1. The President has acknowledged a serious mistake, an inappropriate
relationship with Monica Lewinsky. He has taken responsibility for his
actions, and he has apologized to the country, to his friends, leaders
of his party, the cabinet and most importantly, his family.
1. This private mistake does not amount to an impeachable action. A
relationship outside one's marriage is wrong, and the President admits
that. It is not a high crime or misdemeanor. The Constitution
specifically states that Congress shall impeach only for "treason,
bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors." These words in the
Constitution were chosen with great care, and after extensive
deliberations.
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2. "High crimes and misdemeanors" had a fixed meaning to the Framers of
our Constitution, it meant wrongs committed against our system of
government. The impeachment clause was designed to protect our country
against a President who was using his official powers against the
nation, against the American people, against our society. It was never
designed to allow a political body to force a President from office for
a very personal mistake.
3. Remember, this report is based entirely on allegations obtained by a
grand jury, reams and reams of allegations and purported "evidence"
that would never be admitted in court, that has never been seen by the
President or his lawyers, and that was not subject to cross-examination
or any other traditional safeguards to ensure its credibility.
4.Grand juries are not designed to search for truth. They do not and
are not intended to ensure credibility, reliability, or simple
fairness. They only exist to accuse. Yet this is the process that the
Independent Counsel has chosen to provide the "evidence" to write his
report.
5. The law defines perjury very clearly. Perjury requires proof that
an individual knowingly made a false statement while under oath.
Answers to questions that are literally true are not perjury. Even if
an answer doesn't directly answer the question asked, it is not perjury
if it is true, no accused has an obligation to help his accuser.
Answers to fundamentally ambiguous questions also can never be perjury.
And nobody can be convicted of perjury based on only one other
person's testimony.
6. The President did not commit perjury. Most of the illegal leaks
suggesting his testimony was perjurious falsely describe his testimony.
First of all, the President never testified in the Jones deposition
that he was not alone with Ms. Lewinsky. The President never testified
that his relationship with Ms. Lewinsky was the same as with any other
intern. To the contrary, he admitted exchanging gifts with her,
knowing about her job search, receiving cards and notes from her, and
knowing other details of her personal life that made it plain he had a
special relationship with her.
1) Click to related section of the Starr Report
2) Click to related section of the Starr Report
7. The President has admitted he had an improper sexual relationship
with Ms. Lewinsky. In a civil deposition, he gave narrow answers to
ambiguous questions. As a matter of law, those answers could not give
rise to a criminal charge of perjury. In the face of the President's
admission of his relationship, the disclosure of lurid and salacious
allegations can only be intended to humiliate the President and force
him from office.
1) Click to related section of the Starr Report
2) Click to related section of the Starr Report
8. There was no obstruction of justice. We believe Betty Currie
testified that Ms. Lewinsky asked her to hold the gifts and that the
President never talked to her about the gifts. The President admitted
giving and receiving gifts from Ms. Lewinsky when he was asked about
it. The President never asked Ms. Lewinsky to get rid of the gifts and
he never asked Ms. Currie to get them. We believe that Ms. Currie's
testimony supports the President's.
Click to related section of the Starr Report
9. The President never tried to get Ms. Lewinsky a job after she left
the White House in order to influence her testimony in the Paula Jones
case. The President knew Ms. Lewinsky was unhappy in her Pentagon job
after she left the White House and did ask the White House personnel
office to treat her fairly in her job search. He never instructed
anyone to hire her, or even indicated that he very much wanted it to
happen. Ms. Lewinsky was never offered a job at the White House after
she left, and it's pretty apparent that if the President had ordered
it, she would have been.
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