Chorus in Congress urging Starr not to indict Clinton

Bipartisan itch grows to end independent counsel law

February 14, 1999
Web posted at: 7:30 p.m. EST (0030 GMT)

In this story:

Hyde: 'Close that book'

White House changing tune on extending counsel law

Clinton pastor calls acquittal 'enormous relief'

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, February 14) -- After President Bill Clinton's acquittal on two articles of impeachment, members of Congress on both sides of the aisle are urging Independent Counsel Ken Starr not to bring criminal charges against him.


Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky): "I think indicting the president would not be a great idea"

There are also growing indications that the law authorizing independent counsels, set to expire this summer, may be yet another casualty of the Monica Lewinsky affair.

"I think indicting the president would not be a great idea, but clearly that's something in the Congress that we can't control," Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said on CNN's "Late Edition." He also said the independent counsel statute should "absolutely not" be renewed.

"I was one of the 21 people who voted against extending it in 1993," McConnell said. "I don't want it to be amended. I want it to be ended."

"Move on," said Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-New York) on NBC's "Meet The Press." "I've had enough of everything, but particularly Kenneth Starr."


Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-New York)

Moynihan called the independent counsel statute "a post-Watergate, liberal notion, and it was a disaster."

Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, a likely 2000 presidential candidate who voted to convict Clinton on both articles, also urged Starr not to indict the president, saying there is an "overwhelming desire on the part of the American people and the Congress" to end the Lewinsky saga.


Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona): "It's time to move on"

"I can't pretend to tell Mr. Starr what his legal options are, but from a pure political standpoint, it's time to move on," McCain said on "Meet The Press." "And I think that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle share that view."

Hyde: 'Close that book'

During Clinton's impeachment in the House and subsequent trial in the Senate, his lawyers and Democratic defenders repeatedly said that the criminal courts, not the Congress, were the appropriate venues for hearing the charges of perjury and obstruction of justice lodged against him.

During testimony before the House, Starr said any decision on pursuing criminal charges against Clinton wouldn't be made until after the impeachment process was complete.

But even the chief House impeachment manager, Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Illinois), now says he thinks Clinton has suffered enough and that it would be unwise to try to put him in jail.

"I would close that book. I think indicting the president would not be appropriate," he said on ABC's "This Week."

White House changing tune on extending counsel law

The independent counsel statute comes up for renewal in June, with congressional hearings on extending the law scheduled for later this month.

Clinton supported its authorization in 1993. But in an interview aired Sunday on "This Week," White House Chief of Staff John Podesta indicated that the White House may be of a different mind this time around, though he said no final decision has been made.

"I think it's going to be very difficult to reauthorize this law -- based on not just Mr. Starr's case but on a number of cases that people have looked at -- without major, major revisions," he said.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-New Jersey) said Starr had "overreached significantly" in his investigation of Clinton.

"When I hear people as respectable as Mitch McConnell, as Henry Hyde ... saying, 'Well, enough is enough, let's get on with the businesses of the people,' it tells me that everybody has had a chance to do a little insight, a little review of that and said ... we do not want to replicate (or) duplicate that in any way for the future," he said.

Clinton pastor calls acquittal 'enormous relief'

Clinton attended church services Sunday at Washington's Foundry United Methodist Church, where the pastor urged the president, the Congress and the media to "speak gently" for the good of the nation.

"Last Friday's action was such an enormous relief, as I think it was for all of us," the Rev. J. Philip Wogaman said of Clinton's acquittal. "I'm relieved not only that it's over but in the way that it's over.

"I know that there are some in this country who are disappointed the Senate did not convict," he said. "My prayer for the next two years is that the quality of leadership in this country will be such that even those who wanted to see the president removed from office will be glad that he was not."