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Politics : Clinton's Scandals: Is this corruption the worst ever? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cool who wrote (7456)	9/30/1998 3:49:00 PM
From: Zoltan!	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 13994

Dems want to limit impeachment inquiry to Monica, because they know there's a lot of there there: Congress Mulls Impeachment Process By The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) -- The senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee today welcomed a Republican proposal to use Watergate-style rules to govern an impeachment inquiry of President Clinton but said he wanted limits on the subjects that will be considered. ''We've been advocating a Watergate model and I support it,'' Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., said. ''But the Watergate model had a set of facts and circumstances that could never validate an open end to a matter of an affair, of a personal relationship with one person.'' Conyers' comments came as the two sides on the Judiciary Committee remained unable to agree on the outlines of an impeachment inquiry, which GOP leaders hope to bring to the House floor for a vote in the next few weeks. Republicans are pushing to give the Judiciary Committee authority to expand its investigation beyond the Monica Lewinsky affair to other questions of conduct surrounding Clinton. While the two sides disagreed on whether the inquiry should be open- ended, Democrats appeared willing to accept many of the other technical rules used during the Watergate impeachment inquiry, such as how witnesses could be subpoenaed. One Democratic committee source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Democrats would accept a Watergate model in which either Conyers, as the ranking Democrat, or Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., could summon witnesses on their own if both agree. If one objected, the issue of a subpoena would be put up to a vote before the full committee. The White House said today that Republicans were making an ''utterly ridiculous'' attempt to model the impeachment proceedings after the House investigation of Richard Nixon a quarter-century ago. ''The notion that there is any parallel is laughable,'' presidential spokesman Mike McCurry said. ''Look at the sorry and wrong list of crimes committed, Constitution subverted, that was Watergate. Come on. That is just nonsense.'' The White House attack came as details began emerging about soon-to-be-released testimony on Clinton's affair with Lewinsky, including transcripts of secret grand jury testimony from high-level Clinton aides and taped conversations between the former intern and Linda Tripp. In one instance, White House adviser Sidney Blumenthal says he raised a question about Ms. Lewinsky with Hillary Rodham Clinton and was told not to worry, that the president was ''ministering to a troubled young person.'' McCurry, in a briefing with reporters, accused Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, a member of the House Judiciary Committee in 1974, of changing his tune dramatically about what constitutes an impeachable offense. Lott said Tuesday that even ''bad conduct'' could warrant impeachment. Accusing Lott of a double standard, McCurry said, ''In 1974, Trent Lott signed a minority report for the committee that was quite clear. It was the kinds of crimes that subvert the Constitution and damage the country. And the question before the House is: Does the president's conduct in this instance rise to that level. And we argue strenuously that it does not.'' Lott's spokesman, John Czwartacki, responded that ''Lott has not only withheld final judgment on this matter but has been very careful to review all the documents and materials to maintain his consistency.'' The 1974 minority report said the framers of the Constitution ''intended that the president should be removable by the legislative branch only for serious misconduct dangerous to the system of government ... .'' McCurry said the Judiciary Committee's proceedings, run by Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., lack the focus and discipline of the 1974 proceedings. ''They're just kind of running around,'' McCurry said. ''They want to bring back (Rep.) Dan Burton (R-Ind.) and (Sen.) Al D'Amato (R-N.Y.) for a reprise of their greatest hits of the last several years.'' The two lawmakers led investigations of the Clinton administration. The grand jury testimony soon to be released includes testimony by Secret Service agents, Clinton friend Vernon Jordan and White House secretary Betty Currie, according to sources. Officials familiar with the material, speaking on condition of anonymity, described some of it: --Former Clinton adviser Dick Morris testified that presidential allies had mounted a ''secret police operation to go around and intimidate women'' who may have been involved with the president. But in an interview Tuesday, Morris said his testimony was based on no firsthand information and was a supposition based on his reading of affidavits and published accounts. ''I had no personal knowledge of the operation,'' Morris said. --Mrs. Tripp's taped telephone conversations with Ms. Lewinsky depict a mentoring relationship that changed once Mrs. Tripp was secretly wearing an FBI recording device. At one point on a recording, Ms. Lewinsky says, ''I wouldn't cross these people for fear of my life.'' --Clinton's personal secretary, Betty Currie, by her third appearance before the grand jury, was taking notes in the grand jury room and was reminded that those notes could be subpoenaed. The White House objected strongly to Tuesday's leaks. ''The unprecedented wholesale release of secret grand jury testimony is clearly motivated by a partisan determination to damage the president,'' White House spokesman Jim Kennedy said. The material is among thousands of pages of supporting documents that Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr submitted to Congress along with his report on possible impeachable offenses committed by Clinton. The material could be key to any congressional inquiry of Clinton since they apply to questions of possible witness tampering and obstruction of justice -- charges that many lawmakers of both parties have said would amount to impeachable offenses. Defining the standard for impeachment and establishing the House Judiciary Committee's authority has become a hurdle for the highly polarized panel as it prepares to release the testimony this week and vote next week on whether to open a full-blown inquiry into Clinton's actions in the Lewinsky matter. nytimes.com Amazing. The Dems say there is nothing to Clinton's other crimes, so why are they so afraid to see them aired?