Chapter 8: The Presidency
5/17/99

In mid-April, President Clinton became the first president in our nation's history to be found in contempt by a federal judge. U.S. District Judge Susan Wright found President Clinton in contempt for giving "intentionally false" testimony about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. The judge ordered the president to pay Paula Jones any reasonable fees including attorney fees for his willful failure to obey court orders in regard to his testimony. In addition, the judge ordered the president to reimburse the court for the judge's travel expenses in the case linked to his "false" testimony, and also started the process of removing the President's license to practice law in Arkansas.

While this ruling could cost the president tens of thousands of dollars, as a civil contempt finding it is preferable in the eyes of the president to a criminal contempt finding. If found in criminal contempt, the president could have been sentenced to an immediate penalty of six months in federal prison and been referred for future prosecution. However, being found in civil contempt will certainly not add to President Clinton's already substantially tarnished legacy.

4/5/99

Finally, after months spent investigating President Clinton at a cost of millions of dollars, the Senate trial that took 37 days came to an end. The Senate voted to acquit the President on the charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. Thus, President Clinton became the second president in our nation's history to be impeached by the House of Representatives and then not removed from office by the Senate. President Clinton is the first elected president to have been impeached and tried by the Senate.

For more information about the conduct of the impeachment trial and the Senate's final votes go to OnLine NewsHour: The Impeachment Trial at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/impeachment/hearings.html.

1/14/99

On December 19, 1998, President Clinton became the first elected President in the history of the nation to be impeached by the House of Representatives. The House voted on four Articles of Impeachment, approving two of them by a majority vote along essentially partisan lines. The two approved Articles of Impeachment charge the President with committing perjury before a federal grand jury and obstructing justice by persuading others to lie before the grand jury. This means that only for the second time in our history will the Senate be called upon to try a president in an impeachment proceeding. The first time involved President Andrew Johnson who as vice-president succeeded to the presidency upon the death of Lincoln.

For further information about the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton, you can go to the Clinton Impeachment Resource Center web site.

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