Clinton Sex Scandal
25th Anniversary
Twenty-five years ago today a presidential sex scandal exploded into American consciousness. An obscure news aggregator broke the biggest story of the 1990s.
In November 1995, President Bill Clinton began a twenty-one-month affair with a White House intern who was nearly thirty years younger. The first time they were alone in his private study just off the Oval Office, Monica Lewinsky performed oral sex on the president.
For nearly two years, Clinton and Lewinsky met in person dozens of times. On at least ten occasions when they were alone, they engaged in sexual activity, usually in the windowless hallway just outside the president’s private study. The sexual activity mostly consisted of Lewinsky performing oral sex on the president. On other occasions when they were apart, they engaged in phone sex.
Monica Lewinsky with Bill Clinton
In December 1997, the Clinton-Lewinsky affair was swept up in a sexual harassment lawsuit that had been filed against Clinton. Paula Jones was an Arkansas state employee who claimed Clinton made sexual advances toward her when he was the Arkansas governor. Jones’s lawyers learned of Clinton’s affair with Lewinsky, and they added Lewinsky’s name to their witness list. Jones’s lawyers wanted to show a pattern of behavior whereby the president sexually harassed or demanded sexual favors from vulnerable women.
Judge Kenneth Starr had been appointed an independent counsel to investigate Clinton-related corruption in several matters, including the Whitewater real estate investment deal, an Arkansas investment scheme that had gone awry, and the “Filegate” and “Travelgate” scandals.
US Attorney General Janet Reno authorized Starr to expand his investigation to include the Lewinsky scandal. Starr was investigating if Clinton had committed perjury, suborned perjury, or obstructed justice.
Janet Reno with Bill Clinton
During the course of litigation in the Paula Jones lawsuit, Clinton gave a deposition, which he called “a farce,” and said he resented having to testify.[i] Clinton lied when asked if he had a sexual encounter with Lewinsky. Clinton coached Lewinsky to swear a false affidavit denying their affair and their sexual encounters. He instructed her to hide the gifts he had given her. Clinton also coached presidential secretary Betty Currie to lie if questioned about whether he was ever alone with the intern. Additionally, Clinton enlisted the assistance of Washington, DC, super-lawyer Vernon Jordan to help find a job for Lewinsky—a job far away from the nation’s capital.
The scandal became public on January 17, 1998, when the Drudge Report website broke the story. Upon hearing the news, Clinton delivered a blistering denial. “I want you to listen to me,” said an angry looking Clinton while he wagged his finger, “I’m going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time, never. These allegations are false.”
Bill Clinton falsely denying he had sex with Monica Lewinsky
In August 1998, after ignoring several requests to voluntarily appear, Clinton was subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury. He mocked the grand jury process when he argued over the definition of “sexual relationship.”
As the Starr Report noted, “As to his denial in the Jones deposition that he and Ms. Lewinsky had had a ‘sexual relationship,’ the President maintained that there can be no sexual relationship without sexual intercourse, regardless of what other sexual activities may transpire.”[ii]
However, back in January when Clinton testified under oath during his deposition in the Jones lawsuit, he was told how “sexual activity” was defined in that legal proceeding. That definition was “[A] person engages in ‘sexual relations’ when the person knowingly engages in or causes—(1) contact with the genitalia, anus, groin, breast, inner thigh, or buttocks of any person with an intent to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of any person…‘Contact’ means intentional touching, either directly or through clothing.”[iii]
When Clinton appeared before the grand jury, he was asked about a previous denial during his deposition in the Jones lawsuit that he had engaged in sexual activity with Lewinsky. Clinton replied, “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is. If the—if he—if ‘is’ means, is and never has been that is not—that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement.”[iv]
Clinton’s lies in the Jones deposition and before grand jury became apparent in Lewinsky’s testimony. She testified that the pair engaged in sexual activity on several occasions. Lewinsky testified she performed oral sex on Clinton at least ten times.[v]
The Starr Report
Lewinsky’s testimony could have been chalked up to a “he said, she said” case, where it was not easily discernable who was telling the truth and who was lying. However, Lewinsky had physical evidence to back her claims. She had in her possession a blue dress she wore during one of the times she performed oral sex on the president. Clinton ejaculated on her dress and Lewinsky decided not to have it dry-cleaned. DNA testing was conducted, comparing the biological matter on the dress with a reference sample from Clinton. DNA tests confirmed it was Clinton’s semen on her dress.
At the heart of the House of Representatives impeachment proceedings was that Clinton had committed perjury, suborned perjury, and obstructed justice. However, Clinton and his supporters in the media attempted to portray the investigation and subsequent impeachment as the product of voyeuristic busybodies criminalizing a sexual relationship between two consenting adults. The Washington Post wrote, “Sex makes people do weird, stupid stuff.” The Post further explained the episode was merely “sexual hanky-panky.”
The House of Representatives began impeachment proceedings against Clinton following the November 1998 mid-term elections. Clinton faced four articles of impeachment. There were two counts of perjury, one count of obstruction of justice, and a single count of abuse of power.
On December 19, 1998, Clinton was impeached on two charges: perjury and obstruction of justice. On February 12, 1999, after nearly five weeks of motions, procedural maneuvers, closed-door sessions, and a trial, the Senate voted to acquit Clinton of both charges.
Nearly half of the Senators believed it was not proved Clinton had committed perjury or obstructed justice. However, the top jurists in Clinton’s home state of Arkansas and in the United States thought otherwise. The Office of the Committee of Professional Conduct of the Arkansas Judiciary revoked Clinton’s law license for a period of five years and fined him $25,000. After he left the presidency, the US Supreme Court permanently disbarred Clinton from practicing law before the high court.
Mark Hyman is an Emmy award-winning investigative journalist. Follow him on Twitter, Gettr, Parler, Post, and Mastodon.world at @markhyman, and on Truth Social at @markhyman81.
His books Washington Babylon: From George Washington to Donald Trump, Scandals That Rocked the Nation and Pardongate: How Bill and Hillary Clinton and their Brothers Profited from Pardons are on sale now (here and here).
[i] Hillary Rodham Clinton, Living History, (New York: Simon & Schuster: 2003), 440.
[ii] Nature of President Clinton’s Relationship with Monica Lewinsky, (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office).
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] “The President’s Grand Jury Testimony (cont.),” Washington Post, September 22, 1998.
[v] Nature of President Clinton’s Relationship….