for the Clinton White House. Clinton administration years Blumenthal served as assistant and senior advisor to Bill Clinton from August 1997 until January 2001. His roles included advising the President on communications and public policy as well as serving as a liaison between the White House and former colleagues in the Washington press corps. He later became a central figure in the grand jury investigation that ended in the impeachment of President Clinton. While working for Clinton, Blumenthal was known for this loyalty to the Clintons and his often baseless attacks on her political adversaries, including Barack Obama, when Hillary Clinton and Obama were running each other to be the 2008 Democratic nominee to be president, which later was the primary reason Rahm Emanuel, the first chief of staff for President Barack Obama, barred Blumenthal from holding a position in the State Department during Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State. Perjury before congress In 1998, after Christopher Hitchens submitted an affidavit which contradicted Blumenthal testimony in which he stated that he had never referred to Monica Lewinsky as a stalker. This led to lawmakers calling on the department of justice to prosecute Blumenthal for perjury. Arlen Specter even filed a motion to investigate possible perjury by Blumenthal. However Hitchens promised to withdraw his affidavit and nothing came of the matter. Clinton impeachment trial During the investigations by independent counsel Kenneth Starr, Blumenthal was called to the grand jury to testify on matters related to what Clinton had told both Blumenthal and his senior staff in regard to Monica Lewinsky. The leadership of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives felt enough evidence existed in regard to the Paula Jones case and Lewinsky for impeachment proceedings to begin in December 1998. After the House Judiciary Committee and the United States House of Representatives impeached Clinton on December 19, the matter then passed to the United States Senate. Blumenthal was one of only four witnesses called to testify before the Senate. No live witnesses were called; the four were interviewed on videotape. His testimony addressed a major allegation that Clinton had pressured Betty Currie to falsely attest that it was Lewinsky who initially pursued Clinton, not vice versa. The Senate acquitted Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice, and the impeachment proceedings ended. Blumenthal v. Drudge In 1997, Blumenthal filed a $30 million libel lawsuit against the blogger Matt Drudge