THE PRESIDENT DELIVERS REMARKS ON HOUSE VOTE
DEMOCRATS SHOW PARTY UNITY
16:00:00
WARNING: THIS IS AN UNCORRECTED COPY. NOT A FINAL VERSION.
ANNOUNCER
This is an ABC News Special Report. Now reporting, Charles Gibson.
CHARLES GIBSON, ABC NEWS
Good afternoon. I m Charles Gibson in New York.
And we are awaiting at the moment the appearance of the President of
the United States. He is going to appear in the area just adjacent
to the South Lawn of the White House. There you are looking at a
shot down on the White House. That is the North Lawn, the front lawn
of the White House.
And the President is inside. He has been meeting with the Democratic
members of the House of Representatives. The Democratic members left
the Capitol after today s session of the House of Representatives,
which, as you probably know by now, at which time, the House adopted
two of the four articles of impeachment against the President.
There are the buses sitting in front of the White House, and there is
the rundown of the House action today. They approved Article 1,
which involves perjury before the grand jury. They involved Article
number 3, which is the obstruction of justice count. They rejected
Articles 2 and 4.
As I say, the House Democratic members, who were in the minority on
Article 1 and Article 3, then got on buses, which are parked in front
of the White House, went to the White House and have been meeting
with the President in the East Room. That is the large reception
room on the first floor of the White House that many thousands of
people have seen when they take the public tour of the White House.
Anyway, it is in that room that he was scheduled to meet with the
Democratic members, and after that meeting, they were going to be
coming out into the area adjacent to the Rose Garden near the South
Lawn on the driveway between the White House it s an exit driveway,
actually, where functionaries, dignitaries come in.
And he was going to have a comment with the press. It s the first
time that we ve had a chance to see him on what is obviously a very
historic day, not only for President Clinton but for the presidency
itself. Sam Donaldson, do we know anything about what they ve been
talking about? Is this simply a pep rally, or is there real
substance to be discussed here?
SAM DONALDSON, ABC NEWS
Well, Charlie, it was billed in advance pep rally, I guess, is
our term. It was billed in advance as a show of support by
Democratic members of the House and leadership up on Capitol Hill for
the President. One of the main purposes is to try to counter the
idea that Mr Clinton should resign.
They anticipated that a lot of people, particularly Republicans,
would now call on him to resign, and they wanted to make it clear
that not only would he not resign, but his party was behind him in
this resolution to stay in office. I think that was principal
purpose number one for holding this.
And number two, Charlie, the Clinton people for years have been
expert at using television to portray messages. And the message they
want to portray today is that this president is still in the saddle.
He is still doing business as the nation s chief executive, and he
has solid support from his party.
CHARLES GIBSON
Sam, you mention there is you point to the fact that there s great
symbolism, therefore, in all of this. But also I think it will be
rather important what the President has to say when he comes out.
Because it seems to me there are two things he could do when he
emerges.
Number one, he could be aggrieved. He could be angry. He could be
frustrated. Or he could take a rather conciliatory point of view in
all of this.
SAM DONALDSON
That is what we re told the President will do. Maybe other members
of the Democratic leadership will continue the assault on the
Republicans. But we re told that Mr Clinton, of course, will rise
above that, and he will come much more in sorrow than anger. He will
say that he wants to continue the job of chief executive. But we re
told he also may again express contrition and remorse for having
brought the country to this point.
And we re also told that he will signal, using perhaps the euphemisms
finding some bipartisan solution. Or maybe more direct that he is
open to censure. He is open to condemnation. He is open to just
about anything the Congress wants to do to him short of removing him
from office.
CHARLES GIBSON
But then, if that is the line he takes, Sam, will we not be in a sort
of strange situation where we have countervailing (ph) things
happening within the White House. The President being very
conciliatory, coming in sorrow not anger, as you point out, and his
staff, the people who have to lobby the Senate now in these coming
negotiations and perhaps eventually trial, taking a rather hard line
about this being unfair, partisan, etc. All the things we heard
members of the House Democratic members of the House express in the
session today.
SAM DONALDSON
Well, their strategy at the moment calls for treating the Senate with
great respect, including the Republican leaders of the Senate,
depending, of course, on how the Republican leaders act in the next
few days or weeks.
They will concentrate, if they talk about the Republicans at all,
about the partisanship in the House of Representatives. But they
will come to the Senate showing great respect and asking only for
fairness and asking for deliberations. And of course, finding some
way, if they can, to avoid coming to the vote.
You know, you would think, Charlie, that people who believe in Mr
Clinton and think this is an improper process would be very confident
that he could win that vote. It takes 67 votes, and they would have
to get 15 or more Democrats, depending on how all the Republicans
acted, in order to remove him from office.
And yet, there is not that great confidence here today that you can
just say, Well, all right, let s go to trial, do the Senate work
its will, take the vote and we win. They want censure before they
come to a vote.
CHARLES GIBSON
All right, Sam Donaldson. Let me have you stand by, as I know you
will. A couple of other things that need to be discussed. And while
we re waiting for the President and the Democratic members of the
House to come out, we should mention them.
Those of you who were watching the debate today heard in rather
dramatic fashion the Speaker - elect, Bob Livingston, Republican
congressman from Louisiana, who had assumed that he was going to
become Speaker on January 6 heard him in rather remarkable fashion
say, in front of the House, that I cannot do the job or be the kind
of leader that I would like to be under current circumstances. And
then he continued by saying the following.
REP BOB LIVINGSTON, (R) LOUISIANA
So I must set the example that I hope President Clinton will follow.
I will not stand for Speaker of the House on January 6, but rather I
shall remain as a backbencher in this Congress that I so dearly love
for approximately six months into the 106th Congress, whereupon I
shall vacate my seat and ask my governor to call a special election
to take my place.
CHARLES GIBSON
That was Bob Livingston in front of the House of Representatives
before the votes on the articles of impeachment today. Needless to
say, that sent members of the House who did not expect the Livingston
announcement into a hub - bub, and there have been some developments
on who may be the new Speaker - elect and eventually Speaker of the
House.
Bill Kristol, who is well piped in to the Republican politics in
Washington, is standing by in our Washington studio. Bill, what s
happened on that front?
BILL KRISTOL, ABC NEWS POLITICAL ANALYST
Well, I gather Republicans have been meeting ever since they the
impeachment articles passed. It looks like there s a pretty strong
consensus behind Denny Hastert, the Republican from Illinois. He s a
deputy whip right now, acceptable to all factions of the party.
Apparently letters being circulated already has more than 50
signatures in support of him.
The other candidate is Chris Cox of California, who mounted a short -
lived challenge to Livingston and then withdrew, and Livingston had
the votes just seven weeks ago. Current House Republican leadership,
the rest of it except for Livingston -- that is to say, Armey and
especially Tom DeLay, who s awfully influential with the members
they are working hard for Hastert, and they expect Denny Hastert to
be the next Speaker of the House.
CHARLES GIBSON
Now you talk familiarily forget me trying to do that word but you
speak with great familiarity about Denny Hastert. But that is a
name, this is a face that nobody in this country knows.
BILL KRISTOL
That s true. That was true of historically many Speakers Carl
Albert, John McCormick (ph). They were got along well with all
functions of the party, were competent, were respected, had lots of
friends, had friends across the aisle. Dick Gephardt is friendly
with Denny Hastert. They re from neighboring states, obviously.
I think Hastert is really is the end of the age of Newt. It is the
end of the Speaker as the voice of the party, as an ideological
leader. It has returned to a more old - fashioned Speaker, someone
who will, as they keep saying, make the trains run, mediate fights
among Republicans, defer on the whole to committee chairmen and try,
I think, to reach out across the aisle a little bit to the minority
party.
CHARLES GIBSON
Cokie Roberts is also with us on Capitol Hill. Cokie, it was
interesting. Bill just said this is the end of Newt - ism. This is
a man who appeals to the conservative wing of the party and to
moderate Republicans?
COKIE ROBERTS, ABC NEWS
Well, enough to both of them, I think. And basically, I have here
already a statement from Dick Armey supporting Hastert, and I think
that something has to get in the way of this train in order to stop
it.
CHARLES GIBSON
All right. While you are speaking, the President has come out of the
residence now. You see him there, joined by Vice President Gore, and
Mrs Clinton is also with him. And there, second from the left next
to the President is the Minority Leader of the House of
Representatives, Dick Gephardt. And I don t honestly know if the
other members of the House delegation who went to visit the President
are going to be coming with him or not.
I m told that they are following him out 101 members. One hundred
and one Democrats, that is a good number of the Democrats in the
House. That s, also behind them, John Podesta, who is the chief of
staff to the President since Erskine Bowles left. Anyway, they are
coming out, and 101 100 other Democrats behind or besides Dick
Gephardt are also coming out as well.
Well, now, the best - laid plans. They ve sneaked into the West Wing
of the White House. So I don t know if they re going to come out
immediately or not. Anyway, so let me while I ve got, again, this
second, let me come back to this, Cokie.
To what extent to do we know that this is a done deal, or is the Cox
challenge still alive? Do we still have a race between Dennis
Hastert and Christopher Cox? Or do we think that this is going to
happen? You started to hold up a statement there.
COKIE ROBERTS
A statement from Dick Armey, the Majority Leader, supporting Dennis
Hastert. I think that there s very much an atmosphere right now of
trying to get everybody behind Hastert and canonize him or coronate
him. But Christopher Cox seems ready to run, and I think he the
vote will not be until January. There are a bunch of freshman
Republicans that have a say. And I think that you can t quite say
that there is already a Speaker - designate yet.
CHARLES GIBSON
Very quickly, Bill Kristol, while we re seeing the other members of
the Democratic delegation come out of the White House, out of the
residence and over toward the West Wing, very quickly, there was some
talk Democrats were saying, Gee, Bob Livingston, won t you
reconsider? I gather that s a nonstarter.
There was some talk that perhaps Newt Gingrich now might come back in
some sort of cobbled together fashion to resume the speakership.
Neither of those were even in the realm of possibility?
BILL KRISTOL
I don t think so, Charlie. And I guess Cokie was told, heard last
night from lots of members yearning for Bob Michel (ph) or Dick
Cheney, not going to happen, I think.
CHARLES GIBSON
All right. There you see the Democratic members David Bonior, the
minority whip. John Dingell from Michigan. I can go after name
after name after name. But the Democratic delegation gathering
around the podium, and I gather once they re all in place, the
President will come out.
And as we were talking a moment ago, the tone that the President
takes here, it is symbolic that all the Democratic members will be
standing behind him in this show of solidarity. And as you know by
the votes today, there is solidarity among the Democrats. Only five
on the critical first article of impeachment abandoned the President
and voted with the Republicans.
So there is solidarity, and this picture will well demonstrate that.
But there is also this question of what tone the President is going
to take in the remarks that he makes. And George Stephanopoulos,
before the President actually comes out, I was asking Sam there
whether the President would be angry or whether he would be
conciliatory. I gather you probably agree that he will take a
conciliatory tone in the remarks he makes.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS POLITICAL ANALYST
I think so, Charlie. Because you know, the White House and the
President have learned their lesson over this year. You know, we ve
talked a lot about missed opportunities. The missed opportunities in
January, in August when the President gave his very angry speech
after his grand jury testimony.
The White House and the President are not going to make that mistake
again. President Clinton is likely to take the high road today.
Call for a bipartisan compromise on censure, but also go back to what
always has worked for him. He s going to do the business of the
country, do the people s business. And the White House hopes that
this show of Democratic unity will be in sharp contrast to the chaos
on the Republican side.
CHARLES GIBSON
George?
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
Look
CHARLES GIBSON
George, if he s going to be the good cop then in his response to what
has happened today, who s going to be the bad cop?
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
Look at all those people standing by the podium, Charlie. I think
the Democrats will continue to say that this was a partisan,
illegitimate lame - duck impeachment. That will be the drum beat
over the next month.
Meanwhile, the President and his lawyers will take a much will
offer an olive branch to the Republicans in the Senate. It s a tough
balance, but it s the only one they can do.
CHARLES GIBSON
You know him. How tough a day was this for Bill Clinton, George?
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
I think it s got to have been about the worst day of his life,
Charlie. This is a man who s dreamed of being president. Now he s
become only the second president to be impeached. But he ll fight
through it.
CHARLES GIBSON
It is seemed, looking at him, and I don t mean to read too much into
it, but it is seemed looking at him in the last couple of weeks
through that trip to the Mideast and since he came back it looks to
me like he has aged, and he s looked tired. And I thought you could
see it in his visage.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
I think that s exactly right, Charlie. I think it s finally settled
in. You know, President Clinton has an amazing capacity for denial.
But in the last few days, it s all come in on him. This is real.
Tomorrow morning, he ll wake up and see these results, and I think he
knows that. And he also knows this is probably the hardest thing to
deal with that it was, at large part, his fault, and there s
nothing he can do about it.
CHARLES GIBSON
If he feels that, George, though, why is everyone so quick to say it
has not entered his mind, he does not give a thought to the idea of
resignation? I think the Vice President said that it would be, what
is it, it would be more likely that a meteor
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
A meteor striking. Yeah. I think for two reasons. Number one, it s
just not in his makeup. Because as much as he feels that he s to
blame in part for this, he also believes he s been a victim of
illegitimate attacks.
But more than that and the argument that unifies all Democrats is
that this would be bad for the presidency, that it is somehow wrong
for a president to be driven from office, driven to resignation by a
partisan vote of the Congress. They think that would be a violation
of the presidency, of the independence of the presidency. And
they re going to fight on those grounds.
CHARLES GIBSON
Sam? Is Sam Donaldson still there? Sam, are you there?
SAM DONALDSON
Charlie?
CHARLES GIBSON
Yeah, George knows him so well. You have watched him so well in the
last few months. Do you see this? Do you see it really settling in
on the President?
SAM DONALDSON
Absolutely. I was in the White House the second time for one week
before the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke. And the difference between
the Bill Clinton that I saw for that first week and that we ve all
seen on television and elsewhere before that, and the one that s aged
through these months. George is quite right. The President is
expert at denial and expert at believing that others have caused all
this problem.
But I agree that at this point, I think it is dawning on him that he
has no one but himself to blame. Whatever the sins of a Kenneth
Starr, whatever the sins of partisan Republicans, he brought us to
this point by his actions, and I think it may be really dawning on
him that not only is that the fact, but that the future is uncertain.
You know, Charlie, Bill Clinton has been very skillful, very good
some say also lucky in that he has won the important political
battles of his life. But it maybe dawning on him that here is one at
last that he may not win.
CHARLES GIBSON
I should mention we talked about the symbolism of this picture the
Democrats from the House of Representatives gathered around that
podium, where the President will make his remarks, give his reaction
to the actions of the House today in approving two articles of
impeachment.
There is also symbolism into the picture that you are looking at now.
Mrs Clinton right at her husband s side, arm in arm with him, as he
comes out, and what we have said over and over again, but it doesn t
detract from the fact that it is an historic day. And we now get the
President s reaction to what has happened.
As we mentioned, Vice President Gore, Minority Leader Gephardt and
John Podesta, the chief of staff right behind him. The President
getting applause from the Democratic members, and he will speak in
just a moment.
(Applause)
by John Podesta, the chief of staff.
JOHN PODESTA, CHIEF OF STAFF
On behalf of the President and the First Lady, the Vice President and
Mr -- Mrs Gore, the White House and the entire administration, I want
to thank the members who came here today and all the members who
stood with you on the floor of the House over the past several days.
Thank you for standing up for what you believe in. Thank you for
standing up for fairness. Thank you for standing up for the American
people. Thank you for standing up for the Constitution. And thank
you for doing so with dignity and determination, passion and
patriotism.
I would like to introduce a man who has done so much for our country,
a great leader, a great friend of the American people, Congressman
Dick Gephardt.
(Applause)
REP RICHARD GEPHARDT, (D) MINORITY LEADER
Mr President, Mr Vice President, First Lady Hillary Clinton, we have
just witnessed a partisan vote that was a disgrace to our country and
our Constitution.
Chairman Henry Hyde once called impeachment "the ultimate weapon" and
said that "for it to succeed, ultimately it has to be bipartisan."
The fact that a vote as important as this occurred in such a partisan
way, violated the spirit of our democracy.
We must turn away now from the politics of personal destruction and
return to a politics of values. The American people deserve better
than what they've received over these long five months. They want
their Congress to bring this issue to a speedy compromise, closure.
And they want their president, twice elected to his office, to
continue his work fighting for their priorities.
(Applause)
The Democratic caucus in the House will continue to stand alongside
our president, and we will work to enact the agenda that we were sent
here to pass.
(Applause)
We look forward to supporting his agenda in the upcoming session of
Congress. The President has demonstrated his effectiveness as a
national and world leader in the face of intense and unprecedented
negative attacks by his opponents. I am confident that he will
continue to do so for the rest of his elected term of office.
(Applause)
Despite the worst efforts of the Republican leadership in the House,
the Constitution will bear up under the strain, and our nation will
survive. The constitutional process about to play out in the United
States Senate will hopefully, finally, be fair and allow us to put an
end to this sad chapter of our history.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is now my honor to present our great Vice
President of these United States, Al Gore.
CHARLES GIBSON
We mentioned, obviously we re all interested in the President s
reaction. They realize that, and so a couple of political speeches
from the Minority Leader and the Vice President. Then we ll hear the
President.
VICE PRES AL GORE
Thank you very much, Mr Leader. To you and to David Bonior and to
the entire Democratic caucus leadership, thank you for what you have
done for our country. I would also like to single out for a special
thanks and praise Congressman John Conyers and all of the members of
the Judiciary Committee who are present here today.
(Applause)
And to you, Dick Gephardt, I would like to repeat a judgment that I
made to the smaller group earlier. You and I came here on the same
day 22 years ago. And in all that time I don't believe I have heard
a finer speech on the floor of the House of Representatives than the
one that you delivered this morning.
(Applause)
But in all that time, I do believe this is the saddest day I have
seen in our nation's capital. Because today's vote in the House of
Representatives disregarded the plain wishes and good will of the
American people and the plain meaning of our Constitution.
Let me say simply, the President has acknowledged that what he did
was wrong. But we must all acknowledge that invoking the solemn
power of impeachment in the cause of partisan politics is wrong --
wrong for our Constitution, wrong for the United States of America.
(Applause)
Republican leaders would not even allow the members of the House or
Representatives to cast the vote they wanted to. They were not
allowed to vote their conscience. What happened as a result does a
great disservice to a man I believe will be regarded in the history
books as one of our greatest presidents.
(Applause)
There is no doubt in my mind that the verdict of history will undo
the unworthy judgment rendered a short while ago in the United States
Capitol. But we do not have to wait for history. Instead, let us
live up to the ideals of this season. Let us reach out to one
another and reach out for what is best in ourselves, our history and
our country.
Let us heal this land, not tear it apart. Let us move forward, not
toward bitter and angry division. Our Founders anticipated that
there might be a day like this one, when excessive partisanship
unlocked a forum of vitriol and vehemence that hurts our nation. We
all know that a process that wounds good people in both parties does
no service to this country.
What America needs is not resignations, but the renewal of civility,
respect for one another, decency toward each other and the certain
belief that together we can serve this land and make a better life
for all of our people. That is what President Clinton has done.
That is what he is doing, and that is what he will continue to do for
the next two years.
I feel extremely privileged to have been able to serve with him as
his partner for the past six years, and I look forward to serving
with him for the next two years. I have seen him close at hand, day
after day, making the most important decisions about peace,
prosperity and our future. And making them always by asking, "What
is right for the American people? What is right for all of the
American people?"
I know him. I know his wonderful first lady. I know his ...
(Applause)
I know his heart and his will. And I have seen his work. Six years
ago, he was left with the highest budget deficit in history, and he
ended it. Six years ago, he was handed a failing economy. Today,
because of his leadership, we are on the verge of the longest period
of peacetime prosperity in all of American history. And I know
nothing will stop him from doing the job that the American people
sent him here to do.
I say to you today, President William Jefferson Clinton will continue
and will complete his mission on behalf of the American people. I'm
proud to present to you my friend, America's great president, Bill
Clinton.
(Applause)
PRES BILL CLINTON
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Good afternoon. Let me begin by expressing my profound and heartfelt
thanks to Congressman Gephardt and the leadership and all the members
of the Democratic caucus for what they did today.
I thank the few brave Republicans who withstood enormous pressure to
stand with them for the plain meaning of the Constitution and for the
proposition that we need to pull together, to move beyond
partisanship, to get on with the business of our country.
I thank the millions upon millions of American citizens who have
expressed their support and their friendship to Hillary, to me, to
our family and to our administration during these last several weeks.
The words of the members here with me and others who were a part of
their endeavor in defense of our Constitution were powerful and
moving, and I will never forget them.
The question is, what are we going to do now? I have accepted
responsibility for what I did wrong in my personal life, and I have
invited members of Congress to work with us to find a reasonable
bipartisan and proportionate response.
That approach was rejected today by Republicans in the House, but I
hope it will be embraced by the Senate. I hope there will be a
constitutional and fair means of resolving this matter in a prompt
manner.
Meanwhile, I will continue to do the work of the American people. We
still, after all, have to save Social Security and Medicare for the
21st century. We have to give all our children world - class schools.
We have to pass a patients' bill of rights. We have to make sure the
economic turbulence around the world does not curb our economic
opportunity here at home. We have to keep America the world's
strongest force for peace and freedom. In short, we have a lot to do
before we enter the 21st century.
And we still have to keep working to build that elusive one America I
have talked so much about. For six years now, I have done everything
I could to bring our country together across the lines that divide
us, including bringing Washington together across party lines. Out
in the country, people are pulling together. But just as America is
coming together, it must look -- from the country's point of view --
like Washington is coming apart.
I want to echo something Mr Gephardt said. It is something I have
felt strongly all my life. We must stop the politics of personal
destruction.
(Applause)
We must get rid of the poisonous venom of excessive partisanship,
obsessive animosity and uncontrolled anger. That is not what America
deserves. That is not what America is about. We are doing well now.
We are a good and decent country, but we have significant challenges
we have to face.
In order to do it right, we have to have some atmosphere of decency
and civility, some presumption of good faith, some sense of
proportionality and balance in bringing judgment against those who
are in different parties.
We have important work to do. We need a constructive debate that has
all the different voices in this country heard in the halls of
Congress. I want the American people to know today that I am still
committed to working with people of good faith and good will of both
parties to do what's best for our country, to bring our nation
together, to lift our people up, to move us all forward together.
It's what I've tried to do for six years. It's what I intend to do
for two more until the last hour of the last day of my term.
(Applause)
So with profound gratitude for the defense of the Constitution and
the best in America that was raised today by the members here and
those who joined them, I ask the American people to move with me to
go on from here to rise above the rancor, to overcome the pain and
division, to be a repairer of the breach -- all of us -- to make this
country as one America what it can and must be for our children in
the new century about to dawn.
Thank you very much.
(Applause)
CHARLES GIBSON
The President concluding his remarks on the South Lawn of the White
House, and some very interesting aspects to all of this. As you
watched it, you almost had the feeling that you were watching a
political rally. The President saying thank you, thank you, as he
looked forward from that dais. But really, all that was in front of
that dais were a few cameras.
Basically, the audience, obviously the television audience, and that
is the audience upon which he wanted to have an effect as he made
those remarks. So while it appeared that he was talking to a group
of people, he really wasn t. This was designed, obviously, for the
cameras.
And the President saying now he wants a reasonable bipartisan and
proportionate response to what he has done. Obviously, another
reaching out to the Congress in hopes that some sort of accommodation
can be reached. Some sort of a penalty can be imposed that comes
short of the impeachment that was voted by the House today and for
which the Senate will now try him.
He did say, in all of that, that he hopes all of this will stop the
politics of personal destruction and get rid of the poisonous venom
that is in Washington. I guess that was a somewhat slap at those who
oppose him. But for the most part, his tone was conciliatory.
One other interesting byproduct to all of this as you watched it, the
Vice President of the United States, Al Gore, was saying to Dick
Gephardt, the Minority Leader of the House, that it was the finest
speech that he d ever heard in the House given by Gephardt today.
And then Gephardt introduced the Vice President in glowing terms, and
yet, as you probably know, Dick Gephardt, has entertained the idea of
running for president against Al Gore. And so, the two of them, who
have some differences of political ambition, were there brought
together by the history of this moment and were put in the position
of giving high praise to one another on that platform.
Sam, let me get your reaction to the President s remarks. Sam
Donaldson.
SAM DONALDSON
Well, Charlie, it s fascinating. If you were the man or woman from
Mars suddenly dropped down on the South Lawn and didn t know any of
the background and said, What is all of this about? You d be hard
pressed to understand that it is about this president having been
impeached by the House and sent to the Senate for trial.
Mr Clinton made two powerful themes one, that he s accepted
responsibility, that he wants to work out something that, as he said,
is reasonable bipartisan proportional approach to punish him. He
didn t use the words to punish him, but that s what he meant, short
of removal.
And the second theme, as George Stephanopoulos pointed out earlier,
was his plea to stop the politics of personal destruction. He hopes
the American people will see this not as the Republicans claim as a
matter of about crimes. There s a lot of evidence that the President
may have committed crime. But as some sort of bipart or rather
partisan, venomous push against him for reasons that would escape
this man and woman from Mars.
It s really interesting, Charlie. We don t have a precedent for
this. Andrew Johnson I don t know what happened then. He
certainly didn t come out on the South Lawn, and there was no
television. But to have this sort of rally at the end of this day is
just phenomenal.
CHARLES GIBSON
Bill Kristol, your reaction to this, and then I want to ask you a
question.
BILL KRISTOL
I was struck by -- well, he s going to have to reach across the aisle
to Republicans in the Senate to work out censure. Or obviously,
ultimately, I guess he could just get Democratic votes and fail to
get convicted. But if he wants to avert a long trial in the Senate,
he needs Republicans. It s odd to begin that process with a purely
partisan event. And I was very struck by the sentence, I have
accepted responsibility for what I did wrong in my personal life.
That is not at issue. The Democrats in the House let s remember,
these Democrats in the House introduced a censure resolution that
said the President had dishonored his office and abused the public
trust. I really think the President needs to say something like
that.
He needs to acknowledge what the House Democrats have acknowledged --
that he has failed in his official capacity. He can t just keep
saying he s made mistakes in his personal life.
CHARLES GIBSON
There s a fascinating picture, George. And I just want to call
attention to it. And I don t want to diminish in any way what you re
saying. But we re looking in through the windows into the Oval
Office, and one of the people applauding Bill Clinton was Betty
Currie.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
We re looking at Betty Currie s office, Charlie.
CHARLES GIBSON
I m sorry. Betty Currie s office.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
Yes, that is Betty Currie s office right off the Oval Office.
CHARLES GIBSON
Thanks, George.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
And that s Mrs Currie, and you see Gene Sperling, the director of the
National Economic Council. The staff obviously wanted to welcome the
President back, and there s Betty Currie giving the President a hug.
CHARLES GIBSON
And wearing a Christmas sweater, which is very nice.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
Exactly.
CHARLES GIBSON
Let me come back to the point. Thank you, George, for clarifying me
on the geography there of the West Wing of the White House, which, I
should point out, was very much an issue before the grand jury of
where all those rooms were situated. But let me come back to what
you were saying, because, Bill, you pointed me right to the question
that I wanted to ask.
For a long time in this House debate, moderate Republicans were
saying if we re going to support the President, he needs to come
forward and take greater responsibility for what he did in front of
the grand jury. They wanted him to acknowledge in some way that he
had lied.
Now, obviously, he was not going to do that in the statement he made
today. Does are the Republicans in the Senate going to insist on
that kind of an action from the President, or are we back to
basically the President staying exactly where he s been all along?
BILL KRISTOL
Oh, I think, look, Republicans in the Senate are going to have the
view Republicans in the Senate are not going to believe that 223
out of 228 Republicans in the House are somehow purely the captives
of partisan spirit, that their action is fundamentally illegitimate
or without any merits.
Reasonable people can differ on impeachment versus censure. As Cokie
said earlier today, for many members it probably was a 51 - 49
percent call. But I don t think the President s going to win over
Republican members in the Senate if he makes it seem that you were
kind of a nut or just a purely partisan character if you voted for
impeachment.
I mean, Arlen Specter, the moderate Republican senator from
Pennsylvania -- every House Republican, many of them moderates, from
Pennsylvania voted for impeachment. Arlen Specter is not going to
agree in a sense that his colleagues in the House from Pennsylvania
didn t act in good faith.
And I think the President will need to distance himself from Dick
Gephardt s rhetoric here, say, Look, reasonable people may have made
what we regard as a mistaken interpretation of the Constitution here.
I acknowledge my errors. Let s close this in an appropriate way.
I do think the President, in other words, is going to have to move
away from the rhetoric of today. This may have been useful to
bolster morale among Democrats. It s not going to be useful reaching
out to Republicans in the Senate.
CHARLES GIBSON
George Stephanopoulos, will he do that move away from that rhetoric
of today?
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS
Well, not all of it. But I agree with parts of what Bill is saying.
First of all, I think the President was a bit more conciliatory than
Bill is suggesting, except that he didn t say a lot of the words that
Republican senators are going to demand. Perhaps today was not the
right day for it, but he is going to have to move in that direction
and go farther not in contrition. That s not the issue, but in his
admissions of wrongdoing.
But the words you will hear in the future are what you heard today
the Constitution. There will be a lot of talk about the Constitution
by the President and his defenders. The word compromise, the word
bipartisan. What the President is going to try to do is reach over
the head of the senators and hope that they re affected by public
opinion.
CHARLES GIBSON
Of course, both sides were invoking the Constitution in the debate
today. Cokie, let me come to you to finish this. And let me ask you
about what George and Bill were just saying. George was saying that
he s going to invoke the word bipartisan a lot. It s interesting
the Democrats were saying this is an illegitimate process in the
House because there was no bipartisanship for impeachment.
But I wonder if it is just the Democrats standing fast in the Senate,
will we be as offended by bipartisanship if it exists over there as
well?
COKIE ROBERTS
Well, of course, bipartisanship is a two - way street by definition,
and the Democrats hung together, and the Republicans hung together.
So they were equally partisan. Dick Gephardt, invoking Henry Hyde s
line that impeachment ultimately has to be bipartisan, and that s
true. Because ultimately two - thirds of the Senate, at least
conviction, ultimately has to be bipartisan because two thirds of the
Senate has to vote to convict.
But it was interesting how he had his other people do the attacks and
the thanks, and then the President s main message was move on,
which is, of course, the message that he has been very effectively
getting across.
CHARLES GIBSON
Well, I thank all of you for the service with Peter through the day
and in this few moments, as we saw the President giving his reaction
to what had occurred today in the House of Representatives as they
approved two articles of impeachment.
There was an event that occurred after Peter went off the air that
you should see. Henry Hyde, on behalf of the Judiciary Committee,
led a delegation of Republicans to the Office of the Secretary of the
Senate, a man named Gary Sisko (ph). And as you see, Chairman Hyde
read this statement saying that he was presenting in official form
House Resolution 614, which is the resolution of impeachment,
contains the two articles of impeachment.
The Secretary of the Senate accepted that on behalf of the Senate,
and now we wait to find out if, indeed, there will be a formal trial
of the President of the United States in the Senate with the Chief
Justice of the United States presiding that could ultimately result
in the removal of the President of the United States from office.
We will have a wrap - up of what has been a very historic day on
Saturday World News Tonight later this evening. I should also
mention that on This Week With Sam Donaldson & Cokie Roberts
tomorrow, Congressman Christopher Cox, who is one of those being
considered for Speaker now that Bob Livingston has withdrawn his
candidacy -- Christopher Cox of California will be with them.
Also, because there is this other story that is going on the
bombing of Iraq. There were explosions in Baghdad at the very moment
that the Speaker Pro Tempore, the man in the chair, Ray LaHood of
Illinois, was announcing that the House had adopted the first article
of impeachment, at that very moment, bombs were dropping over
Baghdad.
And so, tomorrow on This Week will be the Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, General Henry Shelton, and also the Secretary of
Defense, William Cohen.
I m Charles Gibson in New York. Good afternoon.