--- title: How Trump Impeachment Trial Rules Compare to Clinton's Trial description: Here's how President Trump's impeachment trial rules differ from the rules governing President Clinton's trial. canonical: https://time.com/5768920/trump-impeachment-trial-rules/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-01-22T00:07:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:52:22.857Z article:section: Politics og:title: How the Trump Impeachment Trial Rules Compare to Clinton's Trial og:description: The impeachment trial of President Donald Trump began in earnest on Tuesday og:url: https://time.com/5768920/trump-impeachment-trial-rules/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How the Trump Impeachment Trial Rules Compare to Clinton's Trial twitter:description: The impeachment trial of President Donald Trump began in earnest on Tuesday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # How the Trump Impeachment Trial Rules Compare to Clinton's Trial > 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=f4d48249-2cd5-4d9a-824f-0b4ef42427ae&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 [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 22, 2020 12:07 AM UTC by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Jan 22, 2020 12:07 AM UTC The i[mpeachment trial of President Donald Trump](https://time.com/5764880/how-trump-impeachment-trial-works/) began in earnest on Tuesday with a fight in the Senate over the rules that will guide the proceedings. The trial kicked off with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell revising two proposed rules for the proceedings, after he came under criticism for repeatedly claiming the trial rules would follow a precedent set by President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, but released a resolution that did not necessarily hew to those standards. Trump’s impeachment trial centers on allegations that the President pressured Ukraine to investigate his political rival, former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden, by threatening to withhold U.S. military aid. Ahead of Tuesday, McConnell defended his plan for rules as sticking to a precedent set by Clinton’s trial. The Senate in 1999 [unanimously passed](http://movies2.nytimes.com/library/politics/010999impeach-text.html) the proposed resolution that would guide the proceedings against Clinton. “Fair is fair. The process was good enough for President Clinton and basic fairness dictates that it ought to be good enough for this president as well,” McConnell said while releasing the initial proposed rules on Monday. McConnell’s initial resolution, released Monday, allowed the Democratic House managers 24 hours to argue their case across two session days. The side representing Trump would also have up to 24 hours over two session days to make their arguments. But on Tuesday, McConnell amended the resolution to allow each side 24 hours for presentation over three session days. McConnell also changed a second rule, allowing evidence collected during the House’s impeachment inquiry to be automatically admitted into the official record, unless someone objects to the addition, the resolution now says. On Tuesday afternoon, the Senate rejected along party lines a proposed amendment from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to subpoena witnesses and documents related to Trump’s communications with [Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky](https://time.com/5742108/ukraine-zelensky-interview-trump-putin-europe/). Lead House impeachment manager Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff argued Tuesday that McConnell’s rules do not go far enough to ensure a fair trial. The resolution does not include a guarantee for new witnesses and documents to be presented in the trial, despite calls from Democrats to ensure that such evidence be seen. “Without the documents, you can’t make important judgments about even which witnesses should be called or what questions should be asked of the witnesses when you do,” Schiff said Tuesday morning. “That is a profound departure from the Clinton precedent.” Here’s how Trump’s impeachment trial rules differ from Clinton’s. ## Witnesses and documents ### Difference between Clinton and Trump’s trial As the Senate impeachment trial against Trump continues, the focus turns to McConnell’s resolution not guaranteeing that any witness testimony will be allowed. The rules state that following opening statements and questioning, senators will decide if they want to call forth any new witnesses, documents or any form of new evidence. The evidence will be allowed if a majority of senators agree it can be considered. The rules are similar to the resolution outlining Clinton’s impeachment proceedings. During Clinton’s impeachment trial, senators ultimately heard video excerpts from three witnesses, including Monica Lewinsky, who were [subpoenaed to appear for taped off-site depositions](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CDOC-106sdoc4/pdf/CDOC-106sdoc4-vol3.pdf#page=13). Vernon Jordan Jr. and Sidney Blumenthal had also testified. However, during impeachment proceedings against Clinton in the House of Representatives, Republicans had access to testimony from other interviews collected by then-special counsel Ken Starr. Clinton also provided more than 90,000 pages of documents and other information ahead of his trial, according to [a Clinton White House response](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CDOC-106sdoc3/html/GPO-CDOC-106sdoc3-5.htm) to a referral from the Office of Independent Counsel. By contrast, the Trump White House have not provided documents or complied with subpoenas for more than 70 records, the [House wrote](https://intelligence.house.gov/report/) in its impeachment inquiry report. The White House has cited executive privilege in its refusal to comply. ### What the changes means for Trump If the Senate votes to leave out testimony from new witnesses or documents, the impeachment trial for Trump could move ahead without any new evidence. Fifty-one votes are required to allow new witness testimony per the Democrats’ request, meaning four Republican Senators would have to vote in favor of it. Although moderate Republican Senators like Susan Collins of Maine and Mitt Romney have signaled they may be open to hearing from witnesses, their votes might not be enough. Trump notably [blocked](https://intelligence.house.gov/report/) at least 12 potential witnesses from testifying in the House’s impeachment inquiry. One former Administration official in that group, former National Security Adviser John Bolton, said earlier in January that he would be [willing to testify](https://time.com/5759935/former-national-security-adviser-john-bolton-says-hes-willing-to-testify-in-impeachment-trial/) in the Senate’s trial if he is subpoenaed. Bolton is among the top four witnesses Democrats want to interview, with the others including acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and White House officials Michael Duffey and Robert Blair. ## 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/5768920/trump-impeachment-trial-rules/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5768920/trump-impeachment-trial-rules/"},"headline":"How the Trump Impeachment Trial Rules Compare to Clinton's Trial","datePublished":"2020-01-22T00:07:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:52:22.857Z","description":"The impeachment trial of President Donald Trump began in earnest on Tuesday","url":"https://time.com/5768920/trump-impeachment-trial-rules/","keywords":["Impeachment","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"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/impeachment/","name":"Impeachment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5768920/trump-impeachment-trial-rules/","name":"How the Trump Impeachment Trial Rules Compare to Clinton's Trial"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Senator Mitch McConnell Outlines First Day of Impeachment Trial","description":"Last Thursday, the United States Senate crossed one of the greatest thresholds that exist in our system of government, we began just a third presidential impeachment trial in American history.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/1J16bwkh/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2020-01-21T22:35:13.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1J16bwkh.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5768920/trump-impeachment-trial-rules/","duration":"PT1M56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5768920/trump-impeachment-trial-rules/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}},{"@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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