While President Donald Trump’s presumptive impeachment trial remains stalled on Capitol Hill, 14 current U.S. senators were also in office in 1999 during then-President Bill Clinton’s impeachment.
There are also 13 sitting senators who were serving in the U.S. House when it voted to impeach Clinton in late 1998.
Clinton's woes began before he entered the White House. He and his wife Hillary were the subject of a Justice Department investigation into a failed business deal from their time in Arkansas.
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In addition to that legal hurdle, Bill Clinton was also sued for sexual harassment by Paula Jones in 1991. Both those cases would lead to the impeachment proceedings for Clinton. In the Jones case, he was asked under oath about an affair with intern Monica Lewinsky and denied it. However, he later admitted it.
On Dec. 19, 1998, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Clinton on two separate counts: perjury before a grand jury (Article 1) and obstruction of justice (Article 3).
Two other impeachment counts failed: providing false testimony in the Jones case (Article 2) and abusing his office by making false and misleading statements to Congress (Article 4).
But on Feb. 12, 1999, by the end of the five-week Senate trial, Clinton was acquitted on both counts.
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The Senate, then under Democratic control, found Clinton not guilty on perjury charges by a vote of 55-45. The Senate then deadlocked at 50-50 on obstruction charges. A two-thirds Senate majority is needed to remove a president from office.
Here’s how those 14 senators voted on Clinton’s impeachment:
- Susan Collins, R-Maine. Not guilty on both counts
- Michael D. Crapo, R-Idaho. Guilty on both counts
- Richard Durbin, D-Illinois. Not guilty on both counts
- Mike Enzi, R-Wyoming. Guilty on both counts
- Dianne Feinstein, D-California. Not guilty on both counts
- Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. Guilty on both counts
- James Inhofe, R-Oklahoma. Guilty on both counts
- Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont. Not guilty on both counts
- Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky. Guilty on both counts
- Jack Reed, D-Rhode Island. Not guilty on both counts
- Pat Roberts, R-Kansas. Guilty on both counts
- Charles Schumer, D-New York. Not guilty on both counts
- Richard Shelby, R-Alabama. Not guilty on perjury, guilty on obstruction
- Ron Wyden, D-Oregon. Not guilty on both counts
Here’s how 13 currently seated senators voted on Clinton’s impeachment when they were serving in the House:
- Roy Blunt, R-Missouri. Yes on all 4 impeachment articles
- Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. No on all 4 impeachment articles
- Richard Burr, R-North Carolina. Yes on articles 1 & 3, no on articles 2 & 4
- Benjamin Cardin, D-Maryland. No on all 4 impeachment articles
- Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina. Yes on articles 1, 3 & 4. No on article 2
- Edward Markey, D-Massachusetts. No on all 4 impeachment articles
- Robert Menendez, D-New Jersey. No on all 4 impeachment articles
- Jerry Moran, R-Kansas. Yes on articles 1, 2 & 3. No on article 4
- Rob Portman, R-Ohio. Yes on articles 1, 2 & 3. No on article 4
- Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont. No on all 4 impeachment articles
- Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan. No on all 4 impeachment articles
- John Thune, R-South Dakota. Yes on articles 1, 2 & 3. No on article 4
- Roger Wicker, R-Mississippi. Yes on all 4 impeachment articles
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