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Checking the facts of the opening statementsBy Brooks Jackson/CNN
January 22, 1999 WASHINGTON (January 22) -- In six days of argument and rebuttal there has been little disagreement about the facts of the impeachment case against President Bill Clinton. But how to look at the facts? A world of difference. Here's one stark example: House managers say the video tape of Clinton's January 17, 1998 deposition shows the president paying close attention to what his lawyer, Bob Bennett, is saying to the judge in the Paula Jones case. The Republican prosecution claims those images prove Clinton lied to the grand jury on August 17, 1998 when he said he wasn't following what was said.
To House manager Bill McCollum (R-Florida), it's this way: "I don't see how anybody can say this man wasn't paying attention. He certainly wasn't thinking about anything else." But White House lawyer Gregory Craig looks at the same video, and sees a completely different picture. "There is nothing that can be read in his face or in his body language to show that he is listening to, understanding or affirming Mr. Bennett's statement -- no nod of the head, no movement at all, no comment, nothing," Craig argued. So whether this video proves the president lied or not, is in the eye of the beholder. And so it goes for most of the impeachment case. Another example: Lewinsky testified she began her affair with the president in November 1995. The president testified it began in early 1996.
House managers call that a lie -- about an important fact. "This was not a mere slip of memory over a meaningless time frame," James Rogan (R-California) said. White House lawyers describe it differently. "... An utterly meaningless disparity in testimony about dates that are of absolutely no consequence," Craig answered. House managers said the president lied to cover up how young Lewinsky was, but they made a factual mistake themselves. "The president committed perjury before the grand jury when he testified about the nature of his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, a 21-year-old White House intern," Rogan said. Not true. Lewinsky was 22-years-old. White House lawyers say the president hid nothing from the grand jury on that score.
In the accusers' eyes, the president deliberately understated the number of sexual contacts with Lewinsky to the grand jury last August. "On certain occasions..." Clinton said. "Actually, they were alone in the White House at least 20 times and had at least 11 sexual encounters at the White House," Rogan said. White House lawyers say they only count 10 sexual encounters, but in their eyes even 11 wouldn't make the president a liar for using the phrase "on certain occasions." "It sort of means it happened every now and then," Craig tried to explain. Defenders kept pointing to what their client admitted, calling him forthright and forthcoming.
"I engaged in conduct that was wrong," Clinton told the grand jury. His accusers focused on what he evaded. Especially this portion of Clinton's grand jury testimony: "You are free to infer that my testimony is that I did not have sexual relations, as I understood this term to be defined," Clinton said "Including touching her breasts, kissing her breasts, or touching her genitalia?" Independent Counsel Ken Starr's prosecutor asked. "That's correct," Clinton said. McCollum said that's the clearest example of presidential perjury before the grand jury. "In her sworn testimony, Monica Lewinsky described nine incidents of sexual activity of which the president touched and kissed her breasts and four incidents involving contact with her genitalia," he said. To which the White House says it's just her word against his. Did the president try to get Lewinsky to file a false affidavit in the Paula Jones case? House managers point to Lewinsky's grand jury testimony of a telephone conversation December 17, 1997. "He sort of said, 'You know, you can always say you were coming to see Betty (Currie) or that you were bringing me letters,'" Lewinsky told the grand jury. To House managers that can only be witness tampering. "This is the clearest, boldest, most significant obstruction of justice charge. I don't see how anybody can walk away from it, explain it out," McCollum said. But White House lawyers did offer an explanation and they too pointed to Lewinsky's testimony where she said that she did sometimes bring letters to the president, she did have a personal friendship with Clinton's secretary Currie. Lewinsky testified, "No one asked or encouraged me to lie" The White House likes that. She also said, "but nobody discouraged me, either." Accusers point to that. Nobody denies that presidential pal Vernon Jordan tried to find Lewinsky a job in New York. But the record is clear -- the president, Jordan and Lewinsky all deny there was any connection to her testimony in the Jones case. House managers made much of the fact that Jordan made job calls on December 11, 1997, the same day Judge Susan Webber Wright ruled Jones' lawyers could look into the president's sexual relations. Maybe it was a coincidence. The White House produced a document showing the judge didn't announce her order until hours after Jordan had finished his job calls and boarded a plane for Amsterdam. A House stumble -- but also a minor point. Lewinsky's name had appeared on the Paula Jones witness list on December 5, nearly a week earlier. And Jordan made more job calls after December 11 as well. Lots of facts, thousands of pages of testimony and documents, and after six days of argument, still no consensus about what they mean. |
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MORE STORIES:Friday, January 22, 1999
• Sens. Byrd and Hatch offer plans to end trial early • Poll: Most Americans want impeachment trial to end soon • Checking the facts of the opening statements • The senators' trial questions • Transcript: Senators question impeachment lawyers • Clinton proposes anti-terrorism plan • Conservative presidential hopefuls slam Gov. Bush • Draft proposal on Medicare changes unveiled • Rehnquist at impeachment trial more easygoing than usual • DeLay says Republicans to benefit from impeachment • Hastert: HMO bills will move this year • Prosecutors accuse Democratic fund-raiser Trie of passport scam | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
