1978: NOAA announces gender-neutral hurricane naming system
Federal News Network presents a daily update of important moments in the history of the U.S. government.
Almost 21 years ago to the day before the House voted to impeach President Donald Trump, President Bill Clinton became the second U.S. president to be impeached on Dec. 19, 1998. After nearly 14 hours of debate, the House approved two articles of impeachment against Clinton, charging him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. In November 1995, Clinton began an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a 21-year-old unpaid intern, which lasted for a year and a half. In April 1996, Lewinsky was transferred to the Pentagon and that summer, she first confided in co-worker Linda Tripp about her sexual relationship with the president. In 1997, with the relationship over, Tripp began secretly to record conversations with Lewinsky, in which Lewinsky gave Tripp details about the affair. In December, lawyers for Paula Jones, who was suing the president on sexual harassment charges, subpoenaed Lewinsky. In January 1998, allegedly under the recommendation of the president, Lewinsky filed an affidavit in which she denied ever having had a sexual relationship with him. Tripp, wired by FBI agents working with Kenneth Starr, the Whitewater independent counsel, met with Lewinsky again, and on Jan. 16 Lewinsky was taken by FBI agents and U.S. attorneys to a hotel room where she was questioned and offered immunity if she cooperated with the prosecution. A few days later, the story broke, and Clinton publicly denied the allegations, saying, “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky.” On Sept. 9, Starr submitted his report and 18 boxes of supporting documents to the House, which were released to the public two days later. On Dec. 11, the House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment and eight days later the House impeached Clinton.
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