--- title: Why Trump Shouldn't Be Impeached, According to Newt Gingrich description: Newt Gingrich, who led impeachment proceedings against former President Bill Clinton, does not think President Trump should be impeached canonical: https://time.com/5376035/newt-gingrich-donald-trump-impeachment/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-23T19:59:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T07:51:55.045Z article:section: Politics og:title: Why Trump Shouldn't Be Impeached, According to Newt Gingrich og:description: "President Trump is 80% a historic figure, and 20% a reality TV personality" og:url: https://time.com/5376035/newt-gingrich-donald-trump-impeachment/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb65ca4a8fcc754c8/69889f945f570f3dc5b21ef4/hillary-clinton-bill-clinton-romance-dnc-photos-19.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1992 og:image:height: 1121 og:image:alt: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Trump Shouldn't Be Impeached, According to Newt Gingrich twitter:description: "President Trump is 80% a historic figure, and 20% a reality TV personality" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb65ca4a8fcc754c8/69889f945f570f3dc5b21ef4/hillary-clinton-bill-clinton-romance-dnc-photos-19.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why Bill Clinton Deserved to Be Impeached but President Trump Doesn't, According to Newt Gingrich > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=3cb374a3-a85e-45e5-9d4f-fc0d7465e173&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: A Visual Timeline of the Monica Lewinsky Scandal [Watch (HLS stream): A Visual Timeline of the Monica Lewinsky Scandal](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/HPrA9SSS.m3u8) (4:55)  _Published 2018-05-04. In 1998, Americans were divided over Bill Clinton's affair with a White House intern. In the 20 years since, those feelings have only grown more complicated._  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Aug 23, 2018 7:59 PM UTC  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Aug 23, 2018 7:59 PM UTC The fallout from [Tuesday’s federal court proceedings](http://time.com/5374134/michael-cohen-guilty-plea-donald-trump/) involving two of Donald Trump’s former top associates seemed to [spell trouble for the President](http://time.com/5375650/trump-cohen-trouble/). But his supporters don’t see it that way. Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s guilty plea and ex–Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s conviction sparked questions among some pundits and activists about impeachment, [a prospect that remains far-fetched](http://time.com/4711273/donald-trump-impeachment-odds-challenges/) based on the current makeup of Congress. Some experts argue that Cohen’s plea, which he directly connected to his work for the President’s campaign, could become a legal argument for impeachment. But Newt Gingrich — the former Republican House Speaker who led successful impeachment proceedings against former President Bill Clinton, one of only two U.S. presidents to ever be impeached — doesn’t see it that way at all. Gingrich argues that impeachment proceedings against Trump would amount to a distraction by Democratic lawmakers, who have thus far hesitated to seriously discuss impeachment. “The elites in Washington get tremendously excited about things which are totally irrelevant to normal people,” Gingrich tells TIME in an interview the day after the Cohen plea and the Manafort verdict. “They’re just background noise that people pay no attention to.” He defends Kenneth Starr’s independent investigation into Clinton, but now calls Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation a “witch hunt,” a phrase Trump has often used. In 1998, Gingrich accused Clinton of degrading the presidency through the Monica Lewinsky investigation. “This has nothing to do with vendettas or witch-hunts or partisan advantage,” Gingrich [said at the time](http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/05/18/gingrich.clinton/). “This is very simply about the rule of law, and the survival of the American system of justice. This is what the Constitution demands, and what Richard Nixon had to resign over.” Clinton was impeached later that year, in a vote largely along party lines, on [charges ](http://time.com/5372524/trump-mueller-interview-perjury/)[of perjury](http://time.com/5372524/trump-mueller-interview-perjury/) and obstruction of justice. The proceedings grew to focus too heavily on “salacious details,” Gingrich says now. Clinton was subsequently acquitted by the Senate — an outcome that Gingrich now considers appropriate. “It probably was the right result,” he says. “\[Clinton\] was primarily defined in history as an impeached president, which he deserved. And he did lose his right to practice law. He had to pay a big penalty, and people generally agree what he did was wrong. But on the other hand, it probably didn’t rise to the level of replacing the president of the United States.” Gingrich does not think the Constitution “demands” similar action when it comes to Trump. “The argument of our whole case was that \[Clinton\], as governor, had imposed his will on a state employee and then committed perjury by lying about it. Now, perjury is a felony, and the question is: Is anybody about to suggest that Donald Trump has done something comparable? Federal election law rules don’t quite rise to the same level as exploiting his own employee,” he says. “Which one would you rank higher in dubiousness? That’s the problem the Democrats have.” Trump, who has also been [accused of sexual misconduct](http://time.com/5058646/donald-trump-accusers/) by multiple women, was [implicated in a felony](http://time.com/5374134/michael-cohen-guilty-plea-donald-trump/) when Cohen pleaded guilty Tuesday to fraud and campaign finance violations. Cohen said he arranged payments to women to keep them quiet about alleged affairs with Trump and did so “in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office.” Trump has denied any wrongdoing. “Just because Michael Cohen made a plea deal doesn’t mean that that implicates the President on anything,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at a press briefing Wednesday. “The idea of an impeachment is frankly a sad attempt by Democrats,” Sanders added. However, Democratic leaders remain unwilling to call for impeachment. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi [told the Associated Press](https://www.apnews.com/84e70fc19bc14b0a90526e9473c502d1/The-Latest:-Pelosi-says-impeachment-'not-a-priority) on Wednesday that impeaching Trump was still “not a priority” for Democrats and said Mueller should be left to conclude his investigation. “Impeachment has to spring from something else,” she said. “It’s not a priority on the agenda going forward unless something else comes forward.” Even if Democrats win control of Congress in the midterms, removing a president from office requires a two-thirds vote in the Senate, which means the effort would need some Republican support. That’s why Princeton professor Keith Whittington, who studies impeachment, does not think Trump’s latest legal troubles increase the likelihood of impeachment. “I just find it a little implausible that the President’s own partisans are going to be motivated by a campaign finance violation to think that that’s sufficient rationale to remove a president from office,” Whittington says. Gingrich thinks of it in terms of the public perception of the chief executive. “President Trump is 80% a historic figure, and 20% a reality TV personality,” he says, “and when you get that, you understand what’s going on. And the country — a majority of the country in the next election — will accept that equation.” Gingrich notes that impeachment can quickly become unpopular, as it did during the Clinton proceedings, when public opinion of Republicans fell, while Democrats and Clinton experienced a surge. [A CNN poll](https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/22/politics/impeach-trump-nixon-support-bill-clinton-poll/index.html) in June suggested that 42% of Americans support impeaching Trump, close to the 43% who supported impeaching Nixon in March 1974\. [A CNN/_USA Today_/Gallup poll](http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/10/13/poll/) from October 1998, suggested 34% of Americans supported impeaching Clinton. There is little doubt impeachment of Trump would be divisive — perhaps more divisive than impeaching Nixon would have been. Recent polls show that Republicans are far more likely [oppose impeachment](https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/22/politics/impeach-trump-nixon-support-bill-clinton-poll/index.html), view [Mueller unfavorably](https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/13/mueller-investigation-trump-poll-643491), and see Cohen as [“not honest and trustworthy.”](https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus%5Fuploads/document/fw0vfdqfpc/econTabReport.pdf) “The Trump base has concluded that he’s achieving real things,” Gingrich says, “and the rest of this is noise.” ## Transcript In 1998, Americans were divided over Bill Clinton's affair with a White House intern. Here's a guide to how it happened. In 1994, former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones sued Bill Clinton for sexual harassment, arguing that he propositioned her when he was governor. A legal group working on the case in 1998 received an anonymous tip that the president had a relationship with the Lewinsky and intern first chief of staff that piqued their interest, since it could be used to argue this was a pattern of behavior. On January 7th, 1998, the Lewinsky filed a sworn affidavit in the Jones lawsuit saying she had never had a relationship with Clinton, but she did not know that a close friend, Linda Tripp, had been keeping conversations with her about the affair. Five days after the affidavit was filed, Tripp gave independent counsel Kenneth Starr, 20 hours of taped phone calls. Starr had been investigating the Clintons of a real estate venture known as Whitewater, but the recordings allowed him to get permission on January 16th to investigate whether Lewinsky had lied under oath in a deposition in the Jones suit the next day. Clinton denied the affair as well. This turned out to be a key moment of his presidency. That same day, online news outlet The Drudge Report published a story claiming that Newsweek was sitting on a story about Clinton's affair with an intern. It later published another story that Lewinsky had a blue cocktail dress with Clinton's bodily fluids on it. Clinton again denied the affair, this time on nationally broadcast television, saying, I. Did not have sexual relations with that woman. Ms.. Lewinsky. On January 27th, Hillary Clinton echoed the denial, arguing in an interview on the Today Show that the charges came from a vast. Right wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president. As the month drew to a close, a federal judge ruled that the Jones lawyers could not look into the Lewinsky claim as part of their lawsuit. But the Starr investigation continued on a separate path. In early February, Lewinsky's mother appeared before a grand jury. She had been suspected of encouraging her daughter to lie to Jones's lawyers. After three days of questioning, Starr granted her immunity in exchange for handing over the blue dress. As the summer began, the July issue of Vanity Fair appeared on newsstands featuring glamor shots of Lewinsky, a PR decision that was harshly criticized. On July 27, Lewinsky met with Starr's prosecutors in New York City, and they announced an immunity deal for her the next day. Clinton then agreed to testify before the grand jury voluntarily. In August, the president provided a blood sample to compare his DNA to the stains in the blue dress. That night, Lewinsky and Clinton testified to the grand jury with the president's testimony taken by closed circuit TV. He admitted to inappropriate intimate contact, but also said that he had given accurate testimony previously. Famously quibbling over the definition of is. Later that evening, he spoke to the nation in a televised address. In a deposition in January, I was asked questions about my relationship with Monica Lewinsky. While my answers were legally accurate. I did not volunteer their information. Indeed, I did have a relationship with Miss Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact. It was wrong. The next month, Congress received two copies of Stars 445 page report on the investigation and supporting evidence. The Star Report, along with transcripts of Lewinsky trips, were later released to the public. On October eight, the House of Representatives voted to begin an impeachment inquiry. Despite the controversy and the impeachment, President Clinton remained popular in polls and Hillary Clinton saw her poll numbers rise as well. During the midterm elections in November, Democrats did unusually drop in mid-November. Clinton settled the sexual harassment lawsuit with Jones, which he kickstarted the scandal, paying her $850,000 and admitting nothing. During the lame duck session of Congress in the summer 19th, the House voted to impeach Clinton and to charges that he committed perjury in his August 17 federal grand jury testimony and that he prevented, obstructed and impeded the administration of justice. As 1999 open, the Senate began its constitutionally mandated impeachment trial with the Supreme Court's chief justice presiding for February 1213 months after the scandal began. The Senate voted to acquit Clinton on both charges. The respondent, William Jefferson Clinton, president of the United States, is not guilty as charged. Later that day. Clinton apologized to the American public in an address from the White House. I want to say again to the American people how profoundly sorry I am for what I said and did to trigger these events and the great burden they have imposed on the Congress and on the American people. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5376035/newt-gingrich-donald-trump-impeachment/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5376035/newt-gingrich-donald-trump-impeachment/"},"headline":"Why Bill Clinton Deserved to Be Impeached but President Trump Doesn't, According to Newt Gingrich","datePublished":"2018-08-23T19:59:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-13T07:51:55.045Z","description":"\"President Trump is 80% a historic figure, and 20% a reality TV personality\"","url":"https://time.com/5376035/newt-gingrich-donald-trump-impeachment/","keywords":["Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb65ca4a8fcc754c8/69889f945f570f3dc5b21ef4/hillary-clinton-bill-clinton-romance-dnc-photos-19.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb65ca4a8fcc754c8/69889f945f570f3dc5b21ef4/hillary-clinton-bill-clinton-romance-dnc-photos-19.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton","caption":"Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton","creditText":"Susan Walsh—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5376035/newt-gingrich-donald-trump-impeachment/","name":"Why Bill Clinton Deserved to Be Impeached but President Trump Doesn't, According to Newt Gingrich"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A Visual Timeline of the Monica Lewinsky Scandal","description":"In 1998, Americans were divided over Bill Clinton's affair with a White House intern. 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