Monica Lewinky and Bill Clinton_summary

In the 1990s, President Bill Clinton became the center of a huge political and personal scandal that began with a lawsuit filed by Paula Jones.

Jones claimed that, when he was governor of Arkansas, he had harassed her in a hotel room, so she decided to take him to court.

During this case, Clinton was said to have had a secret relationship with a young White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.

Her name first appeared in legal documents and then in reports suggesting she had been involved with the president.

Lewinsky talked about the relationship with her co-worker Linda Tripp, not realizing that Tripp was secretly taping their phone conversations.

As soon as Tripp had enough tapes, she brought them to independent counsel Kenneth Starr.

Starr, who was already investigating other possible crimes connected with the Clintons, suddenly had powerful new evidence.

At the same time, the internet [k5: capitalization error] Internet gossip site the Drudge Report let the cat out of the bag and revealed that a major news magazine was sitting on the story.

Very soon, the mainstream media picked it up, and the alleged affair became the elephant in the room of American politics.

In public, Clinton strongly denied any sexual relationship with Lewinsky and said the accusations were false.

Hillary Clinton defended her husband and argued that there was a “vast right-wing conspiracy” against him.

As the investigation continued, Lewinsky was pressured to testify and to hand over a blue dress that was said to contain the president’s bodily fluid [k3: unnatural collocation] bodily fluids.

Clinton must have realized that the evidence against him was overwhelming, because he finally admitted to an “improper relationship” with her.

However, he tried to argue that his earlier sworn statements in the Paula Jones case were technically true.

Starr then sent a detailed report to Congress, describing possible crimes such as perjury and obstruction of justice.

The House of Representatives voted to start impeachment proceedings, and many Republicans were said to hope they could finally remove Clinton from office.

Furthermore, Clinton's

Furthermore, Clinton's job-approval [k2: inaccuracy — the hyphen changes the meaning; the phrase refers to his ratings as a politician] job approval ratings remained elevated, and the Democratic Party performed better than anticipated in the midterm elections.

ratings remained elevated, and the Democratic Party performed better than anticipated in the midterm elections.

The impeachment trial was opened in the Senate and presided over by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, but in the end the [k5: syntax – missing comma after introductory phrase] in the end, the Senate did not reach the two-thirds majority needed to convict.

Clinton was acquitted on both charges and finished his term, while Lewinsky had to live with worldwide fame she had never asked for.

Looking back, many people think the media must have focused too much on private behavior instead of public policy, and that this story shows how personal scandals can damage lives even when they do not remove a leader from power.