GOP To Subpoena Clinton Lawyers
CBS News Senior White House Correspondent Scott Pelley
A source familiar with Ken Starr's planned testimony tells CBS News that the prosecutor intends to argue that Mr. Clinton abused the office of the president and used the White House as a tool in a conspiracy to obstruct justice.
He will accuse Mr. Clinton of perjury and witness tampering and insist these are impeachable offenses. On Wednesday, the White House said the hearings were unfair.
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"The American public, I think, wants fairness out of the process and there is nothing that's fair or bipartisan when the Republicans go off and expand and go off on a fishing expedition," said White House spokesman Joe Lockhart.
On Wednesday morning, Mr. Clinton departed for Japan, leaving his presidency in the hands of his lawyers. The White House ignored the allegations but ridiculed the process.
Ken Starr, meanwhile, practiced and refined his two-hour testimony, but sources familiar with the text tell CBS News that Starr is expected to make "a passionate statement about the sacredness of taking an oath and about truth as the foundation of American law."
Starr will allege the president violated his oath of office and abused the presidency by stonewalling the grand jury for nine months.
Starr will argue that the Lewinsky charges are part of a long "pattern and practice" of obstruction of justice by Mr. Clinton. Sources say Starr will remind the committee that:
- Susan McDougal refused to testify before the Whitewater grand jury.
- The first lady's law firm billing records were mysteriously discovered in the White House residence two years after they were subpoenaed.
- Clinton pal Webster Hubble refused to cooperate with prosecutors after he was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by friends of Mr. Clinton.
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