Taking On a Leak
Based on the performance of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, on NBC's Meet the Press ,here are the GOP talking points should any indictments come down this week: (1) "An indictment of any kind is not a guilty verdict" and 2) Any indictment anything other than the actual crime is somehow not real, like with Martha Stewart "where they couldn't find a crime and they indict on something that she said about something that wasn't a crime."
Hutchison hopes that if there is an indictment, "it is an indictment on a crime and not some perjury technicality where they couldn't indict on the crime and so they go to something just to show that their two years of investigation was not a waste of time and taxpayer dollars."
When President Clinton was going through his little adventure, Sen. Hutchison said that perjury and obstruction of justice were pretty serious charges. Each, she said, "is calculated to prevent a court and the public from discovering the truth and achieving justice in our judicial system." This comes from her remarks in the Senate's closed deliberations on the articles of impeachment against President Clinton. She submitted them for the record on February 12, 1999.
Sen. Hutchison pointed out that the "Senate on numerous occasions has convicted impeached Federal Judges on allegations of perjury." She went on to say that "the standards are set by the Constitution for all officers of the Federal government. They are precisely the same, and we are obligated to apply them evenly."
"Lying is a moral wrong," Hutchison said. "Perjury is a lie told under oath that is legally wrong. To be illegal, the lie must be willfully told, must be believed to be untrue, and must relate to a material matter."
Sen. Hutchison's conclusion, therefore:
"(i) The President of the United States willfully, and with intent to deceive, gave false and misleading testimony under oath with respect to material matters that were pending before the Federal grand jury on August 17, 1998, as alleged in Article I presented to the Senate. I, therefore, vote `Guilty' on Article I of the Articles of Impeachment of the President in this Proceeding.
"(ii) The President of the United States engaged in a pattern of conduct, performed acts of willful deception, and told and disseminated massive falsehoods, including lies told directly to the American people, that were designed and corruptly calculated to impede, obstruct, and prevent the plaintiff in the Arkansas Federal sexual harassment case from seeking and obtaining justice in the Federal court system of the United States, and to further prevent the Federal grand jury from performing its functions and responsibilities under law, I, therefore, vote `Guilty' on Article II of the Articles of Impeachment of the President in this proceeding."
Don't these people know what "Congressional Record" means?
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