Compare the scandal involving President Clinton with Nixon's Research Paper

Compare the scandal involving President Clinton with Nixon's Watergate. What were the key similarities and differences - Research Paper Example In June 1995, a scandal began during the latter half of his second term involving Monica Lewinsky, 21, who came to the White House as an unpaid intern in the office of White House Chief of Staff, Leon Panetta. In November 1995, she got involved in a sexual relationship with President Clinton. Barely a month into the relationship, Lewinsky was moved to a paid position in the Office of Legislative Affairs, handling letters from members of Congress. She frequently ferried mail to the Oval Office. Around April, 1996, Lewinsky was transferred to a job as an assistant to Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon, by Evelyn Lieberman who was then the Deputy White House Chief of Staff. Lieberman told the New York Times later that the move was due to â€Å"inappropriate and immature behavior† and that Lewinsky demonstrated a lack of attention to work. At the Pentagon, Lewinsky met Linda Tripp, a career government employee. Around summer 1996, Lewinsky began telling Tripp during casual conversations about her relationship with President Clinton. Tripp reported these conversations to literary agent Lucianne Goldberg, who advised her to secretly record them. Tripp convinced Lewinsky to save the gifts she received from the President and the dress that got stained during one of her sexual encounters. About a year later, in the fall of 1997, when the relationship was over, Tripp secretly began taping the conversations with Lewinsky in which she explicitly talked about her alleged affair. Around October 1997, Tripp, with help from Lucianne Goldberg, met with Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff, Kucianne & Jonah Goldberg at Jonah’s apartment in Washington, where they listened to a tape with the Tripp/Lewinsky conversation. In October 1997, Lewinsky interviewed with U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Bill Richardson for a low level public affairs position in New York. She was offered a job but she declined. In early December that year, Lewinsky left the Pentagon. Later that month, Bett ie Currie, President Clinton’s personal secretary, got in touch with Vernon Jordan, a friend of Clintons, to place Lewinsky in New York. Vernon Jordan obliged and introduced Lewinsky to several leads. Lewinsky allegedly had over 9 sexual encounters with the President in the Oval Office during the period between November 1995 and March 1997. On December 17, 1997, Lewinsky was subpoenaed by lawyers for Paula Jones, who was suing the President on sexual harassment charges. She submitted an affidavit in which she declared that she never had any sexual relationship with the President. She also, allegedly attempted to persuade Tripp to lie under oath in the Jones case. Tripp, instead, gave the tapes to Kenneth Starr, who was the Independent Counsel investigating the Whitewater & Paula Jones case. Lewinsky made her final visit to the White House on December 28, 1997, when she and the President had a private meeting. During this meeting, the President allegedly encouraged Lewinsky to be as evasive as possible in her responses to any of the questions in the Jones’ lawsuit. On January 16th 1998, Kenneth Starr contacted United States Attorney General, Janet Reno, seeking permission to expand his probe to investigate possible impropriety on the part of the President. The Attorney General gave her consent and submitted a request to a panel of three Federal judges. The judges agreed to allow Kenneth Starr to formally investigate the possibility of subornation of perjury and obstruction of justice