Video: 'President Clinton Deposition'

(Monday, August 17, 1998, scheduled for 1:00 p.m. EDT; during the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal) — Bill Clinton, who became the first U.S. president to testify as the subject of a grand jury investigation today, admitted that he had engaged in an “improper physical relationship” with Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern.

Clinton’s four-hour testimony from the White House on closed-circuit television capped a four-year probe by the independent counsel, Kenneth Starr, who had been named to investigate charges against the president and Mrs. Clinton relating to the Whitewater real estate venture in Arkansas, as well as suspected cronyism in the firing of White House travel-agency personnel.

In also examining allegations of sexual harassment against the president, Starr uncovered an affair between Clinton and Lewinsky.

That evening, after testifying, Clinton admitted in a live nationwide television appearance to having had “an inappropriate relationship” with Lewinsky. He said that he regretted having misled his wife, Hillary, and the American people when he denied having the affair.

He also said that he had given “legally accurate” answers in his testimony and that at no time had he asked anyone to “lie, hide or destroy evidence or to take any unlawful action.”

Starr’s voluminous report to Congress led to a move by the Republican-led House to impeach Clinton on charges of obstruction of justice and for having provided “perjurious, false and misleading testimony” to the grand jury.

While Democrats favored censure, Republicans claimed Clinton was unfit to hold office. In December 1998, despite a strong showing in the midterm elections by the Democrats, the House voted to impeach the president.

After a five-week trial, the Senate acquitted Clinton. Polls showed that while many people disapproved of Clinton’s lascivious conduct in the White House, most felt that it did not warrant his impeachment or resignation.