June 1995: Monica Lewinsky, 21, comes to the White House as
an unpaid intern in the office of Chief of Staff Leon Panetta.
November 1995: Lewinsky and President Bill Clinton begin a sexual relationship, according to audiotapes secretly recorded later by Linda Tripp.
December 1995: Lewinsky moves into a paid position in
the Office of Legislative Affairs, handling letters from members of Congress. She
frequently ferries mail to the Oval Office.
April 1996: Then-Deputy White House Chief of Staff Evelyn Lieberman transfers Lewinsky to a job as an assistant to Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon. Lieberman told The New York Times the move was due to "inappropriate and immature behavior" and inattention to work. At the Pentagon, Lewinsky meets Tripp, a career government worker.
Summer 1996: Lewinsky begins to tell fellow Pentagon
employee Linda Tripp of her alleged relationship with Clinton.
August 1997: Tripp encountered Kathleen Willey coming out of Oval Office "disheveled. Her face red and her lipstick was off." Willey later alleged that Clinton groped her. Clinton's lawyer, Bill Bennett said in the article that Linda Tripp is not to be believed.
Fall 1997: Tripp to begin taping conversations in which Lewinsky details her alleged affair with the president.
October 1997: Tripp meets with Newsweek's Michael Isikoff, Lucianne & Jonah Goldberg at Jonah's apartment in Washington, according to a Newsweek report. The Goldberg's listen to a tape of Tripp/Lewinsky conversations.
December 1997: Lewinsky leaves the Pentagon.
Dec. 8: Betty Currie, Clinton's personal secretary, asks presidential pal Vernon
Jordan to help Lewinsky find a job in New York.
Dec. 11: Lewinsky meets with Jordan and he refers her to several job leads.
Dec. 17: Lewinsky is subpoenaed by lawyers for Paula Jones, who is suing the
president on sexual harassment charges.
Dec. 28: Lewinsky makes her final visit to the White House, according to White House logs, and was signed in by Currie. Lewinsky reportedly met privately with Clinton and he allegedly encouraged her to be "evasive" in her answers in the Jones' lawsuit.
Jan. 7, 1998: Lewinsky files an affidavit in the Jones case in which she denies ever having a sexual relationship with President Clinton.
Jan. 9: Tripp delivers the tapes to her lawyer, Jim Moody.
Jan. 12: Linda Tripp contacts the office of Whitewater
Independent Counsel Ken Starr to talk about Lewinsky and the tapes she made of their
conversations. The tapes allegedly have Lewinsky detailing an affair with Clinton and
indicate that Clinton and Clinton friend Vernon Jordan told Lewinsky to lie about the
alleged affair under oath.
Jan. 13, 1998: Tripp, wired by FBI agents working with
Starr, meets with Lewinsky at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel bar in Pentagon City, Va., and
records their conversation.
Jan. 14, 1998: Lewinsky gives Tripp a document headed
"Points to make in an affidavit," coaching Tripp on what to tell Jones' lawyers
about Kathleen Willey, another former White House staffer. Willey recently had testified
about alleged unsolicited sexual advances made by the president in 1993.
Jan. 16, 1998: Starr contacts Attorney General Janet Reno to get permission to expand his probe. Reno agrees and submits the request to a panel of three federal judges. The judges agree to allow Starr to formally investigate the possibility of subornation of perjury and obstruction of justice in the Jones case. Tripp and Lewinsky meet again at the Ritz-Carlton. FBI agents and U.S. attorneys intercede and take Lewinsky to a hotel room, where they question her and offer her immunity. Lewinsky contacts her mother, Marcia Lewis, who travels down from New York City by train. Lewis contacts her ex-husband, who calls attorney William Ginsburg, a family friend. Ginsburg advises her not to accept the immunity deal until he learns more.
Jan. 17, 1998: Ginsburg flies to Washington to represent Lewinsky. Clinton gives his deposition in the Jones lawsuit, in which he denies having a sexual relationship with Lewinsky. Newsweek magazine decides not to run a story by investigative reporter Michael Isikoff on the Lewinsky tapes and the alleged affair.
Jan. 18: Clinton meets with Currie, compares his memory with hers on Lewinsky.
Jan. 19, 1998: Lewinsky's name surfaces in an Internet gossip column, the Drudge
Report, which mentions rumors that Newsweek had decided to delay publishing a piece on
Lewinsky and the alleged affair.
Jan. 21, 1998: Several news organizations report the
alleged sexual relationship between Lewinsky and Clinton. Clinton denies the allegations
as the scandal erupts.
Jan. 22, 1998:Clinton reiterates his denial of the relationship and says he
never urged Lewinsky to lie. Starr issues subpoenas for a number of people, as well as for
White House records. Starr also defends the expansion of his initial Whitewater
investigation. Jordan holds a press conference to flatly deny he told Lewinsky to lie.
Jordan also says that Lewinsky told him that she did not have a sexual relationship with
the president.
Jan. 23, 1998: Clinton assures his Cabinet of his
innocence. Judge Susan Webber Wright puts off "indefinitely" a deposition
Lewinsky was scheduled to give in the Jones lawsuit. Clinton's personal secretary, Betty
Currie, and other aides are subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury. Ginsburg
says Lewinsky is being "squeezed" by Starr and is now a target of the Whitewater
investigation.
Jan. 24, 1998: Clinton asks former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Harold
Ickes and former Commerce Secretary Mickey Kantor to return to the White House to help
deal with the controversy. Talks continue between Starr and attorneys for Lewinsky over a
possible immunity agreement.
Jan. 25, 1998: Ginsburg says Lewinsky will "tell all" in exchange for
immunity. Clinton political adviser James Carville says "a war" will be waged
between Clinton supporters and Kenneth Starr over Starr's investigation tactics.
Jan. 26, 1998: Clinton forcefully repeats his denial,
saying, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."
Ginsburg offers Starr a summary of what Lewinsky is prepared to say to the grand jury in
exchange for a grant of immunity from the prosecution.
Jan. 27, 1998: Jones' attorney, John Whitehead, answers
Starr's subpoena with several documents, possibly including Clinton's deposition in the
Jones suit. Currie testifies before the grand jury. First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton says
in a broadcast interview that a "vast right-wing conspiracy" is behind the
charges against her husband. A Portland, Ore., man, Andy Bleiler, alleges he had a
five-year affair with Lewinsky, and his lawyer promises to turn over documents and items
to Starr's investigators. Clinton delivers his State of the Union address, making no
mention of the scandal.
Jan. 29, 1998: The judge in the Paula Jones lawsuit rules that Monica Lewinsky
is "not essential to the core issues" of the Jones case, and has ordered that
all evidence related to Lewinsky be excluded from the Jones proceedings.
Jan. 31, 1998: Immunity discussions between Monica Lewinsky's attorney, William
Ginsburg, and Ken Starr's office appear stalled. Ginsburg says Lewinsky plans to go to
California in the coming week to visit her father.
Feb. 4, 1998: Word comes that Independent Counsel Ken Starr has rejected the
latest written statement by Monica Lewinsky's lawyers seeking immunity from prosecution
for her. Their on-again, off-again immunity discussions are off.
Feb. 5, 1998: Ken Starr says his inquiry is "moving very quickly and we've
made very significant progress."
Feb. 6, 1998: At a news conference, President Bill Clinton says he would never
consider resigning because of the accusations against him. "I would never walk away
from the people of this country and the trust they've placed in me," he says.
Feb. 10, 1998: Monica Lewinsky's mother, Marcia Lewis, appears before the grand
jury. Ken Starr and his investigators suspect Lewis was aware of her daughter's alleged
affair with President Bill Clinton.
Feb. 11, 1998: First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton predicts the allegations
against her husband "will slowly dissipate over time under the weight of its own
insubstantiality." A retired Secret Service uniformed guard, Lewis C. Fox, claims in
an interview he saw Monica Lewinsky come to the West Wing on weekends with documents she
said were for the president.
Feb. 18, 1998: One of President Bill Clinton's closest advisers, Bruce Lindsey,
spends the day before the Whitewater grand jury. The hearing is stopped briefly when
questions of executive privilege are raised.
Feb. 19, 1998: Ken Starr's chronology shows presidential friend Vernon Jordan
began seeking a private-sector job for Monica Lewinsky within 72 hours of her being listed
as a potential witness in the Paula Jones civil rights lawsuit against President Bill
Clinton.
Feb. 20, 1998: Lewinsky attorney Bill Ginsburg says the former intern met with
Vernon Jordan much earlier than was being reported.
Feb. 23, 1998: There is more legal wrangling over when Marcia Lewis, Lewinsky's mother, will resume her grand jury testimony. Her lawyer, Billy Martin, says she is "going through hell."
Feb. 25, 1998: White House lawyers are preparing legal briefs to defend the
administration's position that executive privilege should shield several of President Bill
Clinton's top aides from certain questions in the Lewinsky investigation.
Feb. 26, 1998: White House senior communications aide Sidney Blumenthal
testifies before the grand jury, answering questions about any role he may have played in
spreading negative information about investigators in Independent Counsel Ken Starr's
office. Fourteen Democrats in the House write Attorney General Janet Reno complaining
about subpoenas issued by Starr. A non-profit group that studies women in the workplace
says it will contribute $10,000 as seed money for a legal defense fund for Lewinsky.
Feb. 27, 1998: White House communications aide Sidney Blumenthal refused to
answer some of the questions posed before the grand jury, citing the controversy over
whether the independent counsel can force aides to testify about conversations they had
with the president.
March 3, 1998: Vernon Jordan Jr. testifies before the grand jury.
March 5, 1998: Lawyers for Monica Lewinsky battle with Ken Starr over whether
Lewinsky has a binding immunity agreement.
March 9, 1998: U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright rejects a request by Ms.
Jones' attorneys to include evidence of a Monica Lewinsky affair during a Jones trial.
March 10, 1998: Kathleen Willey, a former White House volunteer who accused the
president of fondling her, testifies before the grand jury for four hours.
March 11, 1998: The grand jury spends the day listening to audio recordings,
which sources say are tapes made by Linda Tripp of her conversations with Monica Lewinsky.
March 16, 1998: Clinton says "nothing improper"
happened when he was alone with Kathleen Willey, responding to her accusations aired in an
interview on "60 Minutes" the previous night. The White House releases letters
Willey sent to the president, signed "Fondly, Kathleen" in an effort to cast
doubt on her story.
March 17, 1998: The White House charges that Kathleen Willey tried to sell her
story to a book publisher for $300,000. Willey's attorney denies the charges. A friend of
Lewinsky and the presidential diarist give grand jury testimony.
March 18, 1998: Julie Steele's affidavit is released. In it she says she lied when she claimed Kathleen Willey had come to her house the night of the encounter and told her about it.
March 20, 1998: President Clinton decides to formally invoke executive privilege.
March 25, 1998: Marcia Lewis, Monica Lewinsky's mother, fails to persuade a
federal judge to excuse her from a third day of testimony. Starr subpoenas records from
Kramerbooks & Afterwords on Monica Lewinsky's purchases at the store. One of her
purchases was reportedly Nicholson Baker's "Vox," a novel about phone sex. Jodie
Torkelson testifies.
April 1, 1998: Judge Susan Webber Wright dismisses the Paula Jones case.
April 7, 1998: Presidential diarist Janis Kearney testifies before the grand
jury. Harolyn Cardozo, daughter of multimillionaire fund-raiser and Clinton pal Nate
Landow and a former White House intern, testifies before the grand jury. She is questioned
on Kathleen Willey's accusations of unwanted sexual advances made by the president.
April 9, 1998: A second White House steward is called to testify before the
grand jury in a supposed effort to learn of meetings between the president and Monica
Lewinsky.
April 14, 1998: Kenneth Starr files a sealed motion in U.S. District Court to
compel testimony of uniformed Secret Service agents, according to the Wall Street Journal.
April 16, 1998: Ken Starr withdraws from consideration for the deanship at
Pepperdine University Law School. Starr said an end to the Whitewater investigation
"was not yet in sight." Bernard Lewinsky lashes out at Kenneth Starr, calling
the treatment of his daughter "unconscionable." He also asks for help in paying
the former intern's legal bills.
April 18, 1998: U.S. News & World Report says retired Secret Service office Louis Fox testified before the grand jury that during a visit by Lewinsky to the White House in the fall of 1995, Clinton told him, "Close the door. She'll be in here for a while."
April 21, 1998: Former President George Bush weighs in, challenging Ken Starr's attempt to get Secret Service officers to testify before the grand jury.
April 28, 1998: Nancy Hernreich, director of Oval Office operations, testifies
for the sixth time in the Lewinsky investigation.
April 29, 1998: A federal judge rules that Monica Lewinsky does not have an
immunity agreement with Ken Starr.
April 30, 1998: In his first news conference since the Lewinsky scandal broke,
the president lashes out at Independent Counsel Ken Starr charging that he heads a
"hard, well-financed, vigorous effort" to undercut the president. Clinton
repeatedly declines to elaborate on his relationship with Lewinsky.
May 5, 1998: Federal Judge Norma Holloway Johnson rules against President
Clinton's claim of executive privilege. Clinton confidant Vernon Jordan testifies for a
third time before the grand jury.
May 6, 1998: Clinton's personal attorney, David Kendall, accuses Starr's office
of "flagrant leaks," citing a Fox News report that claimed information on
Clinton's executive-privilege decision came from the independent counsel's office.
May 8, 1998: Ken Starr and David Kendall quarrel over leaks of grand jury
information. Betty Currie testifies before the grand jury for the third time.
May 13, 1998: Ken Starr seeks contempt charges against David Kendall, the president's personal attorney. Starr accuses Kendall of leaking grand jury testimony.
May 14, 1998: Starr argues in federal court that there are no legal grounds for
Secret Service agents who guard the president to refuse to testify before the grand jury.
Betty Currie, the president's personal secretary, returns for her fourth appearance before
the grand jury testimony.
May 21, 1998: Walter Kaye, a retired insurance executive and prominent
Democratic contributor, testifies before the grand jury.
May 22, 1998: Federal Judge Norma Holloway Johnson ruled that the Secret Service
must testify before the grand jury in the Monica Lewinsky controversy.
May 27, 1998: Monica Lewinsky's lawyer, Bill Ginsburg writes an angry "open
letter" to Ken Starr which was published in "California Lawyer."
"Congratulations, Mr. Starr! As a result of your callous disregard for cherished
constitutional rights, you may have succeeded in unmasking a sexual relationship
between two consenting adults." It is reported that death threats were made against
Linda Tripp when the Lewinsky scandal first broke in January and she was moved to a safe
house.
May 28, 1998: Ken Starr asks the Supreme Court to expedite their ruling on
executive privilege. Monica Lewinsky gives handwriting and fingerprints samples to the FBI
at Ken Starr's request.
June 1, 1998: Clinton's defense team decides to drop the
appeal on the executive privilege ruling. But his lawyers will continue to argue for
attorney-client privilege to prevent close friend and aide Bruce Lindsey from answering
all of Ken Starr's questions.
June 2, 1998: The outspoken Bill Ginsburg is replaced as
Monica Lewinsky's lawyer with a team of experienced Washington litigators, Jacob Stein and
Plato Cacheris. The split was said to be by "mutual agreement."
June 5, 1998: Appeals court fast tracks attorney-client privilege dispute.
Federal Judge Norma Holloway Johnson rules that while Monica Lewinsky's book purchases did
have a bearing on her case, only Kramer Books -- and not Barnes & Noble -- would be
required to hand over records of her purchases.
June 8, 1998: The Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Ken Starr's attempts to access notes take by the lawyer of late White House deputy counsel Vince Foster nine days after the meeting in question. Foster's lawyer, James Hamilton argued the notes are covered by attorney-client privilege, but Starr's office said the privilege doesn't always extends past death.
June 9, 1998: Presidential friend Vernon Jordan testifies before Ken Starr's grand jury for the fifth time. Lewinsky's new lawyers say they are upset by her photo layout in Vanity Fair magazine.
June 10, 1998: Former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes appears
before the grand jury to testify about his involvement, if any, in the release of
information from Linda Tripp's personnel records.
June 15, 1998: Deputy White House Counsel Bruce Lindsey files an appeal of
federal Judge Norma Holloway Johnson's decision to deny him attorney-client privilege in
the Lewinsky case.
June 15, 1998: The publication of an article in the new magazine of media
criticism, Brill's Content, alleging that Ken Starr leaked information to the media leads
Judge Holloway to hold a private meeting with lawyers for both sides of the case to
investigate the charges. The magazine's editor and creator, Steven Brill, said Starr
admitted to the leaks in a 90-minute interview.
June 16, 1998: Ken Starr releases a 19-page attack on Brill's article, calling
the editor "reckless" and "irresponsible" for printing what he called
a misinterpretation of their interview.
June 18, 1998: Sources tell CNN that three FBI agents have testified in secret
affidavits that a plan to wire Monica Lewinsky and monitor her conversations did exist.
The secret testimony refutes Ken Starr's published denial of the plan, but does not
specify that the conversations Starr's prosecution wished to tape were with the president
or Vernon Jordan.
June 22, 1998: Kramer Books and lawyers for Monica Lewinsky strike a deal in which records of Lewinsky's purchases are submitted to Ken Starr's office by her lawyers and not the book store, thereby allowing the book store to maintain it stood up for the First Amendment.
June 22, 1998: CNN learns that Ken Starr may be willing to make an immunity deal
without requiring that Monica Lewinsky plead guilty to some charge against her if they
decide that she is cooperating fully with the prosecution.
June 25, 1998: The Supreme Court rules 6-3 that attorney-client privilege
extends beyond the grave, exempting Vince Foster's conversations with his lawyers from
being called as evidence in Ken Starr's presidential investigations.
June 25, 1998: White House communications aide Sidney Blumenthal testifies
before Ken Starr's grand jury for the third time. Blumenthal complains that Starr's
inquiry focused on what the White House was saying about his prosecution rather than
Blumenthal's conversations with the president.
June 26, 1998: Ken Starr presents arguments to a federal appeals court
requesting that Secret Service personnel be required to testify in the Lewinsky case.
Linda Tripp is called to appear before the grand jury on Tuesday, June 30.
June 29, 1998: Attorneys for Dale Young confirm that the Lewinsky family friend testified before the grand jury that Monica Lewinsky spoke to her of an intimate relationship between herself and President Clinton. According to Young's testimony, Lewinsky confided in her in 1996, detailing the limitations and rules Clinton had placed upon their relationship.
June 30, 1998: Linda Tripp appears before the grand jury
for her first day of testimony, accompanied by her children. She says that she did not
trick Monica Lewinsky when she taped conversations with her former friend.
July 1, 1998: Linda Tripp makes her second appearance before the grand jury,
during which the Lewinsky tapes may have been played.
July 7, 1998: Linda Tripp returns for her third day of testimony before the
grand jury, as the Maryland state's attorney opens investigations into Tripp's taping of
her conversations with Monica Lewinsky. The investigation is aimed at deciding whether
Tripp had broken Maryland state laws that require both parties in a conversation to
consent to be taped.
July 7, 1998: The U.S. Court of Appeals rules that Secret Service agents must
testify before the grand jury, upholding Judge Norma Holloway Johnson's earlier decision.
July 9, 1998: Monica Lewinsky announces she is prepared to cooperate in the
Maryland investigation into the legality of Linda Tripp's tapes of phone conversations as
Tripp appears before the grand jury for the fourth time.
July 14, 1998: Ken Starr subpoenas Larry Cockell, head of the president's
security detail. The Justice Department, backed by the Secret Service, requests a full
panel appeal of the Secret Service testimony decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals.
July 17, 1998: Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist denies an extension
of the temporary stay on Secret Service testimony. The subpoenaed Secret Service agents
appeared before the grand jury, although only three of them testify. Larry Cockell, who is
not one of the agents to testify, spends the afternoon waiting.
July 21, 1998: The U.S. Court of Appeals holds a hearing on alleged leaks of
grand jury information to the media by Ken Starr's office. The hearings center on Judge
Norma Holloway Johnson's secret sanctions against Starr and his subsequent appeal. The
sanctions would require Starr to turn over documents and other evidence related to the
alleged leaks.
July 25, 1998: Word emerges that Independent Counsel Ken Starr has served President Clinton with a subpoena that calls for his testimony before the Lewinsky grand jury next week. Negotiations are underway on the scope, timing and format of Clinton's testimony.
July 27, 1998: The U.S. Court of Appeals rules that attorney-client privilege does not protect presidential confidant Bruce Lindsey from answering all questions put to him before the Lewinsky grand jury.
July 28, 1998: In a dramatic breakthrough, lawyers for Lewinsky and Starr work out a full immunity agreement covering both Lewinsky and her parents, Marcia Lewis and Dr. Bernard Lewinsky.
July 29, 1998: President Bill Clinton agrees to testify voluntarily and Starr's
office withdraws the subpoena. Clinton's testimony is set for August 17 at the White
House.
July 30, 1998: Sources say that as part of her immunity agreement, Lewinsky has
handed over to prosecutors a dark blue dress that she alleges may contain physical
evidence of a sexual relationship with President Bill Clinton. The dress is turned over to
the FBI lab for testing.
August 6, 1998: Monica Lewinsky appears before the grand
jury to begin her testimony.
August 7, 1998: A federal appeals court lets an investigation of alleged news
leaks from Ken Starr's office continue.
August 11, 1998: Hollywood producer and Clinton friend Harry Thomason testifies
before the grand jury.
August 17, 1998: President Bill Clinton becomes the first
sitting president to testify before a grand jury investigating his conduct. After the
questioning at the White House is finished, Clinton goes on national TV to admit he had an
inappropriate relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
| Clinton's speech in its entirety (8-17-98) Windows Media 28K | 56K |
August 18, 1998: Former Clinton political advisor Dick Morris testifies before
the grand jury.
August 19, 1998: Word that Starr has requested and received a sample of
Clinton's DNA becomes public.
August 20, 1998: Monica Lewinsky testifies before the grand jury for a second
time.
September 9, 1998: Independent Counsel Ken Starr submits
his report and 18 boxes of supporting documents to the House of Representatives.
September 11, 1998: The House of Representative votes to receive the Starr
report. The House Judiciary Committee takes possession of the 18 boxes of materials and
promptly releases the first 445 pages to the public.
September 18, 1998: Over Democrats' objections, the House
Judiciary Committee agrees to release President Clinton's videotaped grand jury testimony
and more than 3,000 pages of supporting material from the Starr report, including sexually
explicit testimony from Monica Lewinsky.
September 21, 1998: The Judiciary Committee releases and
many television networks immediately broadcast more than four hours of President Clinton's
videotaped grand jury testimony. Along with the videotape, the Judiciary Committee also
releases the appendix to the Starr's report which includes 3,183 pages of testimony and
other evidence, including a photograph of Lewinsky's semen-stained dress.
September 24, 1998: The House Judiciary Committee announces the committee will
consider a resolution to begin an impeachment inquiry against President Clinton in an open
session on October 5 or October 6.
October 2, 1998: The House Judiciary Committee releases another 4,610 pages of
supporting material from Ken Starr's investigation, including transcripts of grand jury
testimony and transcripts of the Linda Tripp-Monica Lewinsky tapes.
October 5, 1998: On a 21-16 vote, the House Judiciary Committee recommends a full impeachment inquiry.
| Judiciary Committee impeachment debate, Rep. Robert Wexler (10-5-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Judiciary Committee impeachment debate, Rep. Bob Barr (10-5-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Judiciary Committee impeachment debate, Rep. Maxine Waters (10-5-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Judiciary Committee impeachment debate, Rep. Barney Frank (10-5-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Judiciary Committee opening statements on impeachment inquiry (10-5-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Chief Democratic Investigator presents case to Judiciary Committee (10-5-98) Windows Media28K | 56K |
| Chief GOP Investigator presents case to Judiciary Committee (10-5-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Judiciary Committee impeachment debate, Rep. Robert Wexler (10-5-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Judiciary Committee impeachment debate, Rep. Bob Barr (10-5-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Judiciary Committee impeachment debate, Rep. Maxine Waters (10-5-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Judiciary Committee impeachment debate, Rep. Barney Frank (10-5-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Judiciary Committee opening statements on impeachment inquiry (10-5-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
October 8, 1998: The House of Representatives authorizes a
wide-ranging impeachment inquiry of President Clinton on a 258-176 vote. Thirty-one
Democrats join Republicans in supporting the investigation.
October 28, 1998: In the final week of the 1998 campaign, Republicans shift gears and begin pummeling the Democrats in TV ads about Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky.
November 3, 1998: Democrats pick up five seats in the House
of Representatives in the midterm elections, and held off a Republican super-majority in
the Senate.
November 5, 1998: Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde sends a list of questions to President Clinton, asking him to "admit or deny" the major facts outlined in Independent Counsel Ken Starr's report to Congress.
November 9, 1998: A House subcommittee hears from legal experts on whether
President Clinton's behavior in the Lewinsky affair rises to the level of an impeachable
offense.
November 13, 1998: After fighting Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit for four
years, Clinton agreed to pay Jones $850,000 to drop the case. But the deal included no
apology from the president.
November 19, 1998: In a marathon session, Independent Counsel Ken Starr outlines his case against President Clinton before the House Judiciary Committee, saying Clinton repeatedly "chose deception." Democrats grill Starr about his investigative methods.
| RELATED MULTIMEDIA: |
| Ken Starr answers questions from Republican committee counsel David Schippers (11-19-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Ken Starr answers questions from attorney David Kendall (11-19-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Ken Starr answers questions from Congressman Bob Barr (11-19-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Democratic party investigator Abbe Lowell asks Starr about his interaction with Monica Lewinsky (11-19-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Democratic party investigator Abbe Lowell asks Starr about his interaction with Monica Lewinsky (11-19-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Democratic party investigator Abbe Lowell asks Starr about Linda Tripp's role (11-19-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Ken Starr answers questions from Congressman Barney Frank (11-19-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Ken Starr testifies before the House Judiciary Committee (11-19-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Chairman Henry Hyde's opening statement (11-19-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
November 28, 1998 Republicans express disappointment and outrage at what some describe as President Clinton's evasive and legalistic answers to the Judiciary Committee's questions.
December 1, 1998: On a party-line vote, the House Judiciary Committee expands its impeachment inquiry to include alleged campaign finance abuses, approving subpoenas for Attorney General Janet Reno, FBI Director Louis Freeh and federal prosecutor Charles LaBella.
December 3, 1998: After two staffers look at internal Justice Department memos, Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde tells Republicans that campaign fund-raising will not be part of the impeachment debate.
December 4, 1998: Lawyers for President Bill Clinton ask the House Judiciary Committee for three to four days to make their defense presentation.
December 6, 1998: President Clinton's attorneys are granted 30 hours over two
days to make his defense case before the Judiciary Committee.
December 8, 1998: In a daylong session, President Clinton's lawyers and three panels of witnesses testify on the president's behalf, saying Clinton's behavior does not warrant impeachment.
December 11, 1998: The House Judiciary Committee approves three articles of impeachment, alleging that President Clinton committed perjury and obstruction of justice. The action comes despite another apology from Clinton.
| RELATED MULTIMEDIA: |
| Clinton 'profoundly sorry,' ready to bear consequences (12-11-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Rep. Barney Frank argues against the charge of impeachment (12-11-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Democratic and Republican members debate semantics (12-11-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Rep. Robert Wexler's opening statement (12-11-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Ranking John Conyers' opening statement (12-11-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Chairman Henry Hyde's opening statement (12-11-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Rep. Lindsey Graham's opening statements (12-11-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Rep. Bob Barr's opening statements (12-11-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
| Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee's opening statements (12-11-98) Windows Media: 28K | 56K |
December 12, 1998: The House Judiciary Committee approves a fourth and final article of impeachment against President Clinton, accusing him of making false statements in his answers to written questions from Congress. A Democratic proposal to censure Clinton instead goes down to defeat.
December 15, 1998: In a blow to White House hopes, 11 moderate House Republicans
announce they will vote to impeach the president.
December 16, 1998: In a coordinated strike, U.S. and British forces attack Iraq in retaliation for its failure to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors. Because of the military action, House Republican leaders delay a planned impeachment debate and vote set to begin Thursday, December 17.
December 17, 1998: Republicans reschedule the impeachment debate for December 18
over Democratic objections. Republican Speaker-elect Bob Livingston is forced to admit his
own marital indiscretions, but says unlike President Clinton, they were not with a staff
member and he was never asked to testify under oath about them.
December 18, 1998: The House of Representatives engages in a fierce, daylong debate whether to impeach President Clinton. A CNN survey suggests there are enough votes to approve one or more articles of impeachment.
December 19, 1998: After 13 1/2 hours of debate over two days, the House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment, charging President Clinton with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. Clinton vows to fill out his term and appeals for a bipartisan compromise in the Senate.
January 5, 1999: Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott announces President Clinton's trial will begin January 7, but senators continue to wrangle over how long the trial should be and whether to call witnesses.
January 7, 1999: With ceremonial flourishes, the perjury
and obstruction of justice trial of President Bill Clinton begins in the Senate, with the
swearing in of Chief Justice William Rehnquist to preside and the senators as jurors.
January 8, 1999: The Senate unanimously agrees on a process
for continuing the trial, but puts off a decision on a key sticking point -- whether to
call witnesses.
January 11, 1999: President Clinton's defense team denies the charges against the president in a 13-page answer to a Senate summons. House prosecutors submit a pre-trial memo outlining their case.
January 13, 1999: President Clinton's lawyers file their pre-trial brief, outlining the case for the president's acquittal. Clinton tells reporters he wants to focus on the nation's business, not the trial. "They have their job to do in the Senate, and I have mine," Clinton says."And I intend to do it."
January 14, 1999: Thirteen House prosecutors begin a
three-day opening statement, laying out the case for the Senate to convict President
Clinton and remove him from office.
January 19, 1999: President Clinton's legal team begins a three-day defense of the president.
January 22, 1999: Senators begin two days of questioning of the prosecution and defense teams, passing written queries through Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
January 23, 1999: A judge orders Monica Lewinsky to
cooperate with House prosecutors; Lewinsky returns to Washington, D.C., from California.
January 24, 1999: Monica Lewinsky submits to a nearly two-hour interview with House prosecutors; they call the session "productive" but Lewinsky's lawyer says it added nothing new to the record.
January 25, 1999: Senators hear arguments about dismissing the charges against President Clinton and then deliberate in secret.
January 26, 1999: Senators hear arguments about seeking depositions from three witnesses -- Monica Lewinsky, Vernon Jordan and Sidney Blumenthal -- and then deliberate in secret.
January 27, 1999: In twin, 56-44 votes, the Senate refuses to dismiss the charges against President Clinton and agrees to seek depositions from Monica Lewinsky, Vernon Jordan and Sidney Blumenthal.
January 28, 1999: In a party-line vote, the Senate OKs a Republican plan for the impeachment trial's deposition phase, and sets February 12 as a target date for the trial's end.
February 1, 1999: House prosecutors question Monica
Lewinsky in a closed-door deposition; Clinton's lawyer reads a statement to her expressing
the president's "regret" over what Lewinsky has gone through, but asks no
questions.
February 2, 1999: House prosecutors question presidential
friend Vernon Jordan for three hours in a closed-door deposition.
February 3, 1999: House prosecutors question White House aide Sidney Blumenthal in a closed-door deposition.
February 4, 1999: On a 70-30 vote, the Senate decides not to call Monica Lewinsky to testify in person at the trial, but clears the way for House prosecutors to present excerpts of videotaped depositions.
February 6, 1999: Americans get a chance to see and hear Monica Lewinsky as House prosecutors and White House lawyers play video excerpts of her testimony in their final summations.
February 8, 1999: House prosecutors and Clinton's lawyer
offer closing arguments.
February 9, 1999: Senate begins closed-door deliberations on President Clinton's fate, after rejecting a "sunshine" proposal to open the proceedings to the public.
February 12, 1999: President Clinton is acquitted of the two articles of impeachment. Rejecting the first charge of perjury, 10 Republicans and all 45 Democrats vote "not guilty." On the charge of obstruction of justice, the Senate is split 50-50. Afterward, Clinton says he is "profoundly sorry" for the burden he imposed on the Congress and the American people.
March 18, 1999: Deputy Independent Counsel Hickman Ewing testifies at the Susan McDougal trial that he had written a "rough draft indictment" of first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton after he doubted her truthfulness in a deposition.
April 12, 1999: U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright finds President Bill Clinton in civil contempt of court for his "willful failure" to obey her repeated orders to testify truthfully in the Paula Jones case. Wright also orders Clinton to pay Jones "any reasonable expenses including attorneys' fees caused by his willful failure to obey this court's discovery orders," directing Jones' lawyers to submit an accounting of their expenses and fees. She also rules Clinton must reimburse the court $1,202 for the judge's travel expenses. Wright traveled to Washington at Clinton's request to preside over what she now calls "his tainted deposition."
June 30, 1999: At the stroke of midnight, the Independent Counsel law expires. But Independent Counsel Ken Starr says there are still two ongoing aspects of his investigation.
July 29, 1999: U.S. District Court Judge Susan Webber Wright orders President Bill Clinton to pay $90,686 for giving false testimony in the civil sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him by Paula Jones.
August 18, 1999: The federal court panel that appointed Independent Counsel Ken Starr splits over whether to end the five-year independent counsel investigation, voting 2-1 to keep it alive. Judge Richard D. Cudahy dissents from his fellow judges, saying that with President Bill Clinton already impeached and acquitted, and no prosecutions pending against others, "this is a natural and logical point for termination." CNN also learns that Starr has been involved in "theoretical discussions" about stepping aside as independent counsel.
October 18, 1999: Robert Ray is sworn in as the successor
to Independent Counsel Ken Starr, inheriting a highly controversial investigation and the
duty to write the special prosecutor's final report.
March 13, 2000: Whitewater Independent Counsel Robert Ray begins filing a series of final reports that detail the office's six-year investigation of President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.
March 16, 2000: Independent Counsel Robert Ray's office files a report stating there is "no substantial and credible evidence" that President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton sought confidential FBI background checks of former GOP White House personnel.
April 24, 2000: CNN learns that in the previous week Independent Counsel Robert Ray has subpoenaed records from the National Archives in an attempt to determine whether the White House deliberately withheld electronic mail messages in an attempt to stymie investigations pertaining to the Monica Lewinsky affair and other Clinton Administration controversies.
June 30, 2000: An Arkansas Supreme Court panel files suit to strip Bill Clinton of his license to practice law. The Arkansas State Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct recommended in May that Clinton's Arkansas law license be withdrawn, in the wake of accusations he gave misleading testimony under oath in the Paula Jones case. Clinton has 30 days to respond.
July 13, 2000: Charles Bakaly, the former spokesman for then Independent Counsel Ken Starr, goes to trial on charges that he misled a judge about news leaks during the Monica Lewinsky investigation.
July 28, 2000: The final report on the so-called "filegate" scandal is unsealed by a federal appeals court, and Whitewater Independent Counsel Robert Ray said the report shows no evidence of misconduct by first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton or former White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum.
August 17, 2000: CNN learns that in July Independent Counsel Robert Ray impaneled a new grand jury as part of an investigation into the scandal involving President Bill Clinton and former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.