Impeachment: A NewsHour Special -- President' Defense -- December 8, 1998



	THE PRESIDENT'S DEFENSE


		The following is the 184-page document prepared by White House lawyers and the president's personal attorneys to rebut the charges being levied by the House Judiciary Committee in its impeachment inquiry.

White House Rebuttal:
Introduction

Factual Background

Constitutional Burdens

Relying on the Starr Report

The Perjury Case
Obstruction of Justice

Abuse of Power

Conclusion
(From Online NewsHour)

Text and analysis of President Clinton's address to the nation following his grand jury testimony.

Return to the ull coverage of the Impeachment Hearings and Debate.

The House Judiciary Committee

Background on the impeachment process from JURIST, the Law Professor Network.

SUBMISSION BY COUNSEL FOR PRESIDENT CLINTON
TO THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY OF THE
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

December 8, 1998
PREFACE

In addition to the factual, legal and Constitutional defenses we present in this document, the President has asked us to convey a personal note: What the President did was wrong. As the President himself has said, publicly and painfully, "there is no fancy way to say that I have sinned."
The President has insisted that no legalities be allowed to obscure the simple moral truth that his behavior in this matter was wrong; that he misled his wife, his friends and our Nation about the nature of his relationship with Ms. Lewinsky. He did not want anyone to know about his personal wrongdoing. But he does want everyone -- the Committee, the Congress and the country -- to know that he is profoundly sorry for the wrongs he has committed and for the pain he has caused his family, his friends, and our nation.
But as attorneys representing the President in a legal and Constitutional proceeding, we are duty-bound to draw a distinction between immoral conduct and illegal or impeachable acts. And just as no fancy language can obscure the fact that what the President did was morally wrong, no amount of rhetoric can change the legal reality that the record before this Committee does not justify charges of criminal conduct or impeachable offenses.
The Framers, in their wisdom, left this Body the solemn obligation of determining not what is sinful, but rather what is impeachable. The President has not sugar-coated the reality of his wrongdoing. Neither should the Committee ignore the high standards of the Constitution to overturn a national election and to impeach a President.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION
II. THE FACTUAL BACKGROUND
III. THE CONSTITUTION REQUIRES PROOF OF OFFICIAL MISCONDUCT FOR IMPEACHMENT
IV. THE CONSTITUTION REQUIRES CLEAR AND CONVINCING EVIDENCE TO APPROVE ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT
V. THE COMMITTEE SHOULD NOT RELY ON THE REFERRAL’S ACCOUNT OF THE EVIDENCE
VI. THE PRESIDENT DID NOT COMMIT PERJURY

VII.THE PRESIDENT DID NOT OBSTRUCT JUSTICE

VIII. THE PRESIDENT DID NOT ABUSE POWER

IX. CONCLUSION