DeLay Calls For Clinton To
Resign
While Clinton escapes Washington,
Lewinsky investigation proceeds
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, Aug. 19) -- The fallout
from President Bill Clinton's historic testimony and
public statement in the Monica Lewinsky scandal
continued Wednesday, as House Majority Whip
Tom DeLay called on Clinton to quit.
In an interview with CNN's Frank Sesno, DeLay
called it "the honorable thing to do."
Also in this story:
Congressional reaction continues to flow
Business as usual at the grand jury
President's lawyer to fight any subpoena attempt
As lawmaker reaction continues to flow in,
Democrats are saying it is time for the nation to move
on while most Republicans said they want to see
Independent Counsel Ken Starr's report to
Congress.
Working to send that report to Congress by
September, Starr is charging ahead in his
investigation. His office plans to recall Lewinsky, a
former White House intern, before the grand jury
Thursday.
Meanwhile, Clinton celebrated his 52nd birthday
Wednesday with higher standing in public opinion
polls following his confession of an inappropriate
relationship with Lewinsky.
As the president began a two-week vacation with his
family on Martha's Vineyard, a new CNN/USA
Today/Gallup Poll showed Clinton's job approval
remained high, that few Americans thought he should
be impeached, and the approval rating for his wife at
an all-time high.
Congressional reaction continues to flow
DeLay (R-Texas) is the highest ranking Republican to
do ask for the president's resignation so far. He said
it was in the best interest of the country for Clinton to
do so.
"It is with a heavy
heart, but with a sense
of dedication to my
responsibilities as a
member of Congress
that I call on President
Bill Clinton to resign,"
DeLay said. "Clearly,
the president has done
irreparable damage to
the Office of the
Presidency. More troubling, the president has lied to
his family, his friends, his Cabinet, the Congress and
the American people."
DeLay echoed the feelings of a number of
Republicans when he said Clinton was wrong to
attack Starr in his remarks to the nation.
"Incredibly, he actually blamed Kenneth Starr for his
troubles ... This isn't about Ken Starr. This is about a
president who lacks the character to tell the
American people the truth," said DeLay.
Reaction to Clinton's confession generally fell into
three groups:
Democrats, while condemning his conduct, said the
nation should move on. Many in the Republican
leadership, including House Speaker Newt Gingrich,
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and House
Judiciary Committee chairman Henry Hyde, said
Congress should wait for Starr's report.
A number of potential Republican presidential
candidates, including Dan Quayle, Steve Forbes and
John Ashcroft, all called on Clinton to quit.
Business as usual at grand jury
Grand jury work resumed Tuesday with Dick Morris,
who was a Clinton political adviser until a sex scandal
of his own discredited him, telling the jurors about
telephone calls he had with Clinton shortly after the
Lewinsky controversy became public. Morris said in
those conversations, Clinton denied having a sexual
relationship with Lewinsky.
Lewinsky will return to the federal courthouse
Thursday for more testimony about her relationship
with the president. In previous testimony, she said she
and the president had a sexual relationship over an
18-month period, sources have said.
The grand jury is looking into charges that Clinton
lied in his deposition in the Paula Jones case last
January, and asked Lewinsky to do the same in hers.
The president denied any illegal activity.
President's lawyer to fight any subpoena
attempt
Clinton, who testified for four hours on Monday,
could be subpoenaed to answer questions he
declined to answer then about the exact nature of his
encounters with Lewinsky. But his attorneys said they
are ready to fight any attempt to subpoena the
president.
"If they want to fight, we'll fight," says one of the
president's advisers. "But I honestly don't believe he
[Starr] wants to push that one. I could be wrong."
The president himself "drew the line" on giving
specifics when he was asked whether he and
Lewinsky had oral, manual or phone sex, as
Lewinsky testified, sources said. Clinton and his
lawyers regarded the specific questions as humiliating.
The president's lawyers were surprised by how
explicit Starr's prosecutors were in those questions.
Clinton's attorneys had thought, incorrectly, that once
the president conceded there was a sexual
relationship, prosecutors would have been more
restrained in their questions. That did not turn out to
be the case.
The sources say there was no question the president
directly confirmed he did engage in sex with
Lewinsky, even though in his public statement he
spoke only of a relationship that was "not
appropriate." |
