20th Anniversary of Drudge Breaking the Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal

U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- In this time of the #MeToo movement, it is time for us to look back 20 years ago to January 17th, 1998. On that date, the Drudge Report ran a headline that would lead to the second president in US history and first since Andrew Johnson to be impeached by Congress. This President was Bill Clinton, and Congress accused him of perjury and obstruction of justice.

The saga began when Bill Clinton, who was president at the time, started to have an affair with an unpaid intern named Monica Lewinsky in November 1995. The relationship continued through March 1997. In April 1996 Lewinsky was transferred to the Pentagon because the amount of time she was spending with President Clinton was concerning to her superiors.

It was at the Pentagon that Lewinsky met and confided in Linda Tripp about the affair she had with Clinton. Tripp persuaded Lewinsky not to get rid of any gift that Clinton gave her. She also convinced Lewinsky not to clean the now infamous semen-stained blue dress. Unbeknownst to Lewinsky, Tripp was recording all their conversations about Bill Clinton’s perversions.

At the same time, Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr was investigating the apparent suicide of Vince Foster who was deputy White House counsel and an investor in the Whitewater Development Corporation. The investigation expanded to potential political abuse of power by the President in the sexual harassment case of Paula Jones who accused Clinton of sexual harassment.

During the deposition in the Paula Jones case, Lewinsky claimed never to have had a physical relationship with Bill Clinton.
Clinton also denied the relationship to the grand jury while under oath. Lewinsky asked Tripp to commit perjury on her behalf. Instead of committing a crime Tripp turned over the tapes to Ken Starr.

When the story broke about the sexual relationship, Bill Clinton, who has a history of sexual misconduct allegations going back to the alleged rape of Juanita Broaddrick in the 1970s, went on National TV during a White House press conference and said, “I want you to listen to me. 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. And I need to go back to work for the American people. Thank you.” Hillary Clinton was standing by his side during this speech.

On January 27th of 1998, Hillary Clinton went on NBC’s The Today Show, and instead of blaming her adulterous husband she accused Republicans of making up a conspiracy. She stated, “The great story here for anybody willing to find it and write about it and explain it is this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president.”

The Clintons continued to deny anything inappropriate happened between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky for months. Then in July of 1998 Lewinsky received immunity in exchange for testifying in front of the grand jury as well as turning over the blue dress that Tripp convinced her not to clean. This piece of evidence gave Ken Starr DNA proof of the relationship.

With overwhelming evidence against him, Bill Clinton admitted the relationship with Lewinsky was real for the first time to the grand jury in August of 1998. By recognizing that there was a sexual relationship he directly contradicted his original testimony given to the grand jury. It appeared that he perjured himself.

In December of 1998, The House of Representatives voted to issue Articles of Impeachment for obstruction of justice and perjury against President Clinton. What followed was a 21-day trial in the Senate. The Senate acquitted him on all charges with every Democrat voting for acquittal.

Bill Clinton was found in contempt of court by Judge Susan Webber Wright for giving misleading testimony and fined $90,000. Bill Clinton also settled out of court with Paula Jones for $850,000. Hillary Clinton stayed married to Bill Clinton and ran for president losing to Donald Trump in 2016.

About John Crump

John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on the history of the patriot movement and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss or at www.crumpy.com.