In Clinton’s case, there was a specific legal issue at hand- whether he committed perjury and obstruction of justice in trying to cover up his relationship with Lewinsky.
During the time his relationship with Lewinsky was active, Lewinsky confided the details of their relationship to a friend, Linda Tripp.
At the same time, the President was involved in 2 legal matters. The first was a lawsuit brought by Paula Jones, accusing him of sexual harassment while he was governor of Arkansas. The second was the Whitewater investigation, which was a special counsel investigation (run by Kenneth Starr) into a financial transaction the Clinton’s had been involved in- but grew in scope to investigate a variety of scandals.
Linda Tripp provided the information she had gotten from Lewinsky to Paula Jones’ lawyers, who then put Lewinsky on their witness list. In response, Clinton took a number of illegal actions to try and cover up the relationship.
Knowing that this obstruction was occurring, Tripp then informed Starr, who broadened his scope to include the coverup of the Lewinsky affair.
When the Starr report came out, it showed that Clinton had had an affair, had lied about it under oath, and had encouraged others to lie under oath.
This formed the basis for the Articles of Impeachment, as Congress at that time felt the charges of perjury and obstruction of justice were an impeachable offense. Ultimately, the House voted to impeach on 2 of the 4 charges brought forth- that Clinton had lied to the grand jury, and that he had obstructed justice in the Jones case. In the Senate a trial was held, but neither charge received a 2/3 vote finding Clinton guilty.
I provide the above context to say this- in this case, the tawdry details of Clinton’s sexual behavior were made public record through the Starr Report, and brought up significant legal, constitutional issues to be wrangled with by Congress and in the public sphere, which is why the Clinton-Lewinsky affair attracted so much attention in American popular culture. Clinton’s impeachment by the House was also the first impeachment in modern times.
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