"After a lifetime of striving for a celebrated rank among American presidents, this diligent student of history was handed his place today, one he did not want but can never give back."
NBC News coverage of the December 19, 1998 House vote to impeach Bill Clinton:
NBC News coverage of the December 19, 1998 House vote to impeach Bill Clinton:
We're waiting the *next* impeachment vote later today, so here are a few more memorable scenes from the last one....
12/18/98, 9:45am: The Speaker-designate, Bob Livingston, addresses the House. He calls for Clinton to resign. Two days earlier, a past Livingston affair had been exposed. There are jeers from Democrats and cries "You resign!" And then:
A short while later, Minority Leader Richard Gephardt tells the House that Livingston's resignation is "a terrible capitulation to the negative forces that are consuming our political system and our country" and pleads with him to reconsider:
At the White House, Press Secretary @joelockhart is dispatched to respond to Livingston's demand that Clinton follow his example and resign: "The president has always spoken out in very forceful terms about the politics of personal destruction"
@joelockhart And here are a couple of floor speeches from folks still around today:
Jerry Nadler: "This partisan coup d'etat will go down in infamy in the history of this nation"
Jerry Nadler: "This partisan coup d'etat will go down in infamy in the history of this nation"
@joelockhart And here's Lindsey Graham, who would become one of the House impeachment managers in the Senate trial: "Let it be said that any president who cheats our institutions shall be impeached."
@joelockhart As the House debate progressed, NBC's Maria Shriver interviewed one of the only Republicans opposed to all four impeachment articles: New York Rep. Peter King, who predicted Democrats would impeach the next Republican president in retaliation:
@joelockhart Coverage of the dramatic events in Washington was periodically interrupted for updates on the American-led bombing campaign in Iraq. Hours after the vote to impeach him (and a rally w/ Democrats), Clinton ended the surreal day by declaring Operation Desert Fox over:
