23 years ago this past July the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives voted to recommnend that President Richard Milhous Nixon be impeached. In its Three Articles of Impeachment, the Judiciary Committee charged Nixon with High Crimes and Misdemeanors, including obstruction of justice, abuse of office, and unlawful refusal to comply with Congressional subpoenas. Having failed to honor his oath of office to defend, protect and preserve the Constitution and to take care that the Iaws be faithfully executed, the Committee concluded that Nixon must be removed from office.
Today, President William Jefferson Clinton stands choked with offenses as serious, if not more so, than those which led to the impeachment of President Nixon.
As President Nixon was charged with having misused the position and power of the presidential office in connection with his effort to be reelected, so President Clinton stands charged with having misused the prestige and power of the White House, encouraging and condoning violations of law in the raising of funds for his reelection campaign.
As was true of President Nixon's efforts to raise money in exchange for political favors and government benefits in violation of law, so there is evidence that Clinton's efforts led to the making of policy decisions favorable to major donors to the Clinton/Gore reelection campaign in violation of the law.
As was true of President Nixon's efforts to raise money from illegal foreign sources, so there is evidence that Clinton's efforts led directly to the raising of money from illegal foreign sources, thereby inviting foreign subversion of the American election process.
As President Nixon was charged with having abused the powers of the office of the President by violating the constitutional rights of citizens, so President Clinton stands charged with having abused that office by firing and filing false charges against the White House travel staff to make way for his political cronies and securing without any lawfill authority whatsoever confidential FBI files on political enemies.
As President Nixon used the IRS and the FBI to violate the constitutional rights of privacy and confidentiality, so Clinton has used the IRS and the FBI to file false charges against career civil servants who stood in the way of his political friends, to secure derogatory confidential background information on members of past Republican presidential administrations, and to conduct audits of persons and organizations opposed to his administration.
As President Nixon was charged with having abused the powers of the office of the President by obstructing lawful and authorized investigations, so President Clinton stands charged with having abused that office, invoking numerous unfounded privileges and engaging in unwarranted delays obstructing the lawful requests and subpoenas of Congressional Committees and independent prosecutor, Kenneth Starr.
As was true of the Watergate investigation, so it is true of the Whitewater and other investigations into actions of the Clinton administration. There is evidence that Clinton, like Nixon, has obstructed justice having interfered with the lawfully constituted official investigations by refusing to provide relevant evidence, by actively hiding important documents and by paying "hush money" to silence key witnesses.
As Nixon was charged with impeachable conduct, so must Clinton likewise be charged.
