I did not have sexual relations with that woman. William Jefferson, Clinton, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors. You've been watching events never witnessed by anyone living. I thought, this is the most perilous moment we have faced. Willfully, provided perjurious, false, and misleading testimony. The White House is the bully bull pit, but it should never be occupied by a bully. Prevented, obstructed, and impeded justice. I asked her directly if she had had sexual relationships with the President. I probably blessed her giggled. The trade his trust as President. I never told anybody to lie. Not a single time. Never. The man had lied to me, to my face, and then sent me out to lie to you. That none of us is above the law as a bedrock principle of democracy. The question is not, should he stay? What if he stays? Is it the best thing for the country to remove this person from office? I put my head in my hands and I thought, just how much Which can this country take? This is easily the most important vote you will ever cast. Is the respondent, William Jefferson Clinton, guilty or not guilty?

Midway through President Bill Clinton's second term, 100 US senators gathered to determine if the 42nd President of the United States was guilty or not guilty of impeachable offenses. Their decision would either keep him in office or send him away in shame. The trial of William Jefferson Clinton was the first presidential impeachment trial in 130 years, only the second in US history. And it began then, just as the next one will, after months of posturing, threats, and dramatic gestures from the opposing sides. The result was a unique moment in time, shrouded in partisanship and steeped in history. We are awaiting a historic day that begins here. It was January seventh, 1999. They leave the House chamber in a somewhat solemn procession. And for these US members of Congress, it was a small walk with big significance. Coming across to the United States Senate. I thought this was going to be a real experience because House members just don't go on the Senate floor. House members were headed to the Senate floor because the US Constitution dictates that only House members can impeach a President, and only Senate senators can host an impeachment trial and vote to remove him.

It was a very big deal to be managing an impeachment trial. Then- congressman Bill McCollum had been named a House Manager for the trial, meaning he would help make the case against the President. Prosecution is actually done by members of the House of Representatives, House Managers, they're called. Back in 1999, there were 13 of them. Once on the Senate side... Sam will come, daughter. There was an official convening of the trial. Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye. All persons are commanded to keep silent on pain of imprisonment. While the House of Representatives is exhibiting to the Senate of the United States articles of impeachment against William Jefferson Clinton. The managers on the part of the House will be received and escorted to the well of the Senate. Then the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court was sworn in. Pleased to welcome you. Chief Justice William Requist presided because the Constitution states that when a President is impeached, the Chief Justice presides. You will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws. So happy to God. I do. Then he administered an oath to all 100 senators. Do you solumly swear? Who then proceeded to come up and sign an oath book.

It's all very formal, very dramatic. Mr. Feingold. When I took that oath, I thought, This is serious. This is a sacred oath under our nation's laws. And I felt that it was essential that I listen to the house managers and see if they had a case. Democratic Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin says he began the trial undecided and open-minded. I felt that was my absolute obligation. All the solennity and pageantry stood in stark contrast to the tawdryness that triggered the trial. A trial that not have happened without independent counsel, Kenneth Starr. Kenneth Starr was appointed to investigate Whitewater, which was a land deal in which the Clintons had invested and went bad. And there were questions about whether the Clintons exercised any improper influence. Over time, Starr's inquiry expanded to include smaller Clinton-era scandals. Ken Starr investigated Whitewater, Travelgate, Filegate. They never turned into a case against the President until... The President had had this issue with Paula Jones. Paula Jones was an Arkansas state employee who accused Clinton of sexually harassing her while he was governor. Paula Jones accused him of exposing himself to her in a hotel room, and it was a civil case.

And so there was the question of whether a President could actually waste his time, as it were, if you're his lawyer, that's what you thought, being sued in a civil case. And the courts decided that, in fact, he could. So the Paula Jones attorneys were going to depose Bill Clinton. And in doing so, federal judge said to them, You can look for a pattern of indiscretion. The ruling allowed the Jones lawyers to ask the President about a White House intern named Monica Lewinsky. And when he did give that deposition, he was asked about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, and in simple terms, he lied about it. I never had a sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky. I've never had an affair with her. Kemstar believed the President had perjured himself during the Jones deposition, a crime. These allegations are false. So he got permission from the Justice Department to question the President about it in front of a federal grand jury. Again, Mr. Clinton wasn't fully truthful, and that led to this. I will now read the articles of impeachment. House Resolution 611 resolved called that William Jefferson Clinton, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the United States Senate.

Article 1, William Jefferson Clinton willfully provided perjurious, false, and misleading testimony to the grand jury concerned. The strategy of the House managers was really very straightforward. Bill Clinton testified under oath. He lied. Lying under oath is a crime. That's a crime that is a high crime and misdemeanor under the Constitution. Article 2. In his conduct while President of the United States, William Jefferson Clinton has prevented, obstructed, and impeded the administration of justice. The House case against the President on obstruction of justice was based on the fact that he met with a number of people, seemed to be trying to make sure everybody's stories were on the same page. So there was an allegation, for example, well documented, that he met with his personal secretary, Betty Curry, and essentially was leading her. I was never alone with Monica, right? You were always there, right? But did any of the allegations against the President, even if true, amount to what the founders termed high crimes and misdemeanors? The phrase that is in the Constitution that provides for an impeachment and removal of the President is focused on abuse of governmental power. The purpose of the Impeachment Clause is not to punish presidents for past misconduct.

One of our arguments in the Clinton impeachment was, although President Clinton's conduct with Ms. Lewinsky might have been wrong and blameworthy and something that you could disapprove of intensely, There was no abuse of the presidential power. There's no threat to the country. We're getting very close. I think when people look back on it, they say, Oh, that was a partisan exercise in a foregone conclusion. That's wrong. It was not a foregone conclusion. Explosion at the beginning. It would have been remarkable if the dam had broken, but there were plenty of warning signs that it could happen. To happen, the house managers would need to sway 12 Democrats to get to 67. The two-thirds needed to remove a President from office. I really don't think any of the impeachment managers thought we were going to get the President removed from office and get 67 votes. Unless... The House is pushing for witnesses, though. We were hopeful we could persuade the Senate to let us have live witnesses. Live witnesses is the only way you could move the mood and the attitude and the convictions of the American public. And that's the only way you move the United States Senate.

The hope was alive because there was a lack of established rules. One of the important things to remember about impeachment trials in the Senate is that the Senate makes its own rules. Her arms will make the proclamation. Would there be live witnesses? Would there be open debate about the charges? Would there be closed debate? None of these things were terribly clear. So the senators decided to meet without cameras to hammer out the rules. Eventually, they agreed to some, but left the difficult issue of witnesses for down the road. Opening arguments would finally get underway a full week after first gaveling to order. The Senate will convene as a court of impeachment. Almighty God, we ask you for a special measure of wisdom for the women and men of this Senate as they act as jurors in this impeachment trial. Two days earlier, President Clinton sent Paula Jones an $850,000 check. It was part of a deal he made months earlier to settle the case without admitting wrongdoing. Up next, the House managers make their case. This is not about sex. This is about obstruction of justice. I think there was a feeling like, Boy, I hope our guys are ready for this.

Thursday, January 14th, 1999. Republican congressmen, the House Impeachment Managers began three days of arguments, laying out their case against President Bill Clinton. Every trial must have a beginning, and this trial begins on a cold day in January, 1993. Clinton's first inauguration. Would you please raise your right-hand and repeat after me, I, William Jefferson Clinton, do solemly swear. I, William Jefferson Clinton, do solemly swear. And as we progress throughout the day, I would ask that you would be reminded of the importance of this oath. An oath that house manager said President Clinton violated by lying to a grand jury and obstructing justice. Their arguments were not a surprise because the arguments had been the same in the house. Failure to bring President Clinton to account will cause a cancer to be present in our society for generations. For the staff, that first day was pretty rough. They laid out a pretty tough case, and I think there was a feeling like, Boy, I hope our guys are ready for this. Mr. Chief Justice, senators, I'm Assa Hutchinson, a member of Congress from the third Congressional district of Arkansas. Assa Hutchinson from President Clinton's home state. These acts of obstruction included attempts to improperly influence a witness in the civil rights case.

Lewinsky was deposed as part of the federal civil rights lawsuit brought by former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones. Jones alleged then-Governor Clinton had her transferred after she spurned his sexual advances. The procurement and filing of a false affidavit in the case. Representative Hutchinson took the senators through obstruction of justice allegations step by step, including President Clinton playing a role in his secretary, Betty Curry, retrieving and putting under her bed the gifts the President had given to Monica Lewinsky. After Lewinsky had received a subpoena from Paula Jones as attorneys requiring the gifts be produced as possible evidence. Betty Curry, a subordinate employee, would not engage in such activity on such a sensitive matter without the approval and direction of the President himself. She retrieved these items, and where does she place them? She hides them under her bed, significantly a place of concealment. I remember going into a break in the Democratic caucus, Cloak Room, and the new Senator, John Edwards, came over to me and said in his charming way, Russ, what do you think about how the House managers are doing? And I said, I think they're doing pretty well. And John said to me, so do I.

Listen to the President addressing the American people on the subject of his credibility. I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again. I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie. Not a single time. Never. Repeating the claim he'd made nine days earlier in his deposition for the Jones case. He just flat out denied it. And I said, Well, careful, careful, careful. He said relations. He didn't say sex. And so I remember that day just thinking, What the hell did that mean? When he lies to the country, he lied to me. I then repeated those lies to the country. That's a very big deal. When President Clinton was asked during his grand jury testimony, eight months later, how he could have sat silently at his earlier deposition while his attorney made the false statement that there is no sex of any kind in any manner, shape, or form, to Judge Wright, the President first said that he was not paying a great deal of attention to Mr. Bennett's comments. That statement is a complete a false statement, whether or not Mr. Bennett knew your relationship with Mr.

O'neill. The statement that there was no sex of any kind in any manner, shape or form, with the President. Was an utterly false statement. Is that right? It depends upon what the meaning of the word is. If he If is means is and never has been, that's one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement. If you had covered Bill Clinton for a long period of time, your alarms went off when he started playing tense games. There is no sexual relationship. What does that mean? Does that mean there was no or there is no? Does that mean today? Does that mean now? When that day's trial session ended, the house managers then took their case to the Court of Public Opinion. In an ideal world, that that would-If you're going to win the day, you have to communicate with the American public as well. And so the managers would be going on media in the evening and then doing late night work. The next day, congressman Bill McCollum addressed the senators. These impeachment proceedings aren't before you because of one or two lies about a sexual relationship. This is not about sex.

This is about obstruction of justice. There was a pattern of obstructing justice. You see, we had Monica Lewinsky at that point, very supportive of what we were doing. She was more than agreeable at that juncture. And so we know, coached her to do an affidavit that was false, that was submitted to the Paula Jones Court. Mccollum hammered home the point. He lied when he said he wasn't paying attention. He lied when he said he told Monica Lewinsky she should turn over the gifts, and He lied when he told the grand jury he only told the truth to his White House aides. You could see that he had planned to obstruct justice, tampering with witnesses, tampering with evidence, not just himself lying about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. On their third and final day, house managers urge senators to convict and remove President Clinton. But I would suggest to you, ladies and gentlemen in the Senate, that if you believe he's a perjurer, the obstructive justice in a civil rights lawsuit. The question is not, should he stay? What if he stays? The house managers had presented a very strong case against the President. I remember clearly being told by people at the White House, wow, that was good.

They were good. They were powerful. That was a great presentation. They sold it on television, and they had this moment of step back saying, Whoa, we need to worry about this, and we better be able to answer it. We were all a little worried because the house managers had done better than we thought they were going to do. Next. Dale Bumper just got up and said, essentially, Well, bulls. The President's defense. And when you hear somebody say, This is not about sex, it's about sex. Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye. On Tuesday, January 19th, just before 1:00 PM, President Bill Clinton's lawyers took on the House prosecutor's impeachment experiment case. They were the best lawyers in America. That was our team. So it's like you look up and you have the dream team here. I got LeBron James and James Harden and Russell Westbrook. Chuck Ruff was White House Counsel. He had a brilliant opening statement. Ruff opened on a humble note. There is no one who does not feel the weight of this moment. Then struck a harsher tone. The managers have constructed out of sealing wax and string and spiders webs, a theory that would lend to a series of otherwise innocuous, indeed exculpatory events, a dark and sinister cast.

It was perfect pitch. He managed to criticize the President for his behavior, but to put into context what the Senate was debating. You are free to criticize him, to find his personal conduct distasteful, but ask whether this is the moment when for the first time in our history, the actions of a President have so put at risk the government the framer has created that there is only one solution. Ruffet set the stage for the defense arguments, but that would have to wait until the next day. This night was reserved for the President's State of the Union address. The idea that the defense would open their arguments on the day of the State of the Union, I think to people on the outside would think, Oh, my God, that's the most bizarre thing. The President of the United States. Bizarre and nerve-wracking. Everyone wondered if the Come Back Kid could rise up from the impeachment scandal to address the nation. Thank you very much. Thank you. The President dove into that speech. This year, our deficit is projected to be $10 billion and heading lower. I've never seen him more engaged. We can unite a diverse people in freedom and mutual respect.

We are many. We must be He won. There is no way that Republicans could not stand up and applaud that along with Democrats. It was very important for the American public to see the Bill Clinton was still doing his job. The ratings, by the way, went up over time. People were like calling their friends saying, Hey, you got to check this out. Ladies and gentlemen, the state of our Union is strong. And to knock it out of the park, standing ovations during an impeachment trial. The next day, Clinton's dream team was back on deck. I thought we nailed it every day. Attorney Gregory Craig was the President's designated quarterback during the trial. Craig launched a point-by-point attack on the perjury charges against the President, arguing against the assertion that Clinton allowed his lawyer, Robert Bennett, to unknowingly make false statements to the judge in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case. House managers replayed a now infamous excerpt from Clinton's August 1998 grand jury appearance. The statement that there was no sex of any kind in any manner, shape, or form with President Clinton was an utterly false statement. Is that correct? It depends upon what the meaning of the word is.

You may find it frustrating. You may find it irritating when you watched him do this. But he is not committing perjury. He is committing the offense of nitpicking and arguing with the prosecutors. Craig rapped with a strongly-worded plea. If you convict and remove President Clinton on the basis of these allegations, no President of the United States will ever be safe from impeachment again, and it will happen. Deputy White House Counsel Sheryl Mills followed Craig. I thought it was a calculated decision to put Sheryl Mills on the team. The way he treated a young White House intern, to have a young woman attorney come in and fight for him was a critical part of the White House defense strategy. Mills argued against the house's obstruction of justice charges. One of those was that Clinton his secretary, Betty Curry, to retrieve the gifts he had given to Monica Lewinsky, trying to keep them out of the Paula Jones case. Why does she agree to hold the box of gifts for Ms. Lewinsky? Because she's a friend. And that is not obstruction of justice. Mills fought back on the House prosecutor's assertion that this was a civil rights case.

This President's record on civil rights, on women's rights, on all of our rights is unimpeachable. I can assure you that your decision to follow the facts and acquit this President will not shake the foundation of the House of Civil Rights. It was a home run. It was very powerful. At the end of the second day, the momentum had shifted entirely. The third and final day saw arguments from two more of the President's defense team. The presiding officer recognizes Mr. Counsel Kendall. They told you that they had painted a picture with circumstantial evidence. I think what they've, in fact, done is given you a Rorschach test. The final defense attorney was revered Senator Dale Bumpers. I know a lot of people thought you were rid of me once and for all. I went around in the White House and had made sure all the TVs were on, made sure all the young people were watching because Bumpers was from a different era. If you have difficulty because of an intense dislike of the President, rise above it. He is not the issue. He will be gone. You won't. His job was to just pull the reset lever.

The Republican argument had been, This is not about sex. And so Dale Bumpers just got up and said, Essentially, you know, bullshit. H. L. Minken said one time, When you hear somebody say, This is not about money, it's about money. And when you hear somebody say, This is not about sex, it's about sex. We are none of us perfect. But I can tell you this, the punishment of removing Bill Clinton from office would pale compared to the punishment he has already inflict on himself. It was a master class in summing up a legal case. Clinton's defense team had wrapped their case, and in Los Angeles, Monica Lewinsky boarded a plane headed to Washington. Coming up. But for the record, would you state your name once again? They knew it was How Mary time. The house definitely holds to the position that we should call witnesses. What would the witnesses add? The need for witnesses is so basic and fundamental to our truth a life-seeking system of justice in this country. We didn't know whether there were going to be live witnesses, whether there would be any witnesses. We're not afraid of witnesses, but we do want fairness.

The big uncertainty was Is Monica Lewinsky going to be a live witness? Is she going to be sitting there in the well of the Senate on national television, on global television, saying those things? I never expected to feel this way about him. And I'm not kidding And if that happened, would the Democrats stay with the President? Good morning, sir. We were worried, and we had reason to worry. Bird was the one that, in some ways, we were most worried about because he was the President's harshest critic. We want to very briefly intrude on the question and answer period here to bring you some news that we've just gotten. Friday, January 22nd. There's a statement we've received from US Senator Robert Bird, Democrat from West Virginia. Robert Bird, widely respected on both sides of the aisle, announced his plan to bring a vote to end the trial altogether. He says, Witnesses won't add anything. We really thought he would be the one Democrat who would support witnesses and might be the most likely Democrat to vote to remove. When he did that, it took away that hope altogether. But that didn't stop house managers from pursuing their star witness.

Monica, how do you feel about possibleI'm ready to testify. The day after Bird announced this plan, Lewinsky returned to Washington, ordered by a federal judge to meet with house managers. What will you be asking Monica? How long will you be in there? Congressman Ed Bryant, Bill McCollum, and Assa Hutchinson. How love you think it's going to take? I was in the pre-interview with Monica Lewinsky, which I will never forget. We agreed to meet on Sunday evening at the Mayflower in a suite. She came in there with about three lawyers, and I've never seen somebody more prepared. I must say she was charming. She was smart. She was very open. Here come the managers now. Bill McCollum is the one who is coming to the microphone to talk with us. I was the lead on this, so we went down and press availability was outside the Mayflower. I said very little. I just said we'd had a very good meeting with Monica Lewinsky. We found her to be a very personable and impressive young woman, and we found that she might be a very helpful witness to the Senate if she's called. The chair recognizes the Senator from West Virginia.

Mr. Chief Justice, I send a motion in writing to the desk. The following day, Senator Bird followed through on his plan. The Senator from West Virginia, Mr. Bird, moves that the impeachment proceedings against William Jefferson Clinton, President of the United States, be and the same are duly dismissed. Senators would not come to a vote on the motion that day, but the following afternoon, they would finally address the issue they had long been avoiding. We are now prepared to hear arguments regarding the subpoenaing of witnesses and the taking of their depositions. They first said, Well, show us your three most important witnesses. If we were going to have three witnesses, who would they be? The three people that the prosecutors would like to depose are, in fact, Vernon Jordan, Sydney Blumenthal, and Monica Lewinsky. They knew it was how Mary time, that if you were going to remove the President from office, the only way to do that was to just have a tornado moment. And that tornado moment would have been Monica Lewinsky sitting there as a live witness. Hours later, January 27th. The Senate will convene as a court of impeachment. Both motions came to a vote.

Up first, the motion to dismiss. On this vote, the yays are 44, the nays are 56. The motion is not agreed to. The trial mail would go on, but the vote count sent a powerful message on the state of play. I take very seriously. Senator Bird's motion showed that there was absolutely no way there were 67 votes to convict Clinton. But there was some good news for the prosecution, too. Witnesses. The Senate was voted no to dismiss this case, and yes to have these three witnesses. The sole crossover vote on both measures? The Democratic Senator from Wisconsin, Russ Feingold. Even in the events of the last few days-I thought if depositions could be taken, that would at least give us some opportunity to judge the credibility of the charges against the President, which included obstruction of justice. The senators decided that did not require live testimony. Instead, witness depositions would be videotaped and excerpts played on the Senate floor. Bob Franken, what's the significance of that? It's huge significance, actually, because this reenters drama into the Senate trial. For the record, would you state your name once again, your full name? Yes. Monica Simeil-Lewinsky. Monica Lewinsky had become one of the most famous people in the entire United States.

But no one had seen her give an interview, and so there was intense curiosity. The best of my memory-House prosecutors would play over a dozen exchanges from Lewinsky's deposition. Prior to being on the witness list, you both spoke about denying this relationship, if asked. Yes, that was discussed. Did the President ever tell Caution you that you had to tell the truth in an affidavit? Not that I recall. The key point about Lewinsky's testimony was not about her sexual relationship the President. The key point was, Clinton never told her to lie. He didn't discuss the content of my affidavit with me at all, ever. Once she said that didn't happen, that really made her value to the prosecution very small. It definitely undercut the argument that the President was involved in some major conspiracy or obstruction of justice. The testimonies of Jordan and Blumethal would prove even less impactful to the prosecution's case on obstruction. Was your assistance to Ms. Lewinsky, which you've described, in any way dependent upon her doing anything whatsoever in the Paula Jones case? No. The President never told you that he was not being truthful with you in that January 21st conversation about Monica Lewinsky.

He never spoke to me about that at all. I listened carefully, but the one that The most decisive for me was the deposition of Monica Lewinsky. The Monica Lewinsky deposition gave me the information I needed to know whether I really thought the President was intending to obstruct justice. Next. It was a surreal environment. The final vote. Mr. Abraham, guilty. Mr. Akaka, Mr. Akaka, not guilty. Almighty God, guide the senators today as they move closer to the completion of this impeachment trial and confront- February eighth, 1999, began with a prayer. Amen. As the Senate approach the end of the impeachment trial of President William Jefferson Clinton. The President is a spiritual, somewhat a religious person. I would say the first lady is a full-on religious person. So I think there are a lot of people in the building relying on their faith. Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye. Closing arguments would begin after noon. The chair recognizes Mr. Manager McCawla. First up, the Republican House Managers. At the outset of-I was very hopeful that maybe we would persuade one or two. It was the President that knew he had a dangerous relationship Ms. Lewinsky. There was a lot of unknowns as to how individual senators would vote.

So we were making the strongest case we could for each individual senator. An ordinary citizen who lies under oath four times to a grand jury is subject to substantial time in a federal prison. Here we are at the end of this very solemn exercise, and this was the last chance for the house managers to make their case. Will moral fortitude or political expediency rule the day? We weren't sure of the exact math at that moment. And my take always was never rule out a surprise trap door because we just walked through so many of them or walked into so many of them. He swore to God to tell the truth. And then he lied. While more than a half a dozen house managers came out swinging against President Clinton, one man came to his defense as he had the whole time, White House Counsel Charles Ruff. William Jefferson Clinton is not guilty of the charges that have been brought against him. By now, he no doubt knew there were not enough votes to convict his client, but he would leave nothing to chance. He did not commit perjury. He did not commit obstruction of justice.

He must not be removed from office. Thank you very much. The Republicans would get the last word. The White House is the bully bull pit, but it should never be occupied by a bully. There's an old Italian saying, says, You may dress the shepherd in silt. He will still smell of the goat. And then, I now move the doors for final deliberations be closed and ask consent that the Yeis and Nays be visiated. For the next three days, the very public process became very private. What's happening on the Senate floor behind closed doors? Well, first of all, the mood is a little bit more mellow because the TV lights are off. The White House certainly expects the President to be It was a surreal environment. There's not enough critical mass to convict the President, and yet you're still on pins and needles. They're behind closed doors. What are they doing? Is there something we don't know? Could something be happening? And so you're just waiting and waiting and waiting. We were getting regular reports, and the kinds of things that they were debating looked like it could open up some new avenues, and the President had lost his patience with it.

And according to press secretary Secretary Joe Lockhart, he was getting concerned. We could see the goal line, and all we had to do was not screw it up. And when they went into private session, 100 senators, there's a high probability that they could screw it up. They wouldn't know for sure until Friday, February 12th, when the vote finally began. This is a special report from CNN. The Senate is expected to once again open its doors to the public and vote on the two articles of impeachment. On the day of the Senate vote, we were obviously highly attuned to it. My sense of relief occurred when we finally started hearing the A's and N's. The Senate will be in order. There was no uncertainty left anymore. We were now going to have the vote, and the thing would be over. Vote guilty or not guilty. On the first article of impeachment, perjury. Senator, how say you? Mr. Abraham. Mr. Abraham, guilty. Mr. O'caca, Mr. Akaka, not guilty. 45 guilty and 55 not guilty, far short of the two-thirds or 67 votes needed to convict. The senator judges that the respondent, William Jefferson Clinton, President of the United States, is not guilty as charged in the first article of impeachment.

Article 2. William Jefferson Clinton. Obstruction of justice. Mr. Warner. Mr. Warner, guilty. Mr. Wellstone. Mr. Wellstone, not guilty. The final tally, 50 guilty and 50 not guilty. The galleries will be in order. Short again of the 67 votes needed for conviction. The Senate adjudges that the respondent William Jefferson Clinton, President of the United States, is not guilty, is charged in the second article of impeachment. Yes. Very happy. It was such a big moment. I think the Republicans and Democrats in the Senate felt that justice had been served. In fact, the vote attest to that, that it was a bipartisan result. There was a disappointment that there was not any one that crossed the aisle in terms of a Democrat voting for conviction. Like the sole Democrat, Senator Russ Feingold, who had crossed the aisle and voted with the Republicans not to dismiss the charges earlier, was now back in line with the Democrats. I think you can conclude that somebody has committed an offense against the country, that it is an impeachable offense, but you still don't believe it's appropriate for them to be removed from office because it could harm the country. And so that's what I did.

It was very somber and There was no celebration. The country should have never had to go through it, but it was a lot of pain. And it was up to the President to heal that pain and division. Clearly, the President is coming out into the Rose Garden here in about a minute. Test one, two, testing. One, two, three, four. I sat down with him and wrote a short statement for him. It just reflected where he was. He didn't try to shift the blame. I want to say again to the American people how profoundly sorry I am for what I said and did to trigger these events and the great burden they have imposed on the Congress and on the American people. He truly was sorry, and he truly did want to reconcile and move the country forward. We'll rededicate ourselves to the work of serving our nation and building our future to together. President Clinton walked away from that podium and back to the White House, impeached but not removed, left to serve out his remaining two years. His President presidency intact, but his legacy forever altered.