On this day in 1998, President Bill Clinton settled a sexual harassment lawsuit by making an $850,000 payment. The settlement with Paula Jones, reached without the suit going to trial, heaped fuel on Clinton’s impeachment proceedings by the Republican-controlled House. (He was acquitted in a subsequent Senate trial and completed his term in office.) In the aftermath of the settlement payment, most of which went to Jones’ attorneys, Robert S. Bennett, Clinton’s attorney, maintained that Jones’ claim was baseless, and that Clinton agreed to settle only to end the lawsuit and move on.
