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
