Clinton Impeached - Peter Baker, Juliet Eilperin (1998) - How does the lie become the main factor of accusation?

Extract

[...] The Senate is then maybe overestimating the importance of what has happened. Conclusion An oath has a particularly important meaning for the American society; it should not be surprising, then, if the disrespect of his oath became the main reason Clinton was impeached in 1998, and if the question of his ability to stay at the White House was asked from the moment his lie became a certitude. The Republicans, holding the majority at the Senate, used it as the main reason to vote the impeachment. [...]

[...] By Peter Baker and Juliet Eilperin Dec at 2:00 a.m. GMT-3 Updated December The House of Representatives impeached the president of the United States yesterday for only the second time in American history, charging William Jefferson Clinton with "high crimes and misdemeanors" for lying under oath and obstructing justice to cover up an Oval Office affair with a young intern. At 1:25 p.m. on a day of constitutional drama and personal trauma, the Republican-led House voted 228 to 206 largely along party lines to approve the first article of impeachment accusing the Democratic president of perjury before a grand jury. [...]

[...] "There have been so many bombshells you can barely turn your back." In his six-minute address on the South Lawn, outside a White House bedecked for Christmas in just six days, Clinton blamed a toxic Washington for his plight. "We must stop the politics of personal destruction," he said. "We must get rid of the poisonous venom of excessive partisanship, obsessive animosity and uncontrolled anger. That is not what America deserves." Republicans, queasy themselves about the quickly shifting personal code of conduct for politicians, echoed the general sentiments, although they were quick to add that the president had only himself to blame for turning private foibles into public misconduct. [...]

[...] I must also be at peace with the fact that the public consequences of my actions are in the hands of the American people and their representatives in the Congress. Should they determine that my errors of word and deed require their rebuke and censure, I am ready to accept that. Meanwhile, I will continue to do all I can to reclaim the trust of the American people and to serve them well. We must all return to the work, the vital work, of strengthening our nation for the new century. Our country has wonderful opportunities and daunting challenges ahead. [...]

[...] "And when the chief law enforcement officer trivializes, ignores, shreds, minimizes the sanctity of the oath, then justice is wounded, and you're wounded, and your children are wounded." The votes that followed made Clinton the only chief executive other than Andrew Johnson to be impeached by the House and forced to defend his presidency in a trial where Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist will serve as presiding officer and all 100 senators will sit as silent jurors. Under the Constitution, conviction and removal from office requires a two-thirds vote, meaning 67 senators would have to support his ouster. Like Johnson, who escaped the ultimate political punishment by a single vote in 1868, Clinton could hang on to power. With Republicans controlling the Senate 55 to 45, few in either party anticipate that enough Democrats would cross party lines to convict Clinton. [...]