Hearing on "The Background and History of Impeachment," before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the House Committee on the Judiciary, 105th Cong., 2d Sess., (Nov. 9, 1998) (written statement of Professor John O. McGinnis, Professor of Law, Yeshiva University Cardozo School of Law) at 19. Representative Canady underscored this point during the markup of Articles of Impeachment: Now, we have heard many suggestions about what will Markup Session, Statement of Representative Charles T. Canady, Articles of Impeachment for William Jefferson Clinton, December 12, 1998, at 208-12. VII. APPENDICES A. House Resolution 525; CORRESPONDENCE LOG BETWEEN THE WHITE HOUSE AND THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE In the House of Representatives, U.S., September 11, 1998. Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary shall review the communication received on September 9, 1998, from an independent counsel pursuant to section 595(c) of title 28, United States Code, transmitting a determination that substantial and credible information received by the independent counsel in carrying out his responsibilities under chapter 40 of title 28, United States Code, may constitute grounds for an impeachment of the President of the United States, and related matters, to determine whether sufficient grounds exist to recommend to the House that an impeachment inquiry be commenced. Until otherwise ordered by the House, the review by the committee shall be governed by this resolution. SEC. 2. The material transmitted to the House by the independent counsel shall be considered as referred to the committee. The portion of such material consisting of approximately 445 pages comprising an introduction, a narrative, and a statement of grounds, shall be printed as a document of the House. The balance of such material shall be deemed to have been received in executive session, but shall be released from the status on September 28, 1998, except as otherwise determined by the committee. Material so released shall immediately be submitted for printing as a document of the House. SEC. 3. Additional material compiled by the committee during the review also shall be deemed to have been received in executive session unless it is received in an open session of the committee. SEC. 4. Notwithstanding clause 2(e) of rule XI, access to executive-session material of the committee relating to the review shall be restricted to members of the committee, and to such employees of the committee as may be designated by the chairman after consultation with the ranking minority member. SEC. 5. Notwithstanding clause 2(g) of rule XI, each meeting, hearing, or deposition of the committee relating to the review shall be conducted in executive session unless otherwise determined by an affirmative vote of the committee, a majority being present. Such an executive session may be attended only by members of the committee, and by such employees of the committee as may be designated by the chairman after consultation with the ranking minority member. B. House Resolution 581; H. RES. 581 In the House of Representatives, U.S., October 8, 1998. Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary, acting as a whole or by any subcommittee thereof appointed by the chairman for the purposes hereof and in accordance with the rules of the committee, is authorized and directed to investigate fully and completely whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of Representatives to exercise its constitutional power to impeach William Jefferson Clinton, President of the United States of America. The committee shall report to the House of Representatives such resolutions, articles of impeachment, or other recommendation as it deems proper. SEC. 2. (a) For the purpose of making such investigation, the committee is authorized to require (1) by subpoena or otherwise (a) the attendance and testimony of any person (including at a taking of a deposition by counsel for the committee); and (B) the production of such things; and (2) by interrogatory, the furnishing of such information; as it deems necessary to such investigation. (b) Such authority of the committee may be exercised (1) by the chairman and the ranking minority member acting jointly, or, if either declines to act, by the other acting alone, except that in the event either so declines, either shall have the right to refer to the committee for decision the question whether such authority shall be so exercised and the committee shall be convened promptly to render that decision; or (2) by the committee acting as a whole or by subcommittee. Subpoenas and interrogatories so authorized may be issued over the signature of the chairman, or ranking minority member, or any member designated by either of them, and may be served by any person designated by the chairman, or ranking minority member, or any member designated by either of them. The chairman, or ranking minority member, or any member designated by either of them (or, with respect to any deposition, answer to interrogatory, or affidavit, any person authorized by law to administer oaths) may administer oaths to any witness. For the purposes of this section, "things" includes, without limitation, books, records, correspondence, logs, journals, memorandums, papers, documents, writings, drawings, graphs, charts, photographs, reproductions, recordings, tapes, transcripts, printouts, data compilations from which information can be obtained (translated if necessary, through detection devices into reasonably usable form), tangible objects, and other things of any kind. Chairman Henry J. Hyde and Hon. John Conyers, Jr., Chairman Henry J. Hyde and Hon. John Conyers, Jr., Charles F.C. Ruff, Esq., Counsel to the President. 09/11/98 09/17/98 Erskine Bowles, The White House 09/22/98 10/02/98 10/21/98 10/23/98 11/05/98 Henry J. Hyde, Chairman Charles F.C. Ruff, Esq., Gregory B. Craig, David E. Chairman Henry J. Hyde. Kendall, Counsels to the President. Thomas E. Mooney, Chief of Staff-General Counsel 12/04/98 Thomas E. Mooney, Chief of Staff-General Counsel Thomas E. Mooney, Chief of Staff-General Counsel Hon. William Jefferson Clinton. Charles F.C. Ruff, Esq., Counsel to the President. Thomas E. Mooney, Esq., Chief of Staff-General Henry J. Hyde, Chairman. Charles F.C. Ruff, Esq., Counsel to the President. Thomas E. Mooney, Chief of Staff-General Counsel The President, The White House. Henry J. Hyde, Chairman. Gregory B. Craig, Esq., Charles F.C. Ruff, Esq., Charles F.C. Ruff, Esq., Counsel to the President. Charles F.C. Ruff, Esq., Counsel to the President... Thomas E. Mooney, Chief of Staff-General Counsel. Date From To 12/06/98 12/07/98 Thomas E. Mooney. Chief of Staff-General Counsel Charles F.C. Ruff, Esq., Gregory B. Craig, Esq.. Gregory B. Craig, Esq., Charles F.C. Ruff, Esq., Thomas E. Mooney, Chief of Staff-General Counsel. Chairman, House Judiciary Committee, Washington, DC. Hon. NEWT GINGRICH, Speaker of the House, Washington, DC. DEAR CHAIRMAN HYDE AND SPEAKER GINGRICH: In our meeting yesterday, Chairman Hyde kindly offered to make publicly available, in conjunction with and in the same manner as the Committee's public release of Independent Counsel Starr's Referral, any response submitted by Mr. Kendall and the White House. It is our understanding from Speaker Gingrich that this information must be formally received by the Chairman of the judiciary Committee in order to become an official Committee document, and I am therefore submitting to you, in addition to the enclosed hard copies, a disk copy of our Preliminary Memorandum Concerning Referral of Office of Independent Counsel in Word Perfect format and in html format for posting on the Internet. We appreciate very much your courtesy and cooperation. CHARLES F.C. RUFF, Counsel to the President. Hon. HENRY HYDE, THE WHITE HOUSE, Washington, September 17, 1998. Chairman, House Judiciary Committee, Washington, DC. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: Last week, Charles Ruff, John Podesta, and David Kendall met with you and Representative Conyers and personally assured you that the White House has zero tolerance for staff who are found to be prying or encouraging others to pry into the personal lives of Members or any other government official. Let me reassure you: any staff who are found to be engaging in such conduct will be fired immediately. In addition, we have made clear to persons outside the White House that we will not tolerate such conduct. We consider this such a serious matter that we have talked to the appropriate members of the senior staff who interact with the press. Each has given assurances that they have had no contact with Salon magazine or any other news organization, or with anyone outside the White House, to promote stories regarding the private lives of any Member or government official. If you have information indicating that a staff member has violated White House policy, please notify me immediately. If this is happening, I want to know. To that end, the White House is informing news organizations that it waives any right to journalistic confidentiality about the sources of such stories. I am committed to taking appropriate action based on any reliable information. I am sure you can understand that I cannot act based solely on rumor, innuendo, or anonymous gossip. Please call me if you would like to discuss this issue. Sincerely, ERSKINE BOWLES. SEPTEMBER 22, 1998. Hon. HENRY J. HYDE, Chairman, House Judiciary Committee, Washington, DC. Hon. JOHN CONYERS, JR., Ranking Minority Member, House Judiciary Committee, Washington, DC. GENTLEMEN: When we met earlier this month, you kindly offered to accept from us any submissions we wished to make that would bear on the Committee's preliminary review of the Independent Counsel's Referral. We write today to bring to the Committee's attention a critical flaw in the Referral-a flaw that we believe calls into question the fairness of the entire process underlying the Referral and should lead the Members, at the very least, to question the factual premise on which it rests and the legal conclusions it draws. As we indicated to you on September 11 and September 14, we feared, even before reading the Independent Counsel's Referral, that it would be a one-sided and unfair manipulation of the evidence and the law. Yesterday's release of Ms. Lewinsky's testimony made clear that our fears were, if anything, understated. It is plain now from the 3200 page appendices to the Starr Referral that the Office of Independent Counsel (OIC) has significantly distorted the testimony of Ms. Lewinsky, quoting it when it suited the OIC's purposes and downplaying it or ignoring it when it did not. The OIC ignored all reasonable standards of fairness in preparing and drafting its Referral. The Referral is stunning in its silence about evidence that supports the President. Ms. Lewinsky consistently has maintained that neither the President nor anyone acting on his behalf ever urged her to lie, about anything. Aware that this would be her testimony, the OIC did not ask her any questions that might elicit this exculpatory testimony in the grand jury and ended its interrogation of her without clarifying this key point. After the OIC prosecutor announced "We don't have further questions," it was left to a grand juror to ask Ms. Lewinsky if she wished to add to, amplify, or clarify her previous testimony, whereupon Ms. Lewinsky stated: "I would. I think because of the public nature of how this investigation has been and what the charges aired [sic], that I would just like to say that no one ever asked me to lie and I was never promised a job for my silence." App. 1161 (8/20/98 Lewinsky testimony). |