The Clinton Impeachment, Ten Years Later

Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen Looks Back At The Historic Trial, Key Players

(CBS)  Attorney Andrew Cohen analyzes legal issues for CBS News and CBSNews.com.

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It’s been exactly ten years since the end of the Senate impeachment trial of William Jefferson Clinton. On Feb. 12, 1999, the Republican bid to prematurely terminate Clinton’s second term ended with an even party-line vote -- far short of the two-thirds majority required to force out of office the 42nd President of the United States.

I can still hear in my mind’s ear the voice of then-Chief Justice of the United States, William H. Rehnquist, saying the words: “Senators, how say you?” on that fateful day. The next day, The Washington Post’s front page offered stories like: “Alone, President Responds With Simple Apology;” “House ‘Managers’ Put Brave Face on Bitter Loss,” and “Hushed Galleries, Somber Senators, Powerful Moment.” The New York Times added that a “dispirited” Henry Hyde, GOP leader of the impeachment movement, opposed “indicting Clinton.”

Yet even while they were occurring, or at least being revealed to the public, the events which spawned the impeachment seemed unserious; a telling stain on a dress, a betrayal between friends, a cigar. But the intervening years, with their dramatic and deadly events, make the entire Clinton scandal (which I covered daily) seem like petty farce. Ten years ago, America was willing to impeach a president for lying about sex. Ten years later, there was no concomitant political push to impeach the next president for lying about the justifications for the deadly war in Iraq. Did the expensive lessons and bitter taste of the former preclude any chance for the latter? Ask Rep. John Conyers.

What is also striking about the impeachment, from the vantage point of a decade’s passage, is that so many of its main characters simply receded back into normal lives. America may still not be over the partisan rancor that was roiled up during the impeachment season -- the 2000 Florida Recount sure didn’t help, either -- but the people who caused the drama to unfold are just, well, living out their days. Some are still in politics. Some still in law. Some have started businesses. Thankfully, none seem to be cropping up these days on cable shows begging for attention or a book deal.

Monica Lewinsky, the intern, has gone underground and is said to be living in London after completing studies at the London School of Economics. Betty Currie, the loyal secretary who was dragged into the mess, has since retired (although she worked for President Barack Obama’s transition team as secretary for John Podesta). Linda Tripp, Monica’s betrayer, had massive plastic surgery, got married in 2004, and now owns a Christmas gift shop in Virginia. Paula Jones, whose civil lawsuit started the whole thing, posed nude, remarried, fought Tonya Harding in a celebrity boxing match, and now sells real estate. No one, apparently, wants to publish her book.

Kenneth Starr, the dogged special prosecutor, now is dean at Pepperdine Law School. He often involves himself in high-profile cases, including cases that come before the Supreme Court. The trial judge in the initial Paula Jones harassment case, U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright, is now chief judge of the Eastern District of Arkansas. Remember, virtually the entire impeachment spectacle took place after Judge Wright dismissed Jones v. Clinton in 1998. Clinton and Jones later settled out of court before an appeal could be heard.

And remember the Republican “managers” in the House of Representatives? They were the true believers who so aggressively prosecuted the case against Clinton in the well of the Senate? Of the 13 original managers, only three remain in Congress. One of these three, Lindsay Graham, has become a senator himself and is one of the most visible members of the GOP caucus. Ohio Republican Steve Buyer, whose tone during the drama was always a few octaves lower than his colleagues, has survived, as has Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, although the world and nation rarely hear from him anymore.

The others are gone. Bob Barr, one of the angriest and most judgmental of the managers, left the Congress, became a critic of the Bush Administration’s terror law policies, and ran for president this past November as the Libertarian candidate. Asa Hutchinson served in the cabinet of President George W. Bush and is now home in Arkansas. The chairman of the House effort to oust Clinton, Henry Hyde, died in 2007. But Ray LaHood, another key Republican player in the House impeachment effort, is now a proud member of President Barack Obama’s cabinet-as Transportation Secretary.

Clinton’s defenders seemed to have lasted longer inside the Beltway than most of his pursuers. Lanny Breuer, who was part of the Clinton White House’s legal team, is now on tap to head the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. Greg Craig, vital Clinton attorney during the impeachment saga, finds himself back in the center of action as White House counsel for President Obama. Other Clinton defenders remain in legal and political positions in Washington -- except for Al Gore, of course. The same Chief Justice who presided over the impeachment, not incidentally, delivered a crucial vote against Gore to end the Florida recount and give the election to Bush. Rehnquist is dead now and, politically speaking, so is Bush. Gore went on to win a Nobel Prize.

Ten years later, it’s reasonable to wonder how history might have been different had Clinton not been impeached and narrowly escaped being dismissed from office. Certainly the impeachment impacted Al Gore’s 2000 campaign, and certainly that campaign gave George W. Bush an opportunity he might not otherwise have had. Would there have been a terror attack on America on September 11, 2001 without the Clinton impeachment? Would there have been a war in Iraq? An economic crisis like the one we now must endure? We will never know. History doesn’t work that way.

[noconspiracy]

Clinton was impeached, not for ***, not for lying, but for WINNING.

[enriquecaliente]

Let''s see. The outing of a CIA agent. No one punished.
The start of a war, without a real plan and lying to the American People about it. (WMD''S) Which has led to the loss of the lives of not only Americans, but innocent Iraqis. The dropping of the real war in Afghanistan. The passing of the Patriot Act which was just an excuse to spy on the American populous. The disestablishing of the middle east, (check the war in Iraq). KATRINA. The economy in ruin. 8 YEARS of doing nothing for the American people, well wait, I''m wrong, they did make the rich RICHER. All Bubba did was get a BJ. But boy was the country running well.

[ranger2930]

Ah to go back to the Clinton Days... Wouldn''t that be grand! I could use the money... Clinton did a great job, he deserved a BJ. Look how we let the Repugnicans and there sneaky, misleading rhetoric with George "W"(Witless)"The Destroyer" Bush as the Omnipotent Leader spiral this country into the 3rd world. Why didn''t "W" get impeached? Because we would have had the Evil "***" Cheney as president. And yes, Clinton had a terror briefing every morning. When Bush came into office that prospect was "Too Clintony." So Bush sat on his flat butt down in Crawford and read the CIA brief "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in America" and laughed it off. America deserves what it got listening to Bush.

Read Scott McClellan''s Book "What Happened" Whew!

[irmcvet971]

The REICH is attempting to do to THIS President what they did to the Clinton''s. From the day President Clinton came into office they started smearing and lying as never before. Not one day that this Great Leader was in office did they allow him to rest and to my knowledge their Leader, Rush Limbaugh, never said ONE positive word about the Man most American''s wanted as a leader. I think it''s great to see how America TODAY, after the Worst in our History, admire this man. Sieg Heil Rush

[andor3]

yes GWB should have been impeached. tried and removed from office by Congress. Now the people have done that--let us hope the new people in charge bring him and his gang to justice.

[ms1-1-11]

Regats

- just use the number 6

CBS has infants in charge... I used .s.e.m.e.n. and CBS USED ***... where in your post CBS used "***"? CBS left the children in charge again...

[ms1-1-11]

- peoples of America I say I say I never had 6 with that woman...

- Monica Lewinski Peoples of America I say I say I got the ***...

- VIAGRA Peoples of America Here we go. Oooooooh, That''s the way, ah ha ah ha we like it, ah ha ah ha ... ... some pills just don''t work

[prohb]

Let''''s quit waisting everyone''''s money trying to prove a point. We''''ve got work to do, let''''s get started, the debate has gone on long enough, put on your work boots. Posted by bigeye9

I totally agree

[regats-2009]

Are you idiots at CBS bleeping
out the word, "***"? ( S E X ?)

[bigeye9]

Bhawk58 - I absolutely hated the Clinton Impeachment, and as a Republican was not happy. What President Clinton did was lie under oath, that''s what got him in so much trouble. The *** with an Intern was certainly sleezy, and in private industry our company would very likely be sued. But for me not worth the trouble. I like Pres. Clinton, but he certainly removed some of the lustre off the Oval office, perhaps Pres. Obama will restore it. Let''s quit waisting everyone''s money trying to prove a point. We''ve got work to do, let''s get started, the debate has gone on long enough, put on your work boots.

[bhawk58]

Some things we learned--High crimes and misdemanors includes lying about *** but not Arm sells and phony intel on WMD. People want to say perjury on Bill but he answered their questions just as her lawyers framed them and defined their words. In the future Presidents can be impeached for a lot of things if the Republican concept of impeachment stands.

[ubrew12]

txgrouch2009 said: "Speech from the Oval Office by President William Clinton, explaining his attack on Iraq December 16, 1998 "

Clinton was right to be suspicious of Iraq, and to attack them after they threw WMD inspectors out of their country. The only time I thought Bush was a genius was when he threatened to invade Iraq, and they let the WMD inspectors back in. They needed to be there, Clinton let Saddam throw them out with a minimal response, and BUSH puffed up his chest and got them allowed back in.

And then, Bush invaded anyway, and I lost ALL respect for the man. Trying to pin his central failure on Clinton is very much a stretch. Good luck with that, its going to be alot of uphill climbing, alot if history you''ll be rewriting.

[raflin0010]

It''s so ironic, yet so very telling that Republicans were positively obsessed with Bill Clinton''s private *** life while scores of Repuplicans like Larry Craig were revealed without even one Republican crying foul. Like I said, MOST revealing about Republicans'' true focus....

[citizenusa-2009]

After all, with Clinton we had hanky-panky on the job and the best economic performance ever, and with Bush we had no hanky-panky and the worst economy since the Great Depression.


Posted by tom_gwynn at 01:38 PM : Feb 12, 2009

Correct and accurate.

[tom_gwynn]

There''s an old story that back when the civil war was raging a group of officals opposed to General Ulysses Grant went to Abraham Lincoln with the (then shocking) news that Grant drank whiskey. Old Abe is said to have gravely thanked them for the information... then went and ordered some for the rest of his generals.

While I''m not sure that awarding a *** intern in thong underwear to a president is the best way to improve performance on the job, perhaps it ought to be tried. After all, with Clinton we had hanky-panky on the job and the best economic performance ever, and with Bush we had no hanky-panky and the worst economy since the Great Depression.

[mitch5511]

Ten years ago, America was willing to impeach a president for lying about ***.

Ten years later, there was no concomitant political push to impeach the next president for lying about the justifications for the deadly war in Iraq.

[divasmom]

Facts prove the planning of the 9/11 attack took place long before Bush was in the oval office. Yes, Clinton was our President during this time so quit trying to relate the tragedy of 9/11 with election of Bush. The only disappointing thing about the impeachment is that Clinton was not thrown out of office then.

[mihann]

Mr. Clinton, please come back and save us from the horrible mess we face now!

[prohb]

Clinton lied, nobody died.
Bush lied, so many died.

[antonio_28]

Those House managers were a sorry lot, wasting time and tens of millions of dollars on a personal persecution of Clinton. The same hypocritical lying party that did that now refuses to hold Bush accountable for far, far worse crimes. Standard operating procedure for the GOP.


Posted by steeepe

Thank you friend and well said.