The trial of Bill Clinton proved just how difficult it is to remove a President from office through impeachment proceedings, a feat that has never been achieved if you do not count the downfall of President Richard Nixon, who resigned in 1974 before he could be removed following the Watergate scandal. Mr Clinton’s proceedings commenced on October 8, 1998, with the House of Representatives taking the 42nd US President to task for the charges of lying under oath and obstruction of justice.
The scandal derived from former US State employee Paula Jones, who sued Mr Clinton for sexual harassment, which in turn sparked the second point of questioning as the US President denied having a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, at the time a White House intern.
Two articles were drafted by the House, the first accusing President Clinton of lying to the grand jury about the nature of his relationship with Ms Lewinsky, false statements made by himself, false statements made by his lawyer and attempting to tamper with witnesses.
The second article accused the President of obstructing justice in the case brought against him by Ms Jones: encouraging Ms Lewinsky to file a false statement and false testimony, concealing gifts he had given to Ms Lewinsky, attempting to secure a job for Lewinsky to influence her testimony and making false statements to grand jury witnesses.
The House voted in favour of impeachment on the two articles on December 19, 1998, with the first article winning with 228 votes to 206, and the second 221 votes to 212.
This escalated the trial to the Senate, where a two-thirds majority is required on an article of impeachment to remove a President from office.
The verdict spared Mr Clinton from an abrupt end to his presidency.
The first article was rejected with 55 judging him as not guilty and 45 the other way, while the second was a tighter 50 votes each.
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“I would like you to do us a favour though because our country has been through a lot and Ukraine knows a lot about it.
“There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution…so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great.
“Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it …it sounds horrible to me.”
President Trump has denied wrongdoing, but Ms Pelosi today accused him of abusing his power.
She said: “The facts are uncontested. The president abused power for his personal benefit at the expense of national security by withholding military aid and crucial Oval Office meeting in exchange for an announcement of an investigation into his political rival.”