Clinton wins bipartisan acquittal

Tuesday, February 16, 1999

Clinton wins bipartisan acquittal

DECISION: Both articles of impeachment were voted down by
Senate

By Emi Kojima

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

A bipartisan acquittal of President Clinton ended the second
impeachment trial in U.S. history on Friday. At the same time,
Americans breathed a sigh of relief that the trial was over, but
questioned what will happen next and what its lasting impact on
history will be.

"I hope the Senate considers censure and shows that (Clinton’s)
offenses are not acceptable," said John Strelow, a third-year
political science student and president of the Bruin
Republicans.

Matt Ooi, a first-year undeclared student, disagreed.

"It should have been decided earlier because it was pretty much
a Republican witch hunt," he said. "(The impeachment trial) shows
that politics has degenerated into mudslinging and does not deal
with serious issues."

But Strelow said that the trial "doesn’t say anything bad about
the political process."

"The system must be working pretty well with only two
impeachment trials in 200 years," he said.

Both articles of impeachment in front of the Senate were voted
down with a number of Republicans joining their Democrat colleagues
in opposition.

Public opinion polls were consistent in their support of Clinton
and the acquittal. From the time the nation awoke to the news of
Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr’s investigation, through the
verdict on Friday, polls showed that Americans overwhelmingly
wanted Clinton to remain in office, even if the charges against him
were proven true.

With the trial over, some expect Clinton’s popularity in the
polls to slip, as many Americans no longer feel compelled to choose
between an embattled president and his prosecutors. And scholars
say Clinton is likely to continue slipping in history despite his
plans for a comeback.

"A president who’s had a series of scandals doesn’t fare well
with historians," said Robert Murray, professor emeritus of history
at Penn State University. "It’s inevitable that the first paragraph
will begin, ‘William Jefferson Clinton, the second president in
history to be impeached.’ That sticks."

Last January, the investigation of Clinton’s extra-marital
affair began with the news that Linda Tripp had recorded
conversations with her friend, former White House intern Monica
Lewinsky, about an affair with the president. A string of
embarrassing discoveries followed, one of which was Lewinsky’s
semen-stained dress as evidence of a sexual encounter.

Starr sent Congress what he said was evidence of impeachable
offenses in September. The impeachment trial opened in the Senate
on Jan. 7, with senators struggling to set up rules for the first
presidential impeachment trial in over 130 years.

After the acquittal was announced, President Clinton spoke to
the nation: "I want to say again to the American people how
profoundly sorry I am for what I said and did to trigger these
events and the great burden they have imposed on the Congress and
the American people."

With reports from Bruin wire services.The Associated Press

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev, appears on FOX News Sunday to

discuss the results of the impeachment trial, which ended with a
bipartisan aquittal of President Bill Clinton. Several Republicans
opted to break the ranks and vote not guilty.

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