CONTINUING COVERAGE: IMPEACHMENT

Here’s how today’s senators voted on Bill Clinton’s 1999 impeachment

McConnell, Schumer, Feinstein, Leahy among Senate impeachment veterans
By Tim Darnell
Jan 6, 2020

While President Donald Trump’s presumptive impeachment trial remains stalled on Capitol Hill, 14 current U.S. senators were also in office in 1999 during then-President Bill Clinton’s impeachment.

There are also 13 sitting senators who were serving in the U.S. House when it voted to impeach Clinton in late 1998.

Clinton's woes began before he entered the White House. He and his wife Hillary were the subject of a Justice Department investigation into a failed business deal from their time in Arkansas.

»MORE: Which U.S. presidents have faced impeachment?

In addition to that legal hurdle, Bill Clinton was also sued for sexual harassment by Paula Jones in 1991. Both those cases would lead to the impeachment proceedings for Clinton. In the Jones case, he was asked under oath about an affair with intern Monica Lewinsky and denied it. However, he later admitted it.

On Dec. 19, 1998, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Clinton on two separate counts: perjury before a grand jury (Article 1) and obstruction of justice (Article 3).

Two other impeachment counts failed: providing false testimony in the Jones case (Article 2) and abusing his office by making false and misleading statements to Congress (Article 4).

But on Feb. 12, 1999, by the end of the five-week Senate trial, Clinton was acquitted on both counts.

»MORE: Who are the major players in a Trump impeachment trial?

The Senate, then under Democratic control, found Clinton not guilty on perjury charges by a vote of 55-45. The Senate then deadlocked at 50-50 on obstruction charges. A two-thirds Senate majority is needed to remove a president from office.

Here’s how those 14 senators voted on Clinton’s impeachment:

Here’s how 13 currently seated senators voted on Clinton’s impeachment when they were serving in the House:

»MORE: What are articles of impeachment all about?

About the Author

Tim Darnell

More Stories