Senators seek to weaponize Clinton trial in Trump impeachment

Senators in both parties are using former President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial as a shared cudgel to accuse the other side of hypocrisy.

The 1999 trial—which marked the Senate’s second and most recent proceeding—has cast a long shadow over the machinations of a proceeding for President Trump, coloring everything from the current negotiations to what senators expect from a trial and how they are preparing.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) noted that the Trump impeachment proceedings seemed to be “eerily” mirroring Clinton’s. The House impeachment vote took place almost exactly 20 years after Clinton was impeached.

“We seem to be on the same timeline, matter of fact to the date,” Cornyn said, adding that an agreement on procedure negotiated by Sens. Trent Lott (R-Miss) and Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) in 1999 is “one that has a lot of merit.”