"Starr.Remarks" - читать интересную книгу автора (impeachment)

investigation by telling aides false stories that were then relayed to
the grand jury. Fourth, he refused invitations to testify to the grand
jury for over six months. Fifth, his administration delayed the
investigation through multiple privilege claims, each of which has
been rejected by the federal courts. Sixth, surrogates of the
president attacked the credibility and legitimacy of the grand jury
investigation. Seventh, surrogates of the president attempted to
convince the Congress and the American people that the matter was
unimportant.

The first step was for the president to deny the truth publicly. For
this, political polling led to Hollywood staging. The president's
California friend and producer Harry Thomason flew to Washington and
advised that the president needed to be very forceful in denying the
relationship. On Monday, Jan. 26, in the Roosevelt Room, before
members of Congress and other citizens, the president provided a clear
and emphatic public statement denying the relationship.

The president also made false statements to his Cabinet and aides.
They then spoke publicly and professed their belief in the president.

The second step was to promise cooperation. The president told the
American people on several television and radio shows on Jan. 21 and
22 that "I'm going to do my best to cooperate with the investigation."

The third step was the president's refusal to provide testimony to the
grand jury despite six invitations to do so and despite his public
promise to cooperate. Refusing invitations to provide information to a
grand jury in a federal criminal investigation authorized by the
attorney general of the United States – and one in which there is
a high national interest in prompt completion – was inconsistent
with the president's initial January promise to cooperate and with the
general statutory duty of all government officials to cooperate with
federal criminal investigations.

As a fourth step, the president not only refused to testify himself,
but he authorized the use of various governmental privileges to delay
the testimony of many of his taxpayer-paid assistants. The extensive
use of governmental privileges against grand jury and criminal
investigations has, of course, been a pattern throughout the
administration. Most notably, the White House cited privilege in 1993
to prevent Justice Department and Park Police officials from reviewing
documents in Vincent Foster's office in the days after his death.

In the Lewinsky investigation, the president asserted two privileges,
executive privilege and a government attorney-client privilege. A
subordinate administration official, without objection from the
president, claimed a previously unheard-of privilege that was called
the protective function privilege. The privileges were asserted to
prevent the full testimony of several White House aides and the full