Newt Gingrich Now Says Impeaching Bill Clinton Was a Mistake, Blames Focus on Sex for Trivializing Perjury

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who orchestrated the 1998 impeachment of President Bill Clinton, now says the effort was a strategic and cultural misstep. In an interview Wednesday with the podcast "Pod Force One," Gingrich told host Miranda Devine that he believes the impeachment was a mistake, largely because the public debate focused on sex rather than the underlying felony of perjury.

"I think it was a mistake because the real problem wasn't Lewinsky," Gingrich said, referring to the White House intern whose affair with Clinton became the centerpiece of the scandal. "The real problem was he had committed perjury in a case involving sexual harassment while he was governor. And perjury is a felony. In fact, he was stripped of his law license in Arkansas after he left the presidency and for five years couldn't practice because he clearly committed a felony."

Gingrich, who served as House Speaker from 1995 to 1999, acknowledged that allowing the impeachment narrative to be framed around sex "trivialized" the case. He recalled a telling moment during the summer of 1998 when his two daughters—then in their early 20s—confronted him at an Atlanta café. "They both said to me, 'If our friends lose money on their 401(k) because of some stupid intern, we are going to be mad at you because frankly it ain't a big enough deal for us to lose a lot of money, right?'" Gingrich said. "I realized at that point I had completely misunderstood how the culture was evolving."

The scandal that led to Clinton's impeachment began with Paula Jones’ sexual harassment lawsuit, filed in 1991 when Clinton was still governor of Arkansas. Independent counsel Ken Starr expanded the investigation to include Clinton's relationship with Lewinsky, ultimately uncovering evidence of perjury and obstruction of justice. The House voted to impeach Clinton on December 19, 1998; the Senate acquitted him on both articles in February 1999. Jones received an $850,000 settlement from Clinton in November 1998.

Gingrich's public reversal underscores a broader re-evaluation among some Republicans of the long-term political and cultural consequences of the impeachment. Critics at the time argued that the effort was driven more by partisan animus than constitutional principle, and many analysts credit the impeachment backlash with boosting Clinton's approval ratings. Gingrich's own political career ended shortly after the impeachment, when he resigned from Congress in 1999 following disappointing midterm elections.

Clinton's spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Gingrich's remarks. Monica Lewinsky has spoken in recent years about the toll the scandal took on her, describing it as a "public burning" in interviews. The former intern now works as a producer and anti-bullying advocate.

This article incorporates background from a Fox News report by Leo Briceno.