Video: 'Jan. 7, 1999: President Clinton's impeachment trial'

(Thursday, January 7, 1999, 10:00 a.m. EST; during the Impeachment of Bill Clinton) — In a hushed chamber under heavy security, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist opened the first presidential impeachment trial in 131 years today, swearing in senators to “do impartial justice” in judging whether President Bill Clinton should be removed from office for perjury and obstruction of justice.

Clinton, a Democrat, had been impeached Dec. 19, 1998, by a Republican-controlled House of Representatives, which recommended virtually along party lines that the Senate remove the nation’s 42nd President from office.

Clinton was only the second President in history to be impeached, after Andrew Johnson in 1868, and only the third against whom articles of impeachment had been brought before the full House for consideration (Richard Nixon resigned from the presidency in 1974, while an impeachment process against him was underway).

Video: 'Senate Session'