WASHINGTON - President Clinton and his attorneys came under growing pressure yesterday from Democrats as well as Republicans to concede that he lied under oath, as alleged by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, and to throw himself at the mercy of the American people and Congress.
As the swirling debate in the Monica Lewinsky matter began to focus more intently on finding a way out of the wrenching national dilemma, Clinton supporters and critics said some form of punishment short of impeachment may be in order, such as a congressional reprimand or censure. Some expressed hope the matter could be resolved expeditiously, perhaps before the November elections.
Their suggestions amounted to an extraordinary bipartisan entreaty to Clinton and his attorneys to consider striking the equivalent of a plea bargain with Congress to salvage his presidency and let the country move forward.
Clinton's lawyers have steadfastly denied that he purposely lied, either in his legal deposition in January for the Paula Corbin Jones civil lawsuit, or in his grand jury testimony on Aug. 17. The president himself said that night in a televised address that he was "legally accurate" when he denied having engaged in sexual relations with Lewinsky, a former White House intern.
In a series of talk show appearances yesterday, the president's attorneys reiterated that position, which holds that Clinton did not consider his activities with Lewinsky to be covered by the broad definition of sexual relations presented to him by Jones' attorneys.
But Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), speaking publicly for the first time since Starr's report was released Friday, flatly rejected that argument.
"I think the evidence there is overwhelming that he did lie," Lott said on Fox News yesterday, adding that the apparent perjury "may well be" grounds for impeachment.
"Unless something changes," Lott said, "I don't see how (the House) can avoid" impeachment proceedings. Lott later expressed his hope that "it won't come to that," and suggested that Clinton "could" consider resigning.
He and other key lawmakers suggested that the president's efforts to admit fault and seek forgiveness appear to be at odds with the ongoing legal strategy of denying that he committed perjury. Even if the legal arguments were to hold up in a court of law, they said, it appears to be falling flat in the court of public opinion.
"One of the problems is, if the president reaches out, or he tries to be contrite ... while simultaneously aggressively attacking through his lawyers the whole process and splitting legalistic hairs, there's a disconnect there," Lott said.
Speaking on CBS' "Face the Nation," Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.), agreed that the legal defense may be undercutting Clinton's public shows of contrition.
"I don't know if he's perjured himself," he said. "But if you come and say to the American people that 'I'm legally correct, I didn't have sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky,' you're going to lose."
With Congress returning to town today for the first time since Starr's report was released publicly, members of Congress and lawyers for Clinton engaged in a pitched battle for public opinion as the House Judiciary Committee ponders whether to commence an impeachment inquiry.
Over the weekend, committee members began sifting through 17 boxes of unreleased materials that form the basis of Starr's allegations. Just how quickly any impeachment proceeding might unfold is difficult to say with certainty.
Some members, including Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), have proposed a lame-duck session of Congress to resolve the controversy after the November elections. But House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), has said he remains inclined to let the House adjourn for the year in early October. Lott, for his part, said he does not "see any way" to complete an impeachment process in the current 105th Congress.
"I think we should not delay," he said. "At the same time, I do not think we should rush to judgment."
The president spent the day at the White House. Skipping church, he tended to an array of public business, according to deputy White House chief of staff John Podesta. Although Podesta said Clinton had not read Starr's 445-page report on his affair with Lewinsky and the case for impeachment, the scandal clearly was on his mind.
In mid-morning, he telephoned Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who has criticized Clinton and urged him to issue a full apology. The chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee later characterized the conversation as "a very hard-hitting, very good exchange of what I feel and what he feels."
On "Face the Nation" shortly afterward, Hatch urged Clinton to "quit splitting legal hairs," and to offer an unequivocal apology that is not contradicted by his attorneys' arguments.
He added: "If they'll quit playing this legal game, and start being what he is - a basically warm, winning person who the American people have liked from the beginning, if he'll do that, and just acknowledge, 'Yeah, I've done some really bad things, I really screwed up here,' my gosh, I think the president could get through this."
Clinton also spoke by telephone for about 25 minutes with French President Jacques Chirac, according to P.J. Crowley, a White House spokesperson. Chirac, who initiated the call, talked to the president about Iraq, Kosovo, Russia and various European security issues, Crowley said.
Clinton stopped by a reception for Jewish leaders in the Old Executive Office Building, next to the White House, marking the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Middle East peace accord between Yitzhak Rabin, the late prime minister of Israel, and Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat.
The president also met with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Defense Secretary William Cohen, a session that Crowley described as a follow-up to a similar meeting Saturday in which Clinton took part. Crowley said the meeting touched on a number of national security issues, including terrorism, but did not involve a crisis or emergency.
The president is speaking tomorrow to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, in what aides are calling a major address on the global economy.
On yesterday's airwaves, Clinton's lawyers were hard-pressed to explain why, in their view, the president had not committed perjury.
In the end, as White House Counsel Charles Ruff contended repeatedly, there was nothing in his client's conduct to form the basis for impeachment proceedings - even if, as Clinton has admitted, he had misled the American people.
Starr also came under fire yesterday, with Clinton defenders characterizing his report as unnecessarily graphic in its depiction of sexual encounters between Clinton and Lewinsky.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), said of Starr on "Meet the Press:" "He's on trial as much as the president is on trial. This report that he's put out, with all of these lurid details, shocking some, embarrassing all - I mean, it's a signal about where he's coming from, who he is."
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The allegations lodged against the president of the United States are serious and complicated. We have no doubt that our readers will receive all information presented to them with the maturity and perspective the matter deserves.
- Laurie Mayk, Editor in Chief
09-14-98
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