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The Rundown

Here's What Got President Clinton Impeached Nearly Two Decades Ago

Your daily guide to what's working, what's not and what you can do about it.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons.

19 Years ago today: President Bill Clinton made history as the first sitting US president to be the subject of a grand jury investigation. This dubious distinction was part of a four year special investigation led by special prosecutor Kenneth Starr who looked into the Clinton family's real estate investments, which ultimately led to Starr uncovering an affair between the president and White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. Clinton denied under oath any sexual relations with Lewinsky, which led the House-controlled GOP to initiate the impeachment proceedings on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

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The bigger they are, the harder they fall: The city of Baltimore removed four of its Confederate monuments following the deadly rally in Charlottesville. The statues were taken down late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning they had all been completely removed. The monuments that were deposed were of Gens. Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson and a group of Confederate women. Also, a monument of Roger B. Taney, the Supreme Court Chief Justice who penned the decision on Dred Scott that said slaves could not become citizens, was also taken down.

Bannon's backlash: Steve Bannon, a senior adviser to President Trump and a key architect of his presidential campaign, spoke out about the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville in an interview with political magazine The American Prospect. He called the far-right a "collection of clowns" and said that the media gives them too much attention. Bannon once ran the website Breitbart, a right-wing news outlet that has been criticized for being a hate site and promoting racism and sexism.

There's been recent speculation that Bannon may be given the boot. During a press conference on Tuesday, President Trump said, "We'll see what happens with Mr. Bannon."

Subliminal shade: The US Army Chief of Staff, General Mark A. Milley, sent out a tweet on Wednesday morning explicitly condemning the country's recent resurgence of white nationalism.

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Given President Trump's softball denunciation of the racism and violence in Charlottesville, people online are reading Milley's tweet as shade toward the Commander in Chief. Both General Robert B Neller, Commandant of Marines, and Admiral John Richardson, Chief of Naval operations, also took to twitter to rebuke the actions of the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville.


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Poetic Justice: Right-wing extremist and neo-Nazi Christopher Cantwell gleefully rejoiced at the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville last week during several interview with VICE News. He expressed absolutely zero remorse at the death of Heather Heyer and championed the violence used by the alt-right. Now, he's singing a different tune. After the Charlottesville Police Department has issued a warrant for his arrest, Cantrell uploaded a four-minute long video showing a crying Cantwell scared about facing arrest.

Picking up the pieces: On Tuesday, the New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston was vandalized for the second time in the last six months. The vandal was caught that same day. A 17-year-old from Massachusetts was charged with disorderly conduct, malicious destruction of property, and causing injury to a memorial.

Witnesses say they saw the teenager throw what appeared to be a rock at the memorial, which shattered a glass panel. The incident happened a few days after the rally in Charlottesville when tension around the nation are high. If you would like to contribute to the efforts of preserving the memory of Holocaust survivors and victims, donate to the Anne Frank Center.