Jan. 7th, 1999: President Clinton's impeachment trial begins
It was the first presidential impeachment trial in 130 years, and only the second in U.S. history.
On January 7th, 1999, the trial began to decide whether President Bill Clinton should be removed from office -- less than one month after he was impeached by the House of Representatives. Later that same day, the president unveiled a new education plan without making reference to the trial.
Clinton had been charged with perjury and obstruction of justice in connection to his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
In January of 1998, Clinton had been deposed in a lawsuit against him involving alleged misconduct with another woman, Paula Corbin Jones. Lewinsky was a witness in that case, after admitting in secretly taped conversations that she'd had "sexual relations" with the president.
President Clinton denied a sexual relationship with Lewinsky in his testimony, followed days later by a press conference in which he infamously declared: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." He also denied other accusations that he urged Lewinsky to lie about the affair.
As part of a separate investigation, the president later admitted to having a relationship with Lewinsky. This prompted the Republican-led House of Representatives to impeach him on December 19th, 1998. He was acquitted by the Senate within two months, on February 12th, 1999.
Of course, the past doesn't always stay in the past.
Clinton's wife Hillary Clinton is now running for president, and Bill Clinton has recently hit the campaign trail to support her. Republican front runner Donald Trump has wasted little time bringing the Lewinsky scandal to the forefront as a campaign tactic.
Trump said the former president has a "penchant for sexism" and called him "one of the great abusers of the world," before comparing Clinton to Bill Cosby.
