Roll call of the Senate vote

Linda Tripp says she has no regrets

President Clinton addresses the nation after the acquittals. [1:57]

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WASHINGTON (Court TV) — Senators acquitted President Clinton Friday of both articles of impeachment, bringing to a close the second presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history.

Senators voted 45-55 against the impeachment article charging Clinton with perjury and acquitted the president of the charges of obstruction of justice by an evenly split 50-50 vote.

House prosecutors did not even convince a simple majority that Clinton should be convicted on either count.

Speaking from the Rose Garden, a subdued president said he was "profoundly sorry" for putting Congress and the American people though the trial process. Now, he said, it was time to get back to "serving our nation and building our future together." He called for "reconciliation and renewal" and thanked those who had supported and prayed for him over the past few months.

One reporter asked: "In your heart, sir, can you forgive and forget?"

The president paused and said, "I believe any person who asks for forgiveness should be prepared to give it."

Five moderate Republicans crossed party lines and voted to acquit on the obstruction charge, which was widely considered the stronger article. Senators Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, John Chafee of Rhode Island, Olympia Snowe of Maine, Susan Collins of Maine and Jim Jeffords of Vermont had already announced their decisions to acquit by Friday.

Specter actually voted "not proved" on both counts, but they were counted as not guilty votes.

Chafee, Snowe and Jeffords all face re-election next year and come from states that Clinton carried in the 1996 elections, which could have made votes for conviction politically risky.

Republicans who voted not guilty on perjury but guilty on obstruction of justice were Sens. Slade Gorton of Washington, Richard Shelby of Alabama, Ted Stevens of Alaska, Fred Thompson of Tennessee and John Warner of Virginia.

Of this group, only Gorton faces re-election next year. Clinton carried Washington state in 1996.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said the GOP defections showed that Republicans had worked hard to be fair.

"I would like to note that every Democrat — every Democrat — voted against either article," Lott said. "Republicans voted for one, against the other. Some of them, of course, voted for both. But if it were a bipartisan vote, it was because we did have Republicans that voted the other way."

But senators appear far less willing to forgive Clinton for concealing his extramarital affair with Monica Lewinsky from the nation and his family.

Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle said Clinton's acquittal should not be seen as vindication for his behavior. "This was a rebuke. There is no question," Daschle said of the impeachment.

In defeat, the lead House prosecutor said his team had nothing to be ashamed of, rejecting any idea that the GOP House's effort — which proceeded despite public opposition — tarnished its credibility.

"All Americans can take great comfort," Rep Henry Hyde, R-Ill., said. "Congress has strengthened, not weakened the ties that bind our nation together."

After the impeachment votes, Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., proposed a censure resolution and Phil Gramm, R-Texas, promptly offered a motion to indefinitely suspend consideration of that resolution. Censure proponents needed a two-thirds majority in order to suspend Senate rules and put their measure to a vote on the floor.

A few Republicans, such as Olympia Snow of Maine and Pete Domenici of New Mexico, signed the measure, but in general, GOP opposition was fierce. Jeffords, who voted for acquittal, signed the resolution but, Specter attacked the measure as constitutionally dubious.

Feinstein's resolution stated the president "engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate employee in the White House, which was shameful, reckless and indefensible."

The resolution did not mince words, concluding that Clinton "gave false and misleading testimony and his actions have had the effect of impeding discovery of evidence in judicial proceedings."

The document was signed by 35 senators.

Shortly after the historic votes, the second and third floors of the Senate side of the Capitol were evacuated by police checking a bomb threat, officials said.

Lewinsky, who testified earlier this month by videotape, watched on television, according to associates.

Senators thanked the chief justice for presiding over the trial and presented him with a gavel on a plaque. He said he was leaving the Senate chamber a "wiser but not a sadder man."

House managers exited the chamber, shaking hands with senators of both parties.

The president's legal team left the White House shortly after the verdict to have dinner together at a restaurant.

Today's acquittal completes a drama that has riveted official Washington, roiled a midterm congressional election and worn out the patience of the American public.

And it has caused Clinton, and the presidency, incalculable damage.

"The president's self-indulgent actions were immoral, disgraceful, reprehensible," said Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla. "History should — and, I suspect, will — judge that William Jefferson Clinton dishonored himself and the highest office in our American democracy."

Republican Sen. Robert Bennett of Utah predicted that Clinton's concealment of his affair with Lewinsky, which grew out of the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit, would forever tar him as "the most accomplished, polished liar we've ever had serving in the White House."

Senators on both sides relished the opportunity to end the unpopular trial and get back to legislative business after a mid-February break. "I really think the Senate will be able to work better because of this," Lott said.

Several key Democrats said they do not want the Senate to discuss censuring Clinton after the return from the break. "I don't want to go back into it. It's over. Let's move on," Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., said. Added Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.: "I don't think censure will come back. It's time to stop ... the censuring, stop the debating."

Clinton, however, is not yet free of legal troubles: He could face indictment, while in office or after his term, by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, and must finish his remaining months in office facing a GOP-controlled Congress that wanted him evicted from the White House.

The five-week trial which ended Friday featured for the first time videotaped testimony on the Senate floor and provided the world its first good look at Lewinsky, the former White House intern. A national TV audience was able to watch as 13 House impeachment managers, all Republicans, argued that Clinton deserved to be thrown out of office, while White House lawyers said he should not.

Throughout the impeachment proceedings, opinion polls showed that most of the public gave Clinton low marks for personal trust and morality — and were repulsed when Clinton's now-famous televised, finger-wagging assertion, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky" proved less than truthful.

But they approved of the job he was doing in a time of peace and a booming economy and did not think the sex and cover-up scandal was serious enough to warrant his removal from office.

Still, a Republican-controlled House in December voted virtually along party lines to send to the Senate for trial an impeachment case based almost entirely upon a voluminous report by Starr.

The report detailed Linda Tripp's secret tape recordings; furtive gropings and sex acts between the president and Ms. Lewinsky near the Oval Office; late night phone calls between the president and the intern; and, most damning for Clinton, a stained dress.

Based on Starr's findings, the House approved one article of impeachment accusing the president of lying to a federal grand jury on Aug. 17, 1998, about his relationship with Lewinsky.

The second charge said Clinton obstructed justice by trying to have Lewinsky sign a false affidavit in the Jones case; by a job search conducted by presidential friend Vernon Jordan; by the retrieval of presidential gifts by Oval Office secretary Betty Currie; and the alleged "coaching" of Currie by the president for her grad jury appearance.

Court TV's Aldina Vazao Kennedy and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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