Posted by Jim on February 12, 1999 at 05:32:08:
In Reply to: Lawsuits against gun makers and my grandkids.... posted by VarmintGuy on February 11, 1999 at 23:42:06:
House Counsel Lashes Out at Senate
Washington Post
Feb.11/99 By Deb Riechmann
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Grudgingly resigned to President Clinton's
acquittal, the lawyer who directed the House impeachment inquiry
called the president's trial a ``sham'' and said Thursday that House
prosecutors ``were cut off at the knees'' by the Senate.
``I feel there was no fair trial. There was no constitutional trial in
the Senate. I think that the constitutional system has been
irrevocably harmed,'' David Schippers said in an interview on the eve
of a vote that senators in both parties agree will acquit the
president of perjury and obstruction of justice.
Schippers, the GOP investigative counsel for the House Judiciary
Committee when it staged the impeachment inquiry, said the 13
Republican lawmakers who prosecuted the case ``did everything we could
with the minimal tools they allowed us to use.''
He criticized senators for settling for videotaped testimony instead
of allowing witnesses to testify live. ``They refused to let us prove
our case,'' he said.
The former federal prosecutor, a hardened veteran of organized crimes
cases, was selected by the House Judiciary Committee chairman, Rep.
Henry Hyde, R-Ill., to investigate whether Clinton's efforts to
conceal an extramarital affair amounted to impeachabale offenses.
Though a Democrat from Chicago, Schippers quickly became a lightning
rod for criticism by Democratic defenders of the president. He
recently was the subject of a supermarket tabloid report that
suggested he had an extramarital affair.
Asked about the report, Schippers would not comment except: ``That's
garbage. It's a nonissue.''
Now that he's leaving town, he's holding back none of his opinions.
``I can say things that maybe some of those congressmen won't say
because I'm going to be out of here,'' he said. ``But I have to say
what I believe.''
He criticized senators who announced they would vote to acquit the
president because they didn't believe House proved its case. ``It's a
sham. The whole trial was a sham,'' he said. ``I felt that the
managers were cut off at the knees.''
The Senate never wanted to hold the trial, he said.
``From the day they presented the impeachment articles to the
Senate,'' Schippers said, ``it seemed like the whole attitude of the
senators was `We don't want to be bothered. We don't want to be
annoyed.'''
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