Key Democrat Hammers Clinton

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

September 3, 1998 / 7:44 PM EDT / CBS

On the floor of the U.S. Senate, Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut said President Clinton's behavior with Monica Lewinsky was "immoral and harmful" to the nation and warranted a public rebuke.

However, Lieberman said it was premature for Congress to take any action before receiving a full report from special prosecutor Kenneth Starr.

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"In this case, the president apparently had extramarital relations with an employee half his age and did so in the workplace in the vicinity of the Oval Office," the Connecticut Democrat said in a sternly worded speech.

Lieberman thus became the first member of either party since Clinton's grand jury testimony last month to use the Senate floor to address the issue.

Party elders had hoped he would avoid speaking, but within moments after he concluded, two fellow Democrats as well as Republican leader Trent Lott of Mississippi rose to praise him for it.

Lieberman has fashioned a record as a centrist Democrat since coming to the Senate a decade ago, and has worked closely with Clinton on many issues. At the same time, he has spoken out forcefully on moral issues, and he said he felt compelled to do so in this case.

Barry Toiv, Clinton's deputy press secretary, avoided criticism of Lieberman in responding.

"The president has great respect for Senator Lieberman because of the key role he has played in the president's accomplishments on behalf of the American people," he said. "It's always hardest to hear criticism from a friend, but I am sure the president will consider Senator Lieberman's words with the same care with which they were delivered."

Few Democrats were present to hear Lieberman's remarks. But top Republican leaders, including Lott and the GOP whip, Don Nickles, were present and listening closely from their seats a few yards away.

Democratic officials had said earlier in the week that Lieberman was weighing a call for censure of the president.

Lieberman noted that while some people have already called for Clinton's resignation, presidential supporters want the nation to move beyond the entire episode.

"Appealing as that option may be, the transgressions the president has admitted to are too consequential for us to walk away and leave the impression for our children today and our posterity tomorrow that the conduct he admitted to in the White House are acceptable," he said.

Clinton's conduct, he declared, should be followed "by some measure of public rebuke and accountability" although not until Starr sends a report to Congress.

Moments after Lieberman spoke, fellow Democrats Bob Kerrey of Nebraska and Daniel Moynihan of New York praised him for having done so.