In 1998 Americans were divided over Bill Clinton's affair with a White House intern
In the 20 years since those feelings have only grown more complicated
Monica Lewinsky herself has recently said that her thoughts on the affair have changed in light of the MeToo movement
As with Watergate and the current investigations into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, the presidential scandal was also complicated involving a number of players,
allegations, and legal proceedings. On the 20th anniversary of the Clinton impeachment, here's a guide to how it happened.
In 1994 former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones sued Bill Clinton for sexual harassment
arguing that he propositioned her when he was governor
A legal group working on the case in 1998 received an anonymous tip that the President had
relationship with Lewinsky, an intern for his chief of staff
That piqued their interest since it could be used to argue this was a pattern of behavior
On January 7th 1998 Lewinsky filed a sworn affidavit in the Jones lawsuit saying she had never had a relationship with Clinton
But she did not know that a close friend Linda Tripp had been taping conversations with her about the affair
Five days after the affidavit was filed Tripp gave independent counsel
Kenneth Starr 20 hours of taped phone calls
Starr had been investigating the Clintons of a real estate venture known as white water
But the recordings allowed him to get permission On January 16th to investigate whether Lewinsky had lied under oath
In a deposition in the Jones suit the next day Clinton denied the affair as well this turned out to be a key moment of
his presidency. That same day online news outlet The Drudge Report
Published a story claiming that Newsweek was sitting on a story about Clinton's affair with an intern
It later published another story that Lewinsky had a blue cocktail dress, with Clinton's bodily fluids on it
Clinton again denied the affair this time on nationally broadcast television saying
"I did not have sexual relations with that woman Miss Lewinsky"
On January 27th Hillary Clinton echoed the denial arguing in an interview on The Today Show that the charges came from a
fast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring
against my husband since the day he announced for president
As the month drew to a close a federal judge ruled that the Jones lawyers could not look into the Lewinsky claim as part of
their lawsuit, but the Starr investigation continued on a separate path
Early February Lewinsky's mother appeared before a grand jury
She had been suspected of encouraging her daughter to lie to Jones's lawyers. After three days of questioning Starr granted her immunity in exchange
for handing over the blue dress
As the summer began the July issue of Vanity Fair appeared on newsstands featuring glamor shots of Lewinsky a PR decision that was harshly criticized
On July 27 Lewinsky met with Starr's prosecutors in New York City, and they announced an immunity deal for her the next day
Clinton then agreed to testify before the grand jury voluntarily
In August the president provided a blood sample to compare his DNA to the stains on the blue dress
That month Lewinsky and Clinton testified to the grand jury with the president's testimony taken by closed-circuit TV
He admitted to inappropriate intimate contact
But also said that he had given accurate testimony previously famously quibbling over the definition of is
Later that evening he spoke to the nation in a televised address
In a deposition in January I was asked questions about my relationship with Monica Lewinsky
While my answers were legally accurate I did not volunteer information
Indeed I did have a relationship with Miss Lewinsky, that was not appropriate
In fact it was wrong
the next month Congress received two copies of Starr's 445 page report on the investigation
And supporting evidence
The Starr report along with transcripts of Lewinsky and Tripp were later released to the public
On October 8th the House of Representatives voted to begin an impeachment inquiry
Despite the controversy and the impeachment President Clinton remained popular in polls and Hillary Clinton saw her poll numbers rise as well
during the midterm elections in November Democrats did unusually proud
In mid November Clinton settled the sexual harassment lawsuit with Jones
which had kick-started the scandal paying her eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars and admitting nothing
During lame-duck session on Congress in the summer 19th the House voted to impeach Clinton on two charges that he committed perjury in his August
17th federal grand jury testimony and that he prevented obstructed and impeded the administration of justice
As 1999 opened, the Senate began its constitutionally mandated impeachment trial, with the Supreme Court's chief justice presiding
On February 12th 13 months after the scandal began the Senate voted to acquit Clinton on both charges
The respondent William Jefferson Clinton
President of the United States is not guilty as charged
Later that day Clinton apologized to the American public in an address from the White House,
I want to say again to the American people
how profoundly sorry I am
for what I said and did
to trigger these events and the great burden they have imposed on the Congress and on the American people