Later this week, when House Democrats launch the public phase of the impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump, it won't be the first presidential impeachment probe for some lawmakers in Washington. Among sitting senators and members of Congress, 29 Republicans cast a vote during the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, which ended with his acquittal in the Senate on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in February 1999.

A few of these Republicans, perhaps aware of the potential ramifications of rushing to judgment, have been relatively circumspect in public since the Trump impeachment inquiry began. "I think there are legitimate questions that have to be asked," said Michigan congressman Fred Upton, a moderate Republican who voted to impeach Clinton. Through a spokesperson, Wyoming senator Mike Enzi, who voted to convict in the 1999 Senate trial, promised to "do what he did before" and make a final decision after hearing "all the evidence." Others have been less restrained.

The Clinton impeachment saga began with an investigation led by independent counsel Ken Starr into the president's involvement in Whitewater, a series of failed real estate investments back home in Arkansas. Although the Clintons were never charged in connection with Whitewater, the scope of Starr's authority expanded to encompass other Clinton-era political scandals, too, including a sexual harassment lawsuit brought against him by former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones. Starr's report to Congress, which ultimately served as the basis for Clinton's impeachment, alleged that the president committed perjury in the Jones matter by lying under oath about his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, and obstructed justice by urging Lewinsky to lie about their relationship, too. All told, the Clinton investigations lasted more than four years, cost taxpayers nearly $80 million, and resulted in the House impeaching the president for misconduct in a lawsuit related to his extramarital affairs.

The subject matter of the Trump inquiry is altogether different: a scheme orchestrated by the president and his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, to pressure a foreign government to dig up dirt on a potential 2020 rival, former vice president Joe Biden, and to withhold a White House invitation and millions of dollars in foreign aid to force Ukraine to cooperate. In addition, special counsel Robert Mueller submitted a report to Congress earlier this year outlining the ways in which Trump, in a wholly distinct scandal, may have obstructed the government's investigation into Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. South Dakota senator John Thune, who as a congressman voted to impeach Clinton in 1998, has acknowledged that although it remains "pretty hard to come to hard and fast conclusions" at this stage, the "picture" emerging of Trump's conduct in Ukraine is, at the very least, "not a good one."

Other Republicans, however, have not been nearly so shy about defending Trump's abuses of power and condemning the current impeachment inquiry. Below are a few lawmakers who voted to impeach or convict Bill Clinton for high crimes and misdemeanors two decades ago—and who are taking a notably different approach to the prospect of impeaching or convicting Donald Trump for far more serious allegations.

Steve Chabot, congressman from Ohio

Then: Impeachment is an existential crisis. "I ask every Member of the House to consider the question I posed to my colleagues on the Committee on the Judiciary last week: What message are we sending to the youth of America if we abdicate our constitutional duty and condone perjury, obstruction of justice and abuse of power by the President of the United States?"