The Lewinsky scandal was an affair, made public, involving then President Bill Clinton and a 22-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky between 1995 and 1996.
Lewinsky was hired during Clinton’s first term in 1995 as an intern at the White House. Clinton’s personal relationship with Lewinsky began during this time. Lewinsky discussed the affair with Linda Tripp, her Defense Department co-worker who secretly recorded telephone conversations between the President and Lewinsky.
In April 1996, Lewinsky’s superiors relocated her job to the Pentagon, because they were concerned that she was spending too much time around President Clinton. This came after Lewinsky had been moved to the East Executive Building as a Social Office intern under Hillary Clinton.
In January 1998, Tripp found out that Lewinsky had sworn an affidavit in the Paula Jones case, a separate sex scandal involving Bill Clinton, denying any improper relationship with the President. Tripp gave the phone conversations she recorded to the Independent Prosecutor Kenneth Starr, who was investigating Clinton on the Whitewater Scandal and the FBI files controversy because Lewinsky attempted to persuade Tripp to commit perjury in the Paula Jones case.
After Clinton stated that he ‘did not have sexual relations with that woman,’ further investigation lead to perjury charges and to his impeachment in 1998. Clinton was eventually acquitted on all impeachment charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in a 21-day Senate trial.
Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern and Department of Defence employee who reportedly has had a year long affair with President Bill Clinton. GettyLewinsky (pictured center in the third row with fellow White House interns) started at the White House as an intern when she was just 22 years old. Clinton was 51 years old at the time. Daily MailPresident Clinton greets Monica Lewinsky at a Washington fundraising event in October 1996. Monica Lewinsky says there’s no question her boss, Bill Clinton, took advantage of her when he was president. India TimesPresident Bill Clinton hugs Monica Lewinsky at a Democratic Fundraiser in Washington, DC, Oct. 23, 1996. ABC NewsA photograph showing Monica Lewinsky meeting President Bill Clinton at a White House function submitted as evidence in documents by the Starr investigation and released by the House Judiciary committee Sept. 21, 1998. ABC NewsA photograph showing former White House intern Monica Lewinsky meeting President Bill Clinton at a White House function submitted as evidence in documents by the Starr investigation and released by the House Judiciary committee September 21, 1998. Getty.A photograph showing former White House intern Monica Lewinsky (L) working in a White House office as President Bill Clinton looks on submitted as evidence in documents by the Starr investigation and released by the House Judiciary committee September 21, 1998. HeavyIn one picture from November 17, Clinton is spotted eating cake while talking to staffers as who is believed to be Lewinsky (circled) sits nearby. Daily MailLewinsky maintains their affair was consensual and if there was any abuse involved, it came afterward, when Clinton’s inner circle tried to discredit her and the president’s opponents used her as a political pawn. Deccan ChronicleA photograph showing a handwritten note from former White House intern Monica Lewinsky to President Bill Clinton submitted as evidence in documents Ken Starr investigation and released by the House Judiciary committee September 21, 1998. GettyA photograph showing a personal note sent by former White House intern Monica Lewinsky to President Bill Clinton submitted as evidence in documents Ken Starr investigation and released by the House Judiciary committee September 21, 1998. GettyLinda Tripp, the Lewinsky confidante who recorded their conversations about the affair speaks to the press in front of the Federal courthouse on July 29, 1988, after concluding her testimony before the grand jury investigating President Clinton. ABC News
Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr stands before a crowd of reporters and photographers outside the Justice Department and answers questions about his investigation into President Clinton and intern Monica Lewinsky, Washington DC, January 22, 1998. ABCMonica Lewinsky and her stepmother, Barbara Lewinsky push through a large crowd of media as they leave a Santa Monica, California restaurant on Feb. 5, 1998. ABC NewsFormer White House intern Monica Lewinsky(R) walks down the street 17 April with attorney Nathaniel Speights(L) after leaving a nearby restaurant in Washington, DC. US President Bill Clinton is currently under investigation for having an alleged affair with Lewinsky while she worked as an intern at the White House. (Getty)Monica Lewinsky leaves the Cosmos Club with her attorney William Ginsberg (L) after spending the day in the private Washington Club, January 29. Lewinsky’s lawyers have been asking for total immunity before she would testify in front of a Federal Grand Jury. GettyMonica Lewinsky is pictured in a video grab as she is sworn in for her deposition on Feb. 1, 1999. ABC NewsThis undated photograph showing the blue dress worn by Monica Lewinsky along with other items related to her relationship with President Clinton was submitted as evidence in the Kenneth Starr investigation. ABC NewsTelevision satellite trucks and White House visitors gather outside the White House on Aug. 17, 1998, as President Clinton faced questions from a grand jury about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. ABC NewsClinton’s lies about the relationship contributed to his impeachment by the House in 1998; the Senate acquitted him. Deaccon ChronicleIn this image made from video, President Clinton responds to a question about his recollection of who told him about Monica Lewinsky receiving a subpoena in the Paul Jones case during his videotaped testimony on Aug. 17, 1998. ABC NewsSpecial Prosecutor Kenneth Starr Kenneth Starr testifies before House Judiciary Committee regarding articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton on Nov. 19, 1998. ABC NewsPresident Clinton appears downcast when asked about his possible resignation due to the Lewinsky scandal during a press conference on Dec. 13, 1998. ABC NewsPresident Bill Clinton denies improper behavior with Monica Lewinsky, on January 26, 1998, in the White House Roosevelt Room stating, I did not have sexual relations with that woman. ABC NewsMs. Lewinsky responded to a partial transcript of a late-1990’s phone conversation in which Mrs. Clinton called her a “narcissistic loony toon” by stating that “Hillary Clinton wanted it on record that she was lashing out at her husband’s mistress. She may have faulted her husband for being inappropriate, but I find her impulse to blame the Woman – not only me, but herself, – troubling.”Newspaper headlines after the story of the affair broke. Pinterest
