Editing Monica Lewinsky (section)

==Scandal==
{{Main|Clinton–Lewinsky scandal}}
[[File:Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky on February 28, 1997 A3e06420664168d9466c84c3e31ccc2f.jpg|thumb|right|Clinton with Lewinsky in February 1997]]
[[File:Monica lewinsky.jpg|thumb|upright|150px|Lewinsky's May 1997 government identification photograph]]
Lewinsky stated that she had nine sexual encounters with President [[Bill Clinton]] in the [[Oval Office]] between November 1995 and March 1997. According to her testimony, these encounters involved [[fellatio|oral sex]] and other sexual acts, but not sexual intercourse.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2008-03-19-852575883_x.htm |title=Lewinsky and the first lady |date=March 19, 2008 |agency=[[Associated Press]] |access-date=January 19, 2010 |work=[[USA Today]]|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100412161707/http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/2008-03-19-852575883_x.htm |archive-date=April 12, 2010 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

Clinton had previously been confronted with allegations of sexual misconduct during his time as Governor of Arkansas. Former Arkansas state employee [[Paula Jones]] filed a civil lawsuit against him alleging that he had sexually harassed her. Lewinsky's name surfaced during the discovery phase of Jones' case, when Jones' lawyers sought to show a pattern of behavior by Clinton which involved inappropriate sexual relationships with other government employees.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Xq9fAAAAIBAJ&pg=3866,13572 |title=Paula Jones' lawyers want Lewinsky evidence |agency=[[Associated Press]] |newspaper=[[Gettysburg Times]] |date=April 1, 1998 |page=A3}}</ref>

In April 1996, Lewinsky's superiors transferred her from the White House to the Pentagon because they felt that she was spending too much time with Clinton.<ref name="WashpoProfile" /> At the Pentagon, she worked as an assistant to [[Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs|chief Pentagon spokesman]] [[Kenneth Bacon]].<ref name="WashpoProfile" /> In September 1997, after Lewinsky told co-worker [[Linda Tripp]] about her relationship with Clinton, Tripp began to secretly record their telephone conversations. Lewinsky left her position at the Pentagon in December 1997,<ref name="cnn-know">{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/01/31/credibility/index.html |title=Keeping Score In the Lewinsky Matter |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=January 31, 1998}}</ref> and in January 1998 submitted an affidavit in the Paula Jones case denying any physical relationship with Clinton. Though she attempted to persuade Tripp to lie under oath in that case, Tripp gave the tapes to Independent Counsel [[Kenneth Starr]], adding to his ongoing investigation into the [[Whitewater (controversy)|Whitewater controversy]]. Starr then broadened his investigation beyond the Arkansas land use deal to include Lewinsky, Clinton, and others for possible perjury and subornation of perjury in the Jones case. Tripp reported the taped conversations to literary agent [[Lucianne Goldberg]]. She also convinced Lewinsky to save the gifts that Clinton had given her during their relationship and not to dry clean a blue dress that was stained with Clinton's semen. Under oath, Clinton denied having had "a sexual affair", "sexual relations", or "a sexual relationship" with Lewinsky.<ref name="starr">[http://icreport.access.gpo.gov/report/6narrit.htm#L1 Starr Report: ''Nature of President Clinton's Relationship with Monica Lewinsky''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20001203073600/http://icreport.access.gpo.gov/report/6narrit.htm |date=December 3, 2000 }} Retrieved December 18, 2006.</ref>

News of the Clinton–Lewinsky relationship broke in January 1998. On January 26, 1998, Clinton stated, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky" in a nationally televised White House news conference.<ref name="ls-nh" /> The matter instantly occupied the news media, and Lewinsky spent the next weeks hiding from public attention in her mother's residence at the [[Watergate complex]].<ref name="mworld" /> News of Lewinsky's affair with Andy Bleiler, her former high school drama instructor, also came to light, and he turned over to Starr various souvenirs, photographs, and documents that Lewinsky had sent him and his wife during the time that she was in the White House.<ref name="wapo-bleiler" /><ref name="cnn-know" />

Clinton had also said, "There is not a sexual relationship, an improper sexual relationship or any other kind of improper relationship"<ref name="ls-nh">''The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer'': [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house/jan-june98/clinton_1-21.html President Bill Clinton January 21, 1998] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080207152841/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house/jan-june98/clinton_1-21.html |date=February 7, 2008 }}</ref><ref name="wapo081898">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/clinton081898.htm |title=Clinton Admits to Lewinsky Relationship, Challenges Starr to End Personal 'Prying' |first=Peter |last=Baker |author2=John F. Harris |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=August 18, 1998 |page=A1 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061004120050/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/clinton081898.htm |archive-date=October 4, 2006 |df=mdy-all }}</ref> which he defended as truthful on August 17, 1998, because of his use of the present tense, arguing "it depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/transcr.htm |title=Videotaped Testimony of William Jefferson Clinton Before the Grand Jury Empaneled for Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr August 17, 1998 |last1=Hibbitts |first1=Bernard |date=September 21, 1998 |publisher=JURIST: The Law Professors' Network |access-date=January 5, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711175656/http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/transcr.htm |archive-date=July 11, 2011}}</ref> Starr obtained a blue dress from Lewinsky with Clinton's semen stained on it, as well as testimony from her that the President had inserted a cigar into her vagina. Clinton stated, "I did have a relationship with Miss Lewinsky that was not appropriate",<ref name="wapo081898" /> but he denied committing perjury because, according to Clinton, the legal definition of oral sex was not encompassed by "sex" ''per se''.<ref name="sex-definition">[http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-clintonjonesperjury.html "Perjury about sexual relations from the Paula Jones deposition"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110610093754/http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-clintonjonesperjury.html |date=June 10, 2011 }} by Steve Kangas. Retrieved February 12, 2006</ref> In addition, he relied on the definition of "sexual relations" as proposed by the prosecution and agreed by the defense and by Judge [[Susan Webber Wright]], who was hearing the Paula Jones case. Clinton claimed that certain acts were performed ''on'' him, not ''by'' him, and therefore he did not engage in sexual relations. Lewinsky's testimony to the Starr Commission, however, contradicted Clinton's claim of being totally passive in their encounters.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Bennet |first1=James |last2=Abramson |first2=Jill |title=The Testing of a President: The Overview; Lawyers Say Tape of Clinton Shows Regret and Anger |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/20/us/testing-president-overview-lawyers-say-tape-clinton-shows-regret-anger.html?pagewanted=all |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=September 20, 1998 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306191013/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/20/us/testing-president-overview-lawyers-say-tape-clinton-shows-regret-anger.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date=March 6, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

Clinton and Lewinsky were both called before a grand jury. Clinton testified via closed-circuit television, while Lewinsky testified in person. She was granted [[transactional immunity]] by the Office of the Independent Counsel in exchange for her testimony.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/07/28/lewinsky/ |title=Lewinsky Strikes Far-Reaching Immunity Deal |last=Blitzer |first=Wolf |author2=Franken, Bob |date=July 28, 1998 |publisher=[[CNN]] |access-date=March 9, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110121145022/http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/07/28/lewinsky/ |archive-date=January 21, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>