, stating it had been stained during one of their sexual encounters. August 17, 1998 Clinton finally admits to an 18 month affair with Monica Lewinsky. Almost a year and several denials and admissions later the House Judiciary Committee proposed four articles of impeachment against the president. On December 19, 1998 the House of Representatives voted in agreement with this recommendation. Clinton says he committed adultery for the worst possible reason: “Just because I could.” January 7, 1999 his trial for charges of perjury and obstruction of justice began and ended February 12, 1999 when senators voted to acquit him of the impeachment.
Clinton says that there were a lot of great personal days, but admits that the worst day was “probably the day in August before I testified for the grand jury and I had to talk to Hillary and my family about what had happened.” Clinton had finally told his family that he had been lying about his relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton is one of only two presidents in U.S. history to face impeachment, but he refused to resign.
