The U.S. House of Representatives committed "constitutional vandalism" when it impeached Bill Clinton in 1998 and weakened future chief executives, the former president’s personal attorney said Thursday.
Speaking to a group of college students studying Clinton’s presidency, attorney David Kendall said the former president’s impeachment lowered the bar for future proceedings. Future presidents could face removal for offenses that don’t warrant it, said Kendall, who defended Clinton during his impeachment trial. "It vandalized the Constitution because it was so poisoned by political partisanship," Kendall said. "I think the legacy of this impeachment proceeding is going to be to substitute for the rule of law the whim of the House of Representatives."
The real political partisanship was on the other side. Not a single House Democrat ever entered the evidence room before the impeachment vote. David Schippers book SELLOUT tells the real story. Democratic Senators like Moynihan and Lieberman and even Byrd had harsh words for the President, but not one was willing to see him removed from office. If lying to a grand jury and trying to coax witnesses into lying is decent behavior for the leader of the free world, then how can any prosecutor expect a witness to tell the truth?
Clinton didn't live up to his own oath of office. He's supposed to execute the laws of the land, not run over them. The House was doing its constitutional duty according to the checks and balances system. The real danger is that the checks and balances system is now broke, because Democrats refused to read the evidence and Republican Senate leadership wanted the whole thing over quickly.
Had Republicans ignored the behavior of Richard Nixon he never would have been forced to resign. He only left office because he knew the Republicans would vote to convict him.
Kendall's absurd idea that future Presidents will could face removal for charges that don't warrant it is only possible if a political party can muster 2/3 of the Senate. Any impeachment vote in the next 50 years will be along party lines, with nobody being tried according to the evidence. The Democrats decided to play defense instead of read the evidence, and once you politicize one impeachment trial, you've spoiled the rest.
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