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Judiciary Committee wraps up its case against Clinton

Democrats' censure proposal goes down to defeat

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, December 12) -- After weeks of partisan wrangling, the House Judiciary Committee Saturday completed its impeachment case against President Bill Clinton, approving a fourth and final article of impeachment and rejecting a Democratic proposal to censure the president instead.

With the committee's action, the case against Clinton now moves to the House floor, where members are expected to vote on impeachment next Thursday. A vote on censure could also occur, if the Rules Committee grants an expected request from Democrats.

Also in this story:

The fourth article of impeachment approved by the committee accuses Clinton of making false statements in his answers to 81 questions the committee asked him during its inquiry. The committee approved it on a party-line, 21-16 vote.

The Democrats' censure proposal went down on a 22-14 vote, with Democrat Robert Scott of Virginia joining Republicans to vote "no" and Democrat Maxine Waters of California voting "present."

ALSO:
Full text of the proposed articles of impeachment (12-9-98)
Text of Democratic censure resolution (12-9-98)
Voting record on articles of impeachment

Before voting on the fourth and final article of impeachment, the committee agreed to delete charges that Clinton made false and misleading statements to the people of the United States and his staff, and frivolously asserted executive privilege during court fights that accompanied Independent Counsel Ken Starr's investigation.

Craig
Gregory Craig  

In a statement after the committee's final impeachment vote, White House counsel Gregory Craig warned House members that voting to approve the impeachment articles would "gridlock the government and defy the people."

"Nothing about this process has been fair, nothing about this process has been bipartisan and nothing about this process has won the confidence of the American people," Craig said.

During Saturday's debate the committee's ranking Democrat, John Conyers of Michigan, warned Republicans of the seriousness of their actions.

"This does, sometimes to some people, begin to take on the appearance of a coup," Conyers said. "We're talking about a polite, paper-exchanging, voting process in which we rip out the forty-second president of the United States."

Conyers
Rep. John Conyers  

On Friday, the 37-member committee approved three articles of impeachment, accusing Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice in the Monica Lewinsky affair and the Paula Jones case. Clinton has admitted to an illicit affair with Lewinsky, but denied he committed perjury or obstruction of justice trying to conceal their relationship.

The White House has already turned its focus to undecided members of Congress and next week's House floor vote. An estimated 20 GOP moderates could hold the key to Clinton's fate and whether the case goes to the Senate for trial.

The fight for censure

During the censure debate, Democrats said it would spare the country the serious consequences of a Senate trial while still punishing the president.

Boucher
Rep. Rick Boucher  

Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Virginia) argued that a trial would divert Congress and the president from "the nation's urgent national agenda," immobilize the Supreme court and disrupt financial markets.

"I have a deep disdain for the president's actions," Boucher said. "He deserves the admonishment and the censure and the rebuke of the Congress ... Not only is this the public's preference, but it is the right thing to do."

Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Illinois), who allowed the censure debate at Democrats' request, said passing it "would be to look the other way instead of confronting our collective responsibility under the Constitution."

Hyde also sarcastically complained the Democratic censure measure was flawed by the same "dearth of specificity" that Democrats complained about for hours during the debate on the GOP-drafted articles of impeachment.

Debating an alleged abuse of power

Gekas
Rep. George Gekas  

The House Judiciary Committee reconvened Saturday about 9:30 a.m. ET to debate the last article of impeachment, charging Clinton with abusing his powers as president.

Republican Rep. George Gekas of Pennsylvania proposed deleting charges that the president abused his power by making false statements to his staff and the American people and frivolously asserted executive privilege.

Hyde said that although he and many other committee members believe the president did mislead the public and his staff, the statements referred to in Article IV were not made in sworn testimony. Hyde said the deletions reflected the committee's choice "to emphasize the statements made under oath."

Hyde
Rep. Henry Hyde  

The remaining portion of the charge deal with Clinton's answers to the 81 written questions the committee asked him. Republicans contend many of the president's answers were untruthful. Hyde said the answers were given under oath, and thus, the charge of perjury in the president's responses to those questions should remain in Article IV. He said Clinton's answers stand "as an assault on the Congress."

Gekas argued that in the legal battles between Clinton's attorneys and Independent Counsel Starr, the courts -- although ruling against Clinton -- upheld his right to attempt to invoke executive privilege.

Gekas said the committee needed to show reverence for the office of the presidency and should not attack the privileges of the chief executive, even if some on the committee suspect Clinton misused the privilege.

While many Republicans expressed support for Gekas' amendment, Democratic Sen.-elect Charles Schumer of New York argued the amendment moved Article IV "not from the sublime to the ridiculous -- from the very ridiculous to simply the ridiculous."

Schumer
Rep. Charles Schumer  

The impeachment articles approved Friday accuse Clinton of committing perjury before Starr's grand jury on August 17 and in the Jones case. The grand jury allegation is that the president "willfully provided perjurious, false and misleading testimony" to the grand jury concerning his relationship with Lewinsky, an ex-White House intern.

If they pass, Clinton would face the prospect of a trial in the Senate, where a two-thirds vote would be needed to remove him from office. If that happened, Vice President Al Gore would succeed him.


Investigating the President

MORE STORIES:

Saturday, December 12, 1998

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