December 19, 1998: President Bill Clinton Is Impeached

December 19, 1998: President Bill Clinton is impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives. He will go on trial before the U.S. Senate.

There were 4 Articles of Impeachment drawn up by the House's Committee on the Judiciary, and 2 of them passed the full House:

* Perjury before a grand jury: 228 Yea, 206 Nay. All but 5 Republicans voted for it: Amo Houghton and Peter King of New York, Connie Morella of Maryland, Chris Shays of Connecticut, and Mark Souder of Indiana. All but 5 Democrats voted against it: Ralph Hall and Charles Stenholm of Texas, Virgil Goode of Virginia, Paul McHale of Pennsylvania, and Gene Taylor of Mississippi.

* Obstruction of Justice: 221 Yea, 212 Nay. The same 5 Democrats voted for it. The same 5 Republicans voted against it, and so did Sherwood Boehlert of New York, Mike Castle of Delaware, Phil English and John McHugh of Pennsylvania, Nancy Johnson of Connecticut, Jay Kim of California, Jim Leach of Iowa, and Ralph Regula of Ohio.

* Perjury before a deposition: 229 Nay, 205 Yea, so this one failed.

* Abuse of Power: 285 Nay, 148 Yea. Taylor was the only Democrat to vote for this one, and 81 Republicans voted against it, so this one never had a chance.

The case was based on Clinton's attempt to hide the fact that he had an extramarital relationship with Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern. It had nothing to do with using the power of his office to commit election fraud, as was the case with Richard Nixon, who resigned in 1974 before the full House could vote on Articles of Impeachment; and with Donald Trump, who was impeached in 2019 and acquitted early the next year.

On February 12, 1999, with 2/3rds of the Senate, 67 out of 100, required to vote "Guilty" in order to remove him from office, Clinton was acquitted. The vote was 55-45 "Not Guilty" on perjury, and a 50-50 split on obstruction of justice.

The evidence against Clinton was so ridiculous, the Republicans, who held the majority, could not get a majority, 51 votes, to say that he had done it. Surely, there were some Senators who knew he was innocent, but voted "Guilty" anyway, because, like the leaders of the impeachment movement in the House, they hated him so much.

UPDATE: Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who voted to impeach Clinton in the House and, as a newly-elected Senator, voted to convict him in the Senate, died on July 11, 2026. As of that date, of the 228 Congressmen who voted to impeach Clinton on at least 1 count, 5 are still serving in the House, 28 years later: Robert Aderholt of Alabama, Ken Calvert of California, Hal Rogers of Kentucky, Chris Smith of New Jersey, and Frank Lucas of Oklahoma. And 3 of them now serve in the U.S. Senate: John Thune of South Dakota, Jerry Moran of Kansas and Mike Crapo of Idaho. (That's pronounced CRAY-poh, although I wouldn't blame you if you thought it was CRAP-oh.)

They all stand by their votes to impeach Clinton, and not to do the same for Trump. The hypocrites.

*

December 19, 1998 was a Saturday. It was the off-season for baseball. There were no games played in the NBA, as the team owners had locked out the players, and they continued to do so until a new Collective Bargaining Agreement was accepted on January 20, 1999.

But there were 2 NFL games played, and one involved one of the New York teams. The New York Jets beat the Buffalo Bills, 17-10 at what was then named Ralph Wilson Stadium in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York. (UPDATE: As of March 29, 2021, it is named Highmark Stadium.) The Jets thus clinched the AFC Eastern Division Championship, for the 1st time since the Division began play in 1970.

In the other game, the team then known as the Washington Redskins beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 20-16 at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland. (The stadium would soon be renamed FedEx Field.)

There was also a college football bowl game played that day, the Las Vegas Bowl, at Sam Boyd Stadium, home field of UNLV. North Carolina beat San Diego State, 20-13.

There were 10 NHL games played that day: 

* The New Jersey Devils played he Montreal Canadiens to a tie, 1-1 at the Molson Centre in Montreal. (It's now the Bell Centre.)

* The New York Rangers lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 7-4 in one of the last games played at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. (The last would be on February 13, 1999, the day after Clinton's acquittal.)

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-1 at the First Union Center in Philadelphia. (It's now the Xfinity Mobile Arena.)

* The Boston Bruins beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-1 at the FleetCenter in Boston. (It's now the TD Garden.)

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 at the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo. (It's now the KeyBank Center.)

* The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Washington Capitals, 3-0 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers, 3-1 at the National Car Rental Center in the Miami suburb of Sunrise, Florida. (It's now the Amerant Bank Center.)

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Los Angeles Kings, 5-2 at the Kiel Center in St. Louis. (It's now the Enterprise Center.)

* The San Jose Sharks beat the Colorado Avalanche, 2-1 at the San Jose Arena. (It's now the SAP Center.)

* And the Nashville Predators beat the Vancouver Canucks, 6-4 at General Motors Place in Vancouver. (It's now the Rogers Arena.)

November 3, 1998: The Voters Tell the Republicans to Leave President Clinton Alone

November 3, 1998: The Republican Party was counting on this Election Day, to send a message to the leader of the Democratic Party, President Bill Clinton: Resign, because the people are against you. If you don't, we will impeach you in the U.S. House of Representatives, and convict you in a trial in the U.S. Senate.

There was reason to believe it would work out that way. Clinton had fallen into an ugly scandal, due to how he covered up his extramarital affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky. They had spent almost the entire calendar year telling the country how the President was "immoral," while they, the Republicans -- the Party of Watergate and Iran-Contra -- stood for the Constitution of the United States and "the rule of law."

In addition, this was Year 6 of Clinton's Presidency. Off-year Congressional elections are usually bad for the Party in the White House, and Year 6 elections have, historically, been even worse than Year 2 elections. In the 20th Century, Year 6 elections were bad for Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, for the Administration of FDR and Harry Truman in 1946 if you count FDR's 3rd election in 1940 as a restart, For Truman in 1950, for Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1958, for the Administration of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966, for the Administration of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford in 1974, and for Ronald Reagan in 1986.

So the idea that the Republicans, already in control of both houses of Congress, would increase their numbers at such a level to make it overwhelming for Clinton was strong.

Instead, the voters heard Clinton's self-defense -- claiming that it was a private matter, that no laws were broken, and that it was nobody's business but his and his family's -- and saw that Clinton was actually doing a very good job as President, and bucked the Year 6 trend. The Democrats actually gained 5 seats in the House, and broke even in the Senate.

Among the new Senators elected were Democrats Chuck Schumer of New York (a "promoted" Congressman who beat 3-term incumbent "Senator Pothole" Al D'Amato), Evan Bayh of Indiana (the outgoing Governor and the son of former Senator Birch Bayh) and John Edwards of North Carolina; and Republicans Jim Bunning of Kentucky (a promoted Congressman and a pitcher in the Baseball Hall of Fame) and George Voinovich of Ohio (a former Governor and Mayor of Cleveland).

This was a stunning result, and it sent a message not to the Democrats in general, or to Clinton in particular, but to the Republicans: The President is doing a great job, and his private life is just that, private, so leave him alone.

Did the Republicans listen? No: They doubled down, and impeached him, anyway. But they didn't come close to convicting him in the Senate, and he served out his term.

One other note: In Wisconsin, Republican Paul Ryan became the 1st person born after I was elected to Congress. The Republicans nominated him for Vice President under Mitt Romney in 2012, and in no way can Romney's loss be blamed on Ryan. He was Speaker of the House in the 2015-16 and 2017-18 terms, before resigning.

*

November 3, 1998 was, like all modern American Election Days, a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. And the NBA team owners had locked the players out, so the new season was not able to start on time.

There were 4 games in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils beat their arch-rivals, the New York Rangers, 3-1 at the Continental Airlines Arena at the Meadowlands.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Boston Bruins, 4-2 at the Marine Midland Arena (now the KeyBank Center) in Buffalo.

* The Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins, intra-State rivals, played to a tie, 4-4 at the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh.

* And the Calgary Flames beat the Detroit Red Wings, 5-2 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

August 17, 1998: Bill Clinton vs. Kenneth Starr

Time magazine's end of the year cover,

showing both men as Men of the Year

August 17, 1998: Special Counsel Kenneth Starr has been gunning for President Bill Clinton for 4 years, and he thinks he's finally got him, forcing him to go under oath and testify about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Republicans think they can now impeach him and remove him from office, due to perjury and obstruction of justice.

On February 7, still in the early stages of the scandal, he was at a White House press conference with Prime Minister Tony Blair of Great Britain, and a reporter asked him, "At what point do you consider that it's just not worth it, and do you consider resigning?" Defiantly, and seemingly definitively, Clinton said, "Never. I'm going to keep showing up for work. I'm going to do what I was hired to do."

But things had gotten worse, and on August 17, Clinton testified to Starr at the White House. That night, Clinton gave a nationally-televised speech. The word I used to describe his facial expression just before he began was "grim." My first memory of any President was of Richard Nixon announcing his resignation on August 8, 1974, when I was 4 years old. I watched that speech with my father. We watched this one together, too, and we both thought Clinton might actually resign, and turn the Presidency over to Vice President Al Gore.

Instead, he explained what happened, and was regretful over the relationship; but as to the charges against him, he was defiant: He denied committing any crimes, and said of himself and his family, "It's nobody's business but ours."

And people got it: His approval rating actually went up. Once again, the man who called himself "The Comeback Kid" during his 1992 campaign proved he was at his best with his back to the wall.

Starr soon presented his report to Congress. The House of Representatives drew up 4 Articles of Impeachment against Clinton, but the evidence was shaky, and they could only approve 2 of them. Still, they were approved, and Clinton was only the 2nd President, after Andrew Johnson in 1868, to be impeached. (Nixon would have been impeached, had he not resigned first.) In reflection of the fact that, between them, they had both been the drivers of the biggest news story of the calendar year, Time magazine named Clinton and Starr as joint Men of the Year for 1998.

In the ensuing Senate trial, Clinton was acquitted on both charges. In January 2001, in the final days of his Presidency, Clinton made a deal with Starr, temporarily forfeiting his law license to avoid prosecution -- not because he thought he might be convicted, because he almost certainly wouldn't have been, but because he simply wanted to put an end to it, and, forced out of office not by his conduct or any punishment for it, but by the 2-term limit of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, he would escape with a comparatively minor penalty.

In hindsight, it might have been better if Clinton had done what Vice President Spiro Agnew  had done in 1973: Make a deal with the prosecutor, and resign his office in exchange for a minor penalty. If he had done that, the Republicans would have immediately gloated that they had "beaten" him, getting revenge for Nixon being forced out 24 years earlier.

But it would also have made Gore the incumbent President, probably boosted Democratic turnout in the elections that November (the Democrats did remarkably well for a midterm election, especially a "Year 6 election"). And Gore would have gotten the benefit of the last 2 years of the Clinton economy, and, with all the advantages of incumbency, instead of only the disadvantages of it as he actually got, would have been elected to a full term in 2000.

He would have refused tax cuts for the wealthy, preventing the 2001-04 recession. He would have read his Presidential Daily Briefing, and could have stopped the 9/11 attacks. He could have kept Clinton's environmental policies in place. And he would never have gone to war for oil in Iraq.

Resigning in August 1998 would have ruined Clinton's reputation, but America and many other countries would have been better off in the end. It would, literally, have made all the difference in the world.

In 2007, Starr joined the legal defense team for accused pedophile-ring runner Jeffrey Epstein, proving himself a hypocrite on the issue of sexual misdeeds. In 2010, Starr was appointed President of Baylor University, a Baptist school in Waco, Texas. He resigned in 2016, because he had done exactly what he tried to accuse Clinton of doing: He covered up a sex scandal -- not as a result of his own misdeeds.

In 2020, he was part of Donald Trump's defense team during his 1st impeachment trial, proving that he was a man who put ideology over country.

UPDATE: Ken Starr died on September 13, 2022, 27 days after this post. His reputation was in ashes. Bill Clinton is remembered as one of America's better Presidents, despite having a sex problem.

*

August 17, 1998 was a Monday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. David Cone, pitching in his hometown against his former team, was the winning pitcher. Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez and Tim Raines hit home runs.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Houston Astros, 4-0 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Paul Byrd pitched a 4-hit shutout.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-2 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Cal Ripken Jr. went 3-for-4.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 4-3 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Montreal Expos, 6-1 at Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) in Phoenix.

* The Anaheim Angels beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-2 at Edison International Field of Anaheim (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Oakland Athletics, 4-2 at the Oakland Coliseum (then named the Network Associates Coliseum). Rickey Henderson went 1-for-3 with 2 walks and 2 stolen bases.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Detroit Tigers, 3-1 at the Kingdome in Seattle. Ken Griffey Jr. went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs.

February 12, 1999: President Bill Clinton Is Acquitted

February 12, 1999: President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the U.S. Senate in an Impeachment trial.

There were 4 Articles of Impeachment drawn up by the House's Committee on the Judiciary, and 2 of them passed the full House, with a 2/3rds' majority, of the Senate, 67 out of 100, required to vote "Guilty" in order to remove him from office:

* Perjury before a grand jury: 55 Nay, 45 Yea. All Democrats voted Nay. Republicans voting Nay: Ted Stevens of Alaska, Richard Shelby of Alabama, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, John Chafee of Rhode Island, Fred Thompson of Tennessee, Jim Jeffords of Vermont, John Warner of Virginia, and Slade Gorton of Washington. 

Specter had been a Democrat until switching parties as a young prosecutor in 1965, and would switch back in 2009. Shelby had been a Democrat until 1994, when the Republicans won the Congressional majority, and he cowardly joined them. Chafee died later in the year, and was succeeded by his son, Lincoln Chafee, who later switched parties. Jeffords switched parties in 2001.

* Obstruction of Justice: 50 Yea, 50 Nay. All Democrats voted Nay. This time, Stevens, Shelby, Thompson, Warner and Gorton voted to convict, while the other Republicans stayed consistent.

The case was based on Clinton's attempt to hide the fact that he had an extramarital relationship with Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern. It had nothing to do with using the power of his office to commit election fraud, as was the case with Richard Nixon, who resigned in 1974 before the full House could vote on Articles of Impeachment; and with Donald Trump, who was impeached in 2019 and acquitted early the next year.

The evidence against Clinton was so ridiculous, the Republicans, who held the majority, could not get a majority, 51 votes, to say that he had done it. Surely, there were some Senators who knew he was innocent, but voted "Guilty" anyway, because, like the leaders of the impeachment movement in the House, they hated him so much.

And yet, with Speaker Newt Gingrich having resigned before the impeachment, once the trial was over, things calmed down considerably. Over the last 2 years of Clinton's Administration, the White House and the Congress worked together much better, got some things done, and kept the good economy going. It can be argued that, by the end of the year, decade, century and millennium, America had never been in better shape. Maybe, it still hasn't.

UPDATE: As of February 12, 2026, of the 50 Republican Senators who voted "Guilty" on at least 1 Article of Impeachment, 3 are still serving in the Senate, 23 years later: Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and 1 who had been elected to the Senate just before the Impeachment vote, and thus voted to both successfully impeach Clinton in the House and unsuccessfully convict him in the Senate: Mike Crapo of Idaho. (And that's pronounced KRAY-poh, not CRAP-o, although confusion would be understandable.)

*

February 12, 1999 was a Friday. It was the off-season for both baseball and football. There were 3 games played in the NBA that night, none involving the Knicks or the Nets:

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 98-94 at the First Union Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia. Allen Iverson, in a losing cause, led all the day's scorer with 46 points.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Dallas Mavericks, 100-94 at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver.

* And the Utah Jazz beat the Golden State Warriors, 97-81 at the The Arena in Oakland. (The building at the Oakland Coliseum complex is now named simply the Oakland Arena.) Karl Malone scored 35 for the Jazz.

There were 6 NHL games played, and all 3 New York Tri-State Area teams were in action -- but all lost:

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Washington Capitals, 3-2 at the Continental Airlines Arena. The now-dormant building at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, Bergen County, New Jersey is now officially named simply the Meadowlands Arena. Lyle Odelein and Denis Pederson scored in a losing effort for the Meadowlands Marauders.

* The New York Rangers lost to the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-1 at Madison Square Garden. Brian Leetch scored the only goal for the Broadway Blueshirts

* The New York Islanders lost to the Nashville Predators, 2-1 at the Nassau Coliseum. Trevor Linden opened the scoring for the Isles, but the 1st-year expansion side took over the game after that.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 2-1 at the United Center in Chicago.

* The Calgary Flames beat the Boston Bruins, 4-3 at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* And the Dallas Stars beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 3-2 at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, in the suburbs of Los Angeles. 

January 21, 1998: The Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal Begins

January 21, 1998: The Washington Post prints a story that, from late 1995 to early 1997, President Bill Clinton had an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern, 22 years old at the time it began, and used the power of his office to cover it up, in the hope the general public wouldn't find out.

Five days later, after many calls for his resignation or impeachment, Clinton made a very firm denial: "I want to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never asked anybody to lie, not a single time, never. These allegations are false, and I need to get back to work for the American people."

Nevertheless, Kenneth Starr, who had been appointed as a Special Prosecutor to investigate Clinton's pre-Presidential activities in the Whitewater housing development in his native Arkansas, had expanded his investigation into Clinton's personal life, which was, by the definition of his office, none of his damn business.

He seemed particularly interested in a charge of sexual harassment made by an Arkansas woman, Paula Jones. One thing led to another, and Lewinsky's name came up. Ironically, part of the charge Jones made was that Clinton's dick had what was listed in Starr's report as "a distinguishing characteristic." Lewinsky never mentioned it. Therefore, either she forgot a detail that would have enhanced her credibility, or she was lying, or said characteristic did not exist, which would mean that Jones was lying. By definition, Jones and Lewinsky could not have both been telling the truth. Of course, that also meant that one of them was.

Five days after the scandal broke, on January 26, Clinton gives a press conference in preparation for the next day’s State of the Union Address. That morning’s Washington Post included a column by James Glassman – “Liberal media”? Yeah, surrrre – recommending that Clinton begin the speech with, “My fellow Americans: The State of our Union is strong, but the state of the Presidency is not,” and resign.

He would have none of it, and angrily denied not only the nature of the relationship, but also the most serious of charges, the one that actually could have ended his Presidency before the 2-term limit had it been true. Wagging his finger at the media, and pounding his fist on the podium at the same time, he said:

I want to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never asked anybody to lie. Not a single time. Never. And I have to get back to work for the American people.

It was about as believable as Richard Nixon's 1973 statement, "I am not a crook." About 24 hours later, interviewed on The Today Show on NBC, First Lady Hillary Clinton said, "There is this vast right-wing conspiracy that is out to get my husband." And, 13 hours after that, the President delivered the State of the Union as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening, and the Democrats in the House chamber cheered him on the same way.

On April 1, Jones' lawsuit against Clinton was thrown out of court. Therefore, legally, any court development from it was inadmissible in court. Therefore, legally, Starr could not continue. So even if Clinton was guilty of every crime Starr could even remotely justify, Clinton couldn't be charged. If Starr had gone forward, it would have been judicial misconduct, and grounds for disbarment.

Starr didn't care. He went forward. On August 17, he forced Clinton to testify, and Clinton had to admit that he did have an affair with Lewinsky. And on September 21, Starr presented his report to Congress, complete with the video of Clinton's testimony, which Congress, controlled by the Republican Party, released to the public.

They did this to embarrass Clinton, in the hopes of shaming him into resigning; or, failing that, making him so repulsive to the American people that, in the Congressional elections of November 3, they overwhelmingly voted Republican, making his impeachment and removal a near-certainty.

The American people were repulsed, all right -- by the Republicans' efforts to make Clinton's life miserable. And they were impressed by the fact that, through the entire scandal, he kept right on governing, making the American economy grow, and even doing something no President had done since Lyndon Johnson, 30 years earlier: He balanced the federal budget.

On Election Day, the Democratic Party gained 5 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, and broke even in the U.S. Senate. Someone did resign in shame: Newt Gingrich, the Georgia Republican who was Speaker of the House. Privately, it was known that Gingrich had had his own affairs, including originating the legal idea that oral sex was not "sexual relations." He should have filed that under, "Don't give them any ideas."

The House impeached Clinton anyway, on December 19, on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. A real court would have thrown those charges out immediately, because there was no admissible evidence for them. Even the evidence that did exist was ridiculous.

But the U.S. Senate is not a real court, and an Impeachment Trial is not a real trial. In the end, despite the Republicans having a 55-45 majority, they could not get a true majority, 51 members, to admit that Clinton was guilty of either charge, much less the 2/3rds majority, 67 Senators, necessary to convict him and remove him from the office. He was acquitted of both charges on February 12, 1999, and served out the last 2 years of his Administration.

Late in the 2016 Presidential campaign, in which Hillary was running against Donald Trump, an audiotape was released in which Trump confessed to multiple sexual assaults, something far worse. It didn’t end his chance of becoming President. In 2018, it was revealed that Trump had an affair with a stripper, using the stage name Stormy Daniels, and paid her $130,000 in hush money. And not one “family values” or “evangelical” Republican has demanded his resignation, or his impeachment and removal.

Somebody said that Trump paid $130,000, and Bill Clinton got what he wanted for free, so not only is he the better President, but he's the better businessman.

Lewinsky became a psychologist and an anti-bullying activist, especially opposing cyberbullying. She never called for Donald Trump, who has been proven to have done far worse than Clinton, to face the same kind of scrutiny. But at least she hasn't publicly supported Trump, who is not only a confessed sexual assaulter, but the ultimate bully, cyber- and otherwise.

In contrast, Paula Jones and other some women who had accused Clinton, without proof, have supported Trump. As a result, I have no sympathy for any of them -- and still wouldn't if I believed their claims against Clinton.

In hindsight, Clinton should have come clean immediately. He should have told Starr about the "affair," but also that he hadn't broken any laws in the process. Then he should have told the American people the same thing.

There would have been nothing to impeach him for, he would have survived it, it would have been over faster, and Vice President Gore would have been able to ignore it in his 2000 run, and run as "Bill Clinton's 3rd term" instead of as "Al Gore's 1st term."

Gore would have won, he would have paid attention to a key intelligence briefing, the 9/11 attacks would have been prevented, there would have been no Iraq War, he probably would have been re-elected, he would have replaced William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court (meaning no John Roberts and no Samuel Alito), and while there might have been a recession at the end of his 2nd term in 2008, there wouldn't have been a crash.

But Clinton didn’t want people to know about the affair, and so he covered it up, and he nearly lost everything. In the end, the winners were both Clintons, Dennis Hastert and George W. Bush; while the losers were Starr, Lewinsky, Newt Gingrich and Gore.

And, of course, even if Clinton were guilty of everything he was accused of in this case, he would still have been less worthy of impeachment and removal than was Trump, 20 years later.

Because, 18 years after the Lewinsky scandal, the "vast right-wing conspiracy" against Bill that Hillary exposed, having significantly deepened, finally got its revenge: They couldn't get it on him, so they got it on her.

*

January 21, 1998 was a Wednesday. It was the off-season for baseball. Super Bowl XXXII was played the following Sunday, and the Denver Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers, 31-24. But there were 12 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Indiana Pacers, 97-89 at Madison Square Garden. Reggie Miller scored 21, and no Knick scored more than John Starks' 17, but the Knicks still won.

* The New Jersey Nets beat the Houston Rockets, 117-112 in overtime at the Brendan Byrne Arena at the Meadowlands. Jayson Williams led the Nets with 25 points, while Clyde Drexler scored 28 in defeat for the Rockets.

* The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Washington Wizards, 100-87 at the MCI Center in Washington (now the Capital One Arena).

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Orlando Magic, 91-84 at the Orlando Arena.

* The Miami Heat beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 92-87 at the Miami Arena.

* The Toronto Raptors beat the Sacramento Kings, 99-98 at the SkyDome in Toronto (now the Rogers Centre).

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Charlotte Hornets, 110-79 at the United Center in Chicago. Michael Jordan scored 33 points.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Boston Celtics, 104-95 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Atlanta Hawks, 90-76 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the Denver Nuggets, 87-67 at the McNichols Arena in Denver.

* The Utah Jazz beat the Golden State Warriors, 98-85 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Phoenix Suns, 119-109 at the AmericaWest Arena in Phoenix (now the Mortgage Matchup Center). Shaquille O'Neal scored 26, and Kobe Bryant scored 25.

There were 8 games played in the NHL that day, none of them involving any of the teams in the New York Tri-State Area:

* In "Original Six" matchup, the Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 4-2 at the Molson Centre in Montreal (now the Bell Centre).

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 2-1 at the Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo (now the KeyBank Center).

* In another Original Six matchup, the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Detroit Red Wings, 3-0 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-2 at the Ice Palace in Tampa (now the Benchmark International Arena). This was the only game on the day that went to overtime, and Kelly Miller won it for the Caps, with 2:28 left before it would have been a tie. (No shootouts at the time.)

* The Dallas Stars beat the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The team then known as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim beat the Florida Panthers, 8-3 at the Arrowhead Pond (now named the Honda Center) in the Los Angeles suburb of Anaheim, California.

* The San Jose Sharks beat the Calgary Flames, 7-1 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center).

* And the team then known as the Phoenix Coyotes beat the Vancouver Canucks, 6-1 at General Motors Place in Vancouver (now the Rogers Arena).