Republicans and Democrats agree that the impeachment case against President Clinton being delivered to Americans in another massive dose on Monday represents an important, possibly crucial, event in the president’s political survival.
The scheduled release of Clinton’s videotaped grand jury testimony and 2,800 pages of sometimes lurid evidence gathered by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr could add to what some members of the House detect as a growing momentum toward impeachment proceedings against the president.
To that end, political leaders on both sides said the only factors that can slow the momentum are continued steadiness of Clinton’s job-rating numbers in the face of the material being released and possibly a public backlash against those releasing it.
Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) said Saturday that “the impeachment train has left the station” and that unless something dramatic happens, “it will be hard to stop.” The Republican leadership has rebuffed Democratic feelers to put aside impeachment in favor of a censure resolution, but whether the censure idea returns hinges on public opinion, LaHood said.
Democrats who support Clinton said the aim of the release is to build the momentum for his impeachment–an effort, they said, that may fall short but would leave Clinton severely weakened politically.
Clinton is in more trouble in the Republican-controlled House, where only a simple majority is required to approve impeachment. In the Senate, where a trial would take place, a two-thirds vote is required for removal from office.
So far, one Democratic aide said, “I’d say it’s beginning to feel that this has taken on a life of its on. We seem to be building slowly but inexorably toward a conclusion. It seems extremely unlikely that the Republicans will stop until they have taken a pound of flesh from Bill Clinton.”
In an appearance at a Congressional Black Caucus legislative conference, the president received a standing ovation from the delegates and then said he was speaking from the heart, apparently referring to his legal and political problems.
“I want to thank you for standing up for America with me,” he said. “I want to thank you for standing up for me and understanding the true meaning of forgiveness and atonement.”
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), a member of the Judiciary Committee and co-chair of the group, introduced the president and asserted that Starr’s report and Clinton’s critics in Congress “do not meet the fairness test.” She said members of the caucus will be “fairness cops” in the impeachment process.
“The justice system must not be manipulated for political purposes,” Waters said. “The grand jury system must not be turned on its head by any one prosecutor.” She said the caucus will ensure that Clinton will have the opportunity to lay out his case without evidence being thrown into the public without cross-examination.
Clinton’s speech dealt with his agenda, and he closed with a call for blacks to go to the polls in November. “We have work to do,” he said. “This is not a time to rest.”
From both political and legal standpoints, much is riding on how the public perceives the broadcast of Clinton’s videotaped testimony.
According to two sources familiar with the tape, the president at many times seems evasive when answering questions about the particulars of his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. In more than one instance, he seems surprised and angered by the explicit nature of the questions.
The president often refuses to engage in any discussion of the details of his trysts, a contrast to Lewinsky, who provided prosecutors with extensive information, ranging from her level of arousal to specific times, dates and places. Lewinsky was testifying under an immunity agreement with Starr.
Equally important is the tape’s relevance to whether Clinton committed perjury or obstructed justice in the Lewinsky case. Several Republican members of the 37-member Judiciary Committee said that in a trial, it is important for jurors to view demeanor, body language and responsiveness of witnesses to determine their credibility.
A Democratic member of the House said it could take weeks or even months to determine how public opinion will settle. If the political effect of all the explosive material leaves Clinton in relatively good standing with voters, he said, Democrats believe the censure option may return.
But Clinton’s survival rests not so much with Republican sentiment as with members of his party. A handful of moderates have said openly that the president should consider resigning. Sources said many Democratic members are on the fence, waiting to see how public opinion turns.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, said Friday that while he disagreed with the release of the tapes, “there are many Democrats who are eager to do the right thing. Their major goal is not to defend this president.”
As the Government Printing Office worked over the weekend to finish printing the documents by the scheduled release time of 8 a.m. CDT Monday, members of Congress tested the opinion of constituents back home and reported extraordinarily high public interest in the case.
The graphic nature of the evidence will play a major role in public attitudes.
“Playboy would not be allowed to put that kind of pornography on the airwaves,” Rep. W.G. Hefner (D-N.C.), was quoted by The Associated Press as saying after visiting the White House on Saturday. He said the release was designed “just to embarrass the president.”
In an interview on CNN, Rep. Bob Livingston (R-La.) said Clinton has admitted he lied, “but he doesn’t admit to perjury. I think that the jury, in essence the Congress, has to look at the evidence. The American people are effectively the jury as well, and they have to look at the evidence.”
Much of the material covers incidents Starr referred to in his initial report to Congress, but more details are included. One area not previously disclosed–phone sex conversations between the president and Lewinsky–will be closely read.
The House more than a week ago voted overwhelmingly to release all the material in Starr’s report by Sept. 28, with some deletions to eliminate gratuitous sexual material and information deemed to be harmful to innocent people. But the decision to rush the information into the public realm sooner than expected has made Clinton’s defenders charge that it is being used as a tool to weaken the president, if not force him into resigning.
The release to the public of intimate details of the Clinton-Lewinsky relationship, including messages the president left on her answering machine, is occurring before the House has approved a formal impeachment inquiry that would launch an official investigation into whether Clinton committed impeachable offenses. That vote will likely come in the first week of October. A Judiciary Committee source said public hearings may not be held until after the November elections. By then, Americans may have made up their minds about the evidence they are being asked to digest.
To Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), release of the material is a shameless, unfair attempt to tarnish the president’s reputation by using unchallenged, secret grand jury testimony, not only Clinton’s but also that of Lewinsky and other witnesses.
“I think what they’ve decided to do is not deal with the process of impeachment but to run a campaign against Bill Clinton,” he said.
“They want to try the president in public,” said Rep. James McDermott (D-Wash.), expressing a common view among Clinton’s supporters. Not all Democrats agree; for instance, Reps. Peter Deutsch of Florida and Gary Condit of California joined LaHood in support of a resolution calling for releasing all the material, including that deleted Friday by the Judiciary Committee.
Republicans do not deny they are seeking to influence what people think about Clinton in releasing all the material, but they see nothing wrong in letting Americans make up their own minds about whether the president should be ousted from his job.
And that makes this impeachment exercise all the more extraordinary–political leaders want some guidance from the public before they proceed with overturning an election.
Clinton’s behavior in trying to cover up the affair for months has driven his opponents and many of his friends to support showing the evidence to the public. But Republicans fear a backlash if Americans find the information too graphic and irrelevant to impeaching a president. The “yuck factor,” as some call it, has shown up in public opinion, but no sign of a backlash has appeared.
“After this tape release on Monday and after people see the real, unvarnished Bill Clinton, public pressure will continue to build for impeachment,” LaHood said. “The public has to be convinced that this is the right thing and the fair thing.”
“They (the people) are part of the decision-making as well,” said Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), a member of the Judiciary Committee, who denied that his party is trying to use Starr’s material to damage Clinton.
LaHood said Clinton’s reportedly defensive, evasive, combative answers about his relationship with Lewinsky could change attitudes.
“We will not see the Hollywood version of Bill Clinton. People are going to see a different image of him,” LaHood said.
But a Judiciary Committee source said some investigators who have seen the more than four-hour tape think it will prove boring to the public and might actually help the president after all the buildup about how damaging it would be.
The Judiciary Committee source said that many moderate Democrats, as well as Republicans, have been pushing for speedy release of the information because “that will hasten a resolution. . . . This must come to an end, and this must come to the end quickly.”
A Democratic congressional aide involved in the impeachment proceeding said the hasty release of the evidence has triggered an outbreak of partisanship that may be irreparable.
“The well is poisoned for good,” he said. “There are deep and very hard feelings on both sides.”
