The Clinton Impeachment | 8. Move On

Summary

Slow Burn: The Clinton Impeachment | Ep. 8 “Move On” (Oct 10, 2018) — Detailed Summary

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Episode Overview

The season finale of Slow Burn’s second season focuses on the explosive aftermath of Independent Counsel Ken Starr’s report to Congress regarding President Bill Clinton’s conduct. This episode, titled “Move On,” explores not only the legal and political battles over impeachment, but also the surfacing of a bombshell sexual assault allegation buried deep in the evidence files. Through interviews, archival audio, and behind-the-scenes accounts, host Leon Neyfakh examines how both major parties processed the mounting scandals around Clinton, how a previously sidelined accusation from Juanita Broaddrick gained new attention, and what these events revealed about American politics, the legal process, and the country’s reckoning with presidential misconduct.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Arrival of Starr’s Report and the Deluge of Evidence

• [00:00–01:13]
  • Ken Starr delivers his long-awaited referral to Congress in September 1998 after a four-year investigation.
  • The report includes 36 boxes (18 each to Democrats and Republicans) of raw material including grand jury testimony, interview transcripts, and internal memos.
  • These materials were made available exclusively to the House Judiciary Committee as they contemplated whether to move toward impeachment.

“Hundreds of pages that are the culmination of four years of a controversial investigation… transported in a pair of white vans… locked in a room in the Ford Office Building.”
— Leon Neyfakh (00:42)

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2. The Role of Congressional Democrats: Abby Lowell’s Assessment

• [01:13–03:30]
  • Abby Lowell, a lawyer recruited in preparation for potential impeachment proceedings, heads the Democratic review of Starr’s findings.
  • Lowell and his team comb through the evidence over a grueling weekend, under intense expectation from party leaders Dick Gephardt and Tom Daschle.
  • Their task: determine if the President’s actions formed legitimate grounds for impeachment.
  • Lowell concludes that while Clinton’s conduct was inappropriate for a President, it did not legally constitute an impeachable offense such as perjury, obstruction of justice, or abuse of power.

“The President of the United States committed conduct that was not anywhere close to what we expect a President… but I did not see his conduct as violating… any of the criminal statutes… nor… an abuse of power that would have risen to an impeachable offense.”
— Abby Lowell (02:53)

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3. Political Stakes and Democratic Positioning

• [03:30–04:38]
  • Armed with this legal analysis, Democratic leadership—especially Gephardt—commits to defending Clinton, framing Republican drive for impeachment as politically motivated.
  • Gephardt warns Congress against a protracted process:

“If we stay here for 3, 6, 9, 12 months, 2 years in suspended animation while we go over every charge… we will hurt our country and our people and our children.”
— Dick Gephardt (03:54)

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4. The Buried Bombshell: Juanita Broaddrick’s Allegation

• [04:38–05:31]
  • Among thousands of pages, a single reference surfaces in an appendix: a claim by “Jane Doe Number Five,” later identified as Juanita Broaddrick, that Clinton sexually assaulted her years earlier.
  • Starr’s team had deemed this allegation as not pertinent to impeachment, so Lowell’s initial review largely overlooks it.

“Since Starr himself had concluded that this accusation was not relevant… Lowell figured his time was better spent on other material.”
— Leon Neyfakh (04:56)

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5. Shifting Focus and Political Tremors

• [05:31–06:20]
  • Months later, as Broaddrick’s identity and story become public, her accusations intensify debate in Congress and beyond, shifting the lens from an “adulterer” to potentially a “violent criminal.”
  • The episode poses critical questions: How did the political and media establishment process such a grave accusation? Why did Broaddrick’s story remain sidelined in popular memory?

“All our reporting found things that tended to support her story, not undermined it.”
— Leon Neyfakh (06:11)

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6. Moral Reckoning and the Limits of Accountability

• [06:11–06:20]
  • The episode challenges listeners with the dilemma of separating policy success and leadership from personal immorality or criminality.

“How do you look at the person who’s your President of the United States—and think that he’s capable of something like that?”
— Abby Lowell (06:16)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “People think that from second one, the Democrats in Congress were aligned with the President. And that’s not true.”
  — Abby Lowell (02:34)

• “It was Dick Gephardt who said to me that… if we came to that conclusion [that impeachment was warranted]… it would be he and Tom who walked up Pennsylvania Avenue and told the President that he had to resign.”
  — Abby Lowell (01:42)

• “Someone is going to get this woman on the record saying what this president did to her years ago.”
  — Abby Lowell (06:11)

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Important Timestamps

• [00:00–01:13] — Overview of the Starr report’s submission; evidence arrives at Congress.
• [01:13–03:30] — Abby Lowell’s charge to analyze evidence; Democrat legal strategy forms.
• [03:30–04:38] — Gephardt’s public positioning; urgent warnings about the political fallout.
• [04:38–05:05] — Discovery of Juanita Broaddrick’s allegation in evidence files.
• [05:31–06:20] — Broaddrick’s story surfaces, raising the stakes of the impeachment debate.
• [06:11–06:20] — Episode’s central question: the struggle to reconcile leadership with allegations of violence.

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Conclusion

“Move On” serves as a powerful meditation on the limits of political accountability, the blind spots of a partisan Congress, and the enduring question of how grave personal allegations should affect a President’s fate. Leon Neyfakh’s reporting and personal interviews illuminate the mechanisms—and failures—of American political institutions during one of the country’s most consequential scandals. The episode leaves listeners considering not just the events themselves, but also their resonance in how we grapple with leadership, scandal, and justice today.

Transcript

[Leon Mayfock]

A note to our listeners in the first 15 minutes. This episode contains descriptions of sexual assault. Ken Starr sent his report to Congress on September 9, 1998. More than four years had passed since the start of his investigation into the Clintons.

[Abby Lowell]

The Office of Independent Counsel submitted a referral to the House of Representatives containing substantial and credible information that may constitute grounds for impeachment of the President of the United States.

[Leon Mayfock]

Along with the report itself, Starr sent over 36 boxes of raw investigative material. One set of 18 boxes for the Democrats and another set of 18 for the Republicans.

[Abby Lowell]

Two copies of each piece of evidence.

[Leon Mayfock]

Hundreds of pages that are the culmination of four years of a controversial investigation by the Independent Counsel. The boxes were filled with grand jury testimony, transcripts of closed door interviews, and internal memos prepared by prosecutors. They were transported in a pair of white vans to the House of Representatives, where they were locked in a room in the Ford Office Building. For now, the boxes would only be accessible to the House Judiciary Committee, the 37 member body that would decide whether to propose articles of impeachment to the full House.

[Abby Lowell]

The Office of Independent Counsel is not going to make any public statement about the contents of the referral. We will not be discussing it publicly.

[Leon Mayfock]

The following weekend, a lawyer named Abby Lowell would begin going through the material page by page. Lowell had been waiting for this moment since the spring when he'd been recruited by the Congressional Democrats, led by Dick Gephardt in the House and Tom Dascho in the Senate, just in case impeachment became a real threat.

[Abby Lowell]

And it was Dick Gephardt who said to me that he and Tom Daschle understood me and the staff were going to get access to the material in a few hours. He understood we would be working through the weekend, and he was hoping we would be able to come and have a meeting that next Monday with him and them and basically tell them whether or not we, as a collective thought, the President of the United States had committed an impeachable offense. And I remember him saying words to the effect that if we came to that conclusion and they agreed with it, I needed to remember that it would be he and Tom who walked up Pennsylvania Avenue and told the President that he had to resign.

[Leon Mayfock]

And so Lowell sprang into action. When we spoke earlier this year, he described his team's exploration of the evidence as an earnest effort, a hunt for relevant facts combined with a good faith analysis of the law and the Constitution.

[Abby Lowell]

People think that from second one, the Democrats in Congress were aligned with the President. And that's not true, Lowell spent 48.

[Leon Mayfock]

Nearly sleepless hours reading, sorting and taking notes on Ken Starr's evidence. At the end of this marathon session, he reached a firm conclusion that first.

[Abby Lowell]

The President of the United States committed conduct that was not anywhere close to what we expect a President of the United States to do. But I did not see his conduct as violating, with proof beyond reasonable doubt, any of the criminal statutes that address the issue of obstruction or perjury. And I did not see an abuse of power that would have risen to an impeachable offense. And I'd like to think that I would have come to those conclusions no matter what side hired me. But it's easy to say 20 years later, I just think that's the case.

[Leon Mayfock]

Lowell, who now represents Donald Trump's son in law, Jared Kushner, in matters related to the Mueller investigation, informed Gephardt of his analysis. After hearing it, the House Minority Leader prepared for battle. If the Republicans wanted Clinton out of office, they were going to have to fight for it. Here's Gephardt warning against the drawn out impeachment process about a month after the Star Report landed. If we stay here for 3, 6, 9, 12 months, 2 years in suspended animation while we go over every charge that's out there, we will hurt our country and our people and our children. What Gephardt didn't know was that buried deep within the thousands of pages that Ken Starr had sent to Congress was a reference to something explosive, an interview conducted by the FBI with a woman who claimed that Bill Clinton had sexually assaulted her. This allegation did not appear anywhere in the Starr report. It only came up in an appendix where it was cited in a footnote attached to a parenthetical the woman was identified only as Jane Doe number five.

[Abby Lowell]

We obviously found it at some point, but I can't honestly remember whether it was that weekend or not. My instinct was it's not. My instinct was that that first bit of time was really focused around the referral about which it was made and the mainstream issues that they addressed.

[Leon Mayfock]

Since Starr himself had concluded that this accusation was not relevant to the case for impeachment, Lowell figured his time was better spent on other material.

[Abby Lowell]

Obviously. One pours through the deposition and grand jury transcript of President Clinton, one pours through the interview memoranda of Monica Lewinsky, and one pours through the documents that were being exchanged about her getting a job. There was neither time, staff, inclination, or a view that we needed to get much beyond that in that beginning of time.

[Leon Mayfock]

Months later, Jane Doe Number Five's allegation would become a tremor rumbling beneath Congress and the White House as Republicans and Democrats learned her story and even her name, Juanita Broderick. How did politicians, journalists and regular people process Broderick's claim that the President was not just an adulterer but a violent criminal? How did it become part of the impeachment process? And what does it mean that Broderick's story has never really become a part of Bill Clinton's? This is the season finale of Slow Burn. I'm your host, Leon Mayfock. All our reporting found things that tended to support her story, not undermined it.

[Abby Lowell]

Someone is going to get this woman on the record saying what this president did to her years ago. How do you look at the person who's your President of the United States.

[Leon Mayfock]

And think that he's capable of something like that? Episode 8 Move On.

[Susan]

Hi again, Susan here. I hope you're finding this story as compelling as we did. I've worked at Slate for nine years, and I now serve as executive editor of the magazine. I also hosted season seven of Slow Burn on the history of Roe v. Wade, which was the most thorough and thoughtful journalism I've ever done. For every season, we track down the people who lived through these historic events and find archival material that helps us see these stories in new ways. That work isn't easy or cheap, which is why we depend on Slate plus members to make it happen. Your membership helps us keep making Slow Burn and supports all of Slate's journalism. If you want to hear the rest of this season and support what we do, now's the perfect time to join Slate Plus. You can join directly within Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or visit slate.com slow burnplus to get access wherever you listen. Thanks so much for listening and for considering becoming a member.