Clinton had been impeached by the House of Representatives in December 1998, following an investigation by independent counsel Kenneth Starr into Clinton’s sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky . According to Starr, Clinton had perjured himself when he denied the relationship in deposition for a lawsuit filed against him by former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones.The House charged Clinton with perjury and obstruction of justice, necessitating a Senate trial to determine whether Clinton should be removed from office. With Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist presiding, the trial began on the afternoon of Jan. 7, 1999 with the reading of charges against Clinton and the swearing in of all 100 senators of the jury.There was confusion as to how the trial would proceed, as there had not been a presidential impeachment trial since 1868. “Yet even as the trial formally began, the rules for how it would be conducted, how long it would last and how it would end remained unwritten,” wrote The Washington Post.Thirteen House Republicans, led by Henry Hyde of Illinois, served as the prosecution, while Clinton was defended by a standard team of defense attorneys. During the early hearings, the “Senate voted to adopt a series of motions to limit evidence primarily to the previously video-taped depositions, affidavits and other documents previously introduced, and also voted to close its final deliberations to the public,” explains the Eagleton Institute of Politics.A two-thirds majority was required to find Clinton guilty; with the solid support of the Senate’s 45 Democrats, Clinton was never likely to be convicted. On Feb. 12, the Senate held its deciding poll, voting 55-45 to acquit Clinton on the perjury charge and 50-50 on the obstruction of justice charge.Clinton spoke in the White House Rose Garden after the vote and apologized: “Now that the Senate has fulfilled its constitutional response bringing this process to a conclusion, 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 the American people.”