mStanMtpert
Aftenalh
“We are here because circum
stances and our Constitution have
thrust upon us an onerous duty-one
that requires us to summon the
courage and die means to defend the
rule cf law."
Rep. Henry Hyde, R-DL, House
judiciary chairman
“There’s going to be some sort of
sanction here. The question is what -
from impeachment to censure to
rebuke to condemnation or what."
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah,
Senate judiciary committee chair
man
' ^ V'",.
“This is not politics. This is not
spinning. This is not polling. This is
not a lynch mob. This is not a witch
hunt. This is not trying to find facts to
support our already reached Conclu
sions. This is a constitutional test”
Rep. Richard Gephardt, D
Mo^ House minority leader
“Based on a preliminary review
of the narrative and statement of
grounds submitted by the indepen
dent counsel, it is clear that there is
disturbing evidence that the
President may be guilty of perjury,
obstruction of justice and witness
tampering. If proven, such conduct
would constitute grounds for
impeachment.”
Rep. Charles Canady, R-Fla.
“There is a presumption of inno
cence untilproven guilty.”
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D
Tezas
“The report lays out a clear case
that the president committed obstruc
tion of justice, and other offenses that
strike at the heart of our legal system.
Over the next several days, I will be
carefully analyzing the supporting
materialfrom Judge Starr to deter
mine if the evidence fully and com
pletely supports a case for President
Clinton’s impeachment.”
Rep. Bob Barr, R-Ga.
“The impeachment process can
reestablish die moral authority of the
office. Its dear we need to do some
thing so that we have a president with
some strength”
Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah
“If congressmen get impeached
for misleading statements or lying
we are all done for”
Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.
. .
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Fax number (402) 472-1761
World Wide Web; mm.uni.eclu/DaiyNeb
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Union 34,1400 R St.Uncoln, NE 68588-0448, Monday through Friday duming the academic
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ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1998
THE DALY NBRASKAN
By Todd Anderson
Senior staff writer
Nebraskans who showed support for
President Clinton by donating to his pub
lic defense fund hope the nation’s leader
will serve his full term and want to see an
end to the Kenneth Starr investigation
that has lasted more than four years.
And as the Judicial Committee of
the House of Representatives reviews
the Starr report, many supporters
remain loyal to the president
When Independent Counsel Kenneth
Starr began his investigation more than
four years ago, a public fund opened to
help pay for CKntonh defense expenses.
Since then, more than 20
Nebraskans have contributed $5-$ 1,000
each to the special fund. The contribu
tors interviewed by the Daily Nebraskan
aU said they still supported the president
after the release of the report
Dan Crawford, a University of
Nebraska-Lincoln visiting philosophy
professor, said he gave $1,000 to the
fund because he thoughtthe investiga
tion had gone too far.
“I didn’t think it was fair for him to
go hundreds of thousand of dollars in
debt for charges that were politically
motivated.”
Charles Keenan, a retired priest
from Lincoln who donated $25, said the
entire investigation stemmed from
manipulation of politics.
“There’s no morality, no sex,” he
said. “Just all politics.”
Walter Malson, a Lincoln tax audi
tor who gave $25, agreed and said he
thought the Starr investigation was
motivated by hatred and revenge.
Malson and Marilyn Riechel, a col
lege instructor from Omaha, said they
want to contribute more money to the
defense fund now that the Congress is
considering impeachment
“I never doubted that (President
Clinton) was a human being and could
make mistakes,” Riechel said.
Riechel said she did not approve of
Clinton’s extramarital affair with
Monica Lewinsky, but blamed the
media and Republican leadership for
delving into Clinton^ personal matters.
“The actual disgrace to our country
is what they’ve made out of this,” she
said.
Crawford said it would be a “great
tragedy” if Clinton were to resign and
Riechel said it would be a “very sad
day” for America.
Riechel said she thought Clinton
would serve out his term because of his
ability to side-step past controversies.
u—
I never doubted that (President Clinton) was
a human being and could make mistakes.”
Maruto Riechbl
Omaha college instructor
“They’ve gone after him with such
ferocity and such intensity,” Riechel
said. “That really speaks well for
Clinton,” she said.
But Crawford said he was pes
simistic about die outcome of the inves
tigation.
“I’m afraid this whole incident is
going to cripple his presidency and
make him ineffective,” Crawford said.
But Sharon Parcel, a retired customer
service representative from Omaha,
said she would react with indifference if
Clinton resigned or was impeached by
Congress.
“I see he’s under a lot of stress,”
Parcel said.
“I could just see it might take pres
sure off him,” she said.
Crawford and Malson both said
they trust congressional leaders to
decide whether to impeach Clinton, but
hoped such a process wouldn’t start
“Like it or not, we’ve got to deal
with these charges,” Crawford said.
“We’re going to have to trust the
House of Representatives to ... apply
the process and constitutional proce
dure fairly,” he said.
“I’m pleased that the American peo
ple are able to keep his private life sepa
rate from his political life,” Crawford
said.
He and Malson said Clinton did not
commit a high crime that would justify
impeachment
“The man didn’t steal any money, he
didn’t break any laws except for his own
moral values with his wife,” Malson
said.
Malson said he wrote to all of the
national representatives from Nebraska
and encouraged everyone to do the
same, no matter what their (pinion.
“Get out and talk to the people we
voted for.”
Congress considers impeachment, censure
WASHINGTON (AP) - The House
of Representatives is increasingly likely
r to vote for a formal impeachment
inquiry in the next few weeks, congres
sional officials said Sunday, a step that
could ratchet up the political jeopardy
confronting President Clinton.
Officials in both political parties,
speaking on condition of anonymity,
said that if it takes such a step, the House
would not necessarily limit its inquiry to
Kenneth Starrls review of Clinton^ sex
ual relationship with Monica Lewinsky
and Clinton’s attempts to deny it undo
oath.
Instead, these officials said, the
House Judiciary Committee might be
empowered to range over numerous
other issues, from Whitewater to
Clinton’s involvement in questionable
campaign fund raising in 1996.
Attorney General Janet Reno has
steadfastly refused to appoint an inde
pendent counsel to review campaign
fund-raising.
Congressional Democrats, includ
ing Democratic Sen. Bob Kerry, joined
by a top Republican senator, spoke
Sunday of a punishment short of
impeachment for President Clinton and
demanded his lawyers aid “legal hair
splitting” as they rebut Kenneth Starr’s
report
“There’s going to be some sort of
sanction here,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch,
chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Committee. “The question is what -
from impeachment to censure to rebuke
to condemnation or what,” the Utah
Republican said.
Rep. David Bonior of Michigan, die
second-ranking House Democrat, said:
“I think in the days and months ahead
you will find people talking about the
middle option, that of a public rebuke
for his personal behavior.”
Clinton skipped church services
during the day, remaining out of the
public eye in die White House.
But with his presidency clearly in
peril, his lawyers and aides fanned out
across the Sunday television talk shows
to declare that whatever his transgres
sions, Clinton committed no impeach
able offenses.
Starr’s report, released Friday, cites
11 potentially impeachable offenses, all
stemming from Clinton’s sexual rela
tionship with former intern Monica
Lewinsky-described in explicit detail
and his later denials under oath.
Clinton’s lead attorney, David
Kendall, argued fiercely in an appear
ance on ABCfe “This Week” program:
“The president did not commit perjury.
Starr’s report is full of graphic and
unnecessarily salacious material. It is
not relevant”
That style of defense drew dismis
sive reaction from Kerrey. “The presi
dent’s going to lose if they continue to
do that,” Kerrey said, appearing along
side Hatch on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
“He is being very badly served with
this legal hairsplitting,” agreed Hatch. ‘1
think the president has a dance of gettii^
through this, if he’ll quit splitting legal
hairs, ifhe’ll quit playing this legal game.”
At the same time, the White Housed
counterattack against Starr was achieving
success among the public. A CBS poll,
taken Saturday, found 60 percent of those
responding believed Starr included
numerous lurid sexual details in his report
to embarrass the president Only 33 per
cent believed it was to prove perjury.
Hatch said he talked witb Qinton by
phone Sunday. Asked whether the pres
ident told him he might admit perjury
and accept erasure, Hatch replied, “No,
he did not”
Andrew Jackson is the only presi
dent to be formally censured by
Congress, and the 1834 vote was later
expunged by the Senate.
Clinton’s political fete will begin to
come into dearer focus at the beginning
of he week, when lawmakers return to
Washington from a weekend of cam
paigning and testing public opinion in
heir home districts.
The first few polls taken in he wake
of Starr’s report suggested he public
continues to give Clinton high marks for
job performance, yet wants to see him
punished in some way.
A narrow majority in an ABC News
poll, 53 percent, said they favor
impeachment hearings. A majority in a
CBS News poll, 56 percent, and he
CNN poll, 59 percent, said they favor
censure for he president
The ABC phone survey of 508
adults on Saturday had a margin of error
of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
The CBS phone survey of680 adults
and the CNN phone survey of 902
adults, boh on Saturday, had margins of
error of plus or minus 4 percentage
points.
Legal team argues offenses not impeachable
WASHINGTON (AP) - President
Clinton’s initial defense seems to be
that though he may have been wrong
and misleading, he did not commit any
crimes.
The White House’s 73-page
response to Independent Counsel
Kenneth Starr’s report does not deny
that Clinton had a relationship outside
of marriage, or that the president did
not give foil and complete answers to
Paula Jones’ lawyers in the sexual
harassment lawsuit against him.
Rather, the president’s lawyers
argue that Clinton actions do not meet
the legal standards for peijury - or
impeachment It is a strategy designed
to reduce the chance that the House will
move to impeach the president.
“Impeachment is both a legal and a
political proceeding,” said former Rep.
Elizabeth Holtzman, D-N.Y., who
served on the House Judiciary
Committee when it approved articles bf
impeachment against President Nixon.
“It really has to be built on public sup
port”
The White House response, written
by Clinton’s private attorney, David
Kendall, and presidential counsel
Charles Ruff and their associates, does
not deny that the president did not pro
vide the lull story of his relationship
with Monica Lewinsky to Jones’
lawyers. Under the law, he does not
have to, they argued.
“If answers are truthful or literally
truthful but misleading, there is no per
jury as a matter of law, no matter how
misleading the testimony is or is intend
ed to be,” the lawyers wrote. “The law
simply does not require the witness to
aid his interrogator. The referral seeks
to punish the president for being
unhelpful to those trying to destroy him
politically”
Clinton’s lawyers argued that the
“high crimes and misdemeanors”
u
Impeachment is
both a legal and a
political proceeding.
It really has to be
built on public
support.”
Elizabeth Holtzman
representative D-N.Y.
referred to in the Constitution regard
ing impeachment does not include
extramarital relations.
“Private misconduct, or even public
Please see REBUTTAL on 3
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