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Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, was impeached by the House of Representatives on two charges, one of perjury and one of obstruction of justice, on December 19, 1998. Two other impeachment articles, a second perjury charge and a charge of abuse of power, failed in the House, and he was acquitted of them by the Senate on February 12, 1999. Independent Counsel Ken Starr turned over documentation to the House Judiciary Committee. The Chief Prosecutor, David Schippers, and his team reviewed the material and determined there was sufficient evidence to impeach the president. As a result, four charges were considered by the full House of Representatives; two passed, making Clinton the second United States President to be impeached, and only the third for whom the House had considered such proceedings (Nixon's presidency is the only one to be ended in the wake of the impeachment process). The trial in the United States Senate began right after the seating of the 106th Congress, in which the Republicans began with 55 senators. A two-thirds vote (67 senators) was required to remove Clinton from office. Fifty senators voted to remove Clinton on the obstruction of justice charge and 45 voted to remove him on the perjury charge; no Democrat voted guilty on either charge. ==Independent counsel investigation== The charges arose from an investigation by Independent Counsel Ken Starr. Originally dealing with the failed land deal years earlier known as Whitewater, Starr, with the approval of United States Attorney General Janet Reno, conducted a wide ranging investigation of alleged abuses including the firing of White House travel agents, the alleged misuse of FBI files, and Bill Clinton's conduct during the sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former Arkansas government employee, Paula Jones. In the course of the investigation, Linda Tripp provided Starr with taped phone conversations in which Monica Lewinsky, a former White House Intern, discussed having oral sex with Clinton. At the deposition, the judge rejected the plaintiff's lawyer's definition of the term "sexual relations"〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Perjury about sexual relations from the Paula Jones deposition )〕 that Clinton claims to have construed to mean only vaginal intercourse. Judge Wright then told the attorneys they could be as explicit as necessary in asking their questions. They chose to ask only if he had sex with Monica Lewinsky, thus making his testimony that he had not done so honest. A much-quoted statement from Clinton's grand jury testimony showed him questioning the precise use of the word "is." Contending that his statement that "there's nothing going on between us" had been truthful because he had no ongoing relationship with Lewinsky at the time he was questioned, Clinton said, "It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'is' is. If the—if he—if 'is' means is and never has been, that is not—that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement". Starr obtained further evidence of inappropriate behavior by seizing the computer hard drive and email records of Monica Lewinsky. Based on the president's conflicting testimony, Starr concluded that Clinton had committed perjury. Starr submitted his findings to Congress in a lengthy document (the so-called Starr Report), and simultaneously posted the report on the internet, replete with lurid descriptions of encounters between Clinton and Lewinsky. Starr was criticized by Democrats for spending $70 million on an investigation that substantiated only perjury and obstruction of justice.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Report: The Independent Counsel's Final Report )〕 Critics of Starr also contend that his investigation was highly politicized because it regularly leaked tidbits of information to the press, in violation of legal ethics, and because his report included lengthy descriptions which were humiliating yet irrelevant to the legal case.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=News leaks prompt lawyer to seek sanctions against Starr's Office )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Impeachment and acquittal of Bill Clinton」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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