Lewinsky scandal

The Monica Lewinsky scandal (informally Monicagate, various {{fn|1}}) was a political sex scandal emerging from a short-term sexual relationship between United States President Bill Clinton and a then 22-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The news of this extra-marital affair and the resulting investigation eventually led to the impeachment of Bill Clinton in 1998 by the U.S. House of Representatives and his acquittal for charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in a 21-day Senate trial.

Public opinion

In early January of 1998 the news broke in various media outlets (see Drudge Report) that the President had had an affair. On January 26, 1998 on American television, Clinton denied he had "sexual relations" with Lewinsky, but did not admit to the actual nature of their relationship.

Related Topics:
1998 - Drudge Report - January 26

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The components of the scandal, including:

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• extramarital sex;
• sex with an underling many years his junior;
• sex with an intern, indicating for some a possible abuse of power;
• sexual acts considered outside of the mainstream in the United States, including anilingus;
• perjury allegations;
• Linda Tripp's 'betrayal' of Lewinsky's friendship;
• the President's misleading public disavowal;
• the President assuring his own cabinet the allegations were untrue;
• the allegations of impeachable offenses;
  

coupled with increasingly hostile media coverage, opportunistic persecution of a perceived vulnerable Democrat by the Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, and general partisan feeling led to spirited and emotional public debate. Some saw the President as dishonest, but the exposure of the scandal and subsequent humiliation of his family as a greater crime; some argued that the perjury allegations were insignificant but the public disavowal a disgrace; some hated Lewinsky for seducing the President, some hated the President for being seduced, and some hated Linda Tripp the most for betraying friendship.

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The affair, and its sordid details, led to a period of cultural celebrity for Lewinsky; as an unlikely sex symbol, and as a younger-generation nexus of a political storm that was both lighthearted, and extremely serious at the same time. Some mild use of the name "Lewinsky" still exists as a term for oral sex, though Lewinsky references and jokes have long cooled in the public interest.

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