Whitewater Trials and Impeachment of a President: 1994-99

On September 9, 1998, Starr's 453-page report was turned over to the House of Representatives. It accused Clinton of "abundant and calculating" lies about his relationship with Lewinsky. The document used explicit language and graphic descriptions from the Tripp-Lewinsky recorded phone conversations to describe sexual escapades in and near the Oval Office. It cited nine instances of oral sex, including one during which Clinton spoke on the telephone with certain congressmen. It revealed that DNA in a semen stain on a blue dress—one that Tripp had advised Lewinsky not to have cleaned—matched Clinton's DNA. It itemized gifts from Lewinsky to Clinton and vice versa, with Clinton's secretary Bettie Currie often the deliverer. It detailed phone calls to Clinton by Vernon Jordan timed closely with chats between him and Lewinsky about job interviews, culminating in Lewinsky taking a job at Revlon in New York and Clinton saying "Thank you very much" when Jordan told him about it. It reported Clinton discussing with Currie her memory of interactions with Lewinsky.

Clinton's lawyers immediately wrote a 78-page rebuttal. "This private mistake does not amount to an impeachable action," they said, adding that the report was "nothing but the details of a private sexual relationship told in graphic details with the intent to embarrass."