Posted on 10/02/2018 7:49:59 AM PDT by kristinn
David P. Schippers Jr., the Republican Partys chief counsel in the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, died of pancreatic cancer Friday at 88 at his home in Grayslake.
In 1998, U.S. Rep. Henry J. Hyde, R-Illinois, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, appointed Mr. Schippers to be the committees chief investigator as it weighed whether to endorse the impeachment of Clinton.
After independent counsel Ken Starr had recommended 11 grounds for impeachment, including obstruction of justice and lying under oath, Mr. Schippers, a Chicago criminal defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor, said there were at least 15.
If you dont impeach, then no House of Representatives will ever be able to impeach again, he said. The bar will be so high that only a convicted felon or a traitor will need to be concerned.
In December 1998, the House Judiciary Committee approved articles of impeachment for perjury and obstruction of justice, sending the question to the full House. Days later, for just the second time in history, the Republican-controlled House voted to impeach a presidentin this case, for misleading officials about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.
After a trial, the Democratic-controlled Senate voted on Feb. 12, 1999, to acquit Clinton. (Note: GOP actually controlled the Senate.)
In the U.S. Senate, politics trumped principles, and polls trumped honor, Mr. Schippers said in a book he wrote with Alan P. Henry, Sellout: the Inside Story of President Clintons Impeachment.
He felt he had a solid case, and he didnt think all of those people in the Senate were honoring their oath of office, according to his son David. But his son said he also knew this: You win some, you lose some.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicago.suntimes.com ...
Great guy. Was a regular guest on the Quinn in the Morning show discussing Chicago Democrat malfeasance. RIP.
Rest in Peace, Mr. Schippers.
and was Hillary at the time
And effective warrior.
Unfortunately, in the senate it wasn't about obvious disgraceful behavior by the President; it was simply that a few R's didn't want Algore to have the benefit of using the oval office in his upcoming presidential campaign.
My recollection was he was a Democrat. Funny they don’t mention that.
Headline should be:
“CLINTON ENEMY DIES OF NATUURAL CAUSES!”
Yup. Democrat from Chicago, meaning he was wise to every dirty trick in the book.
Actually he was impeached because of Jane Doe #5. The about 50 moderate Republicans that were not going to vote to impeach were taken into the room (by majority whip Tom Delay) that held the non public part of the Star report. They read about Junaita Broaddrick and all of them changed their vote to impeach except one. He was impeached 2 days later.
True. I would suspect Gore would have made himself the un-Clinton President and via a whirlwind of baby kissing and acts of virtue would have been one of the most popular presidents in US history by the time he got to election day. By not ousting Billy Jeff, who the GOP had tied in knots for most of his second term, we were saved from ten years of Albore.
The Committee was holding an inquiry on whether President Bill Clinton had committed impeachable offences in his handling of the Paula Jones sexual harassment suit..... during which he committed perjury regarding his affair with then-White House Intern Monica Lewinsky.
On December 10, 1998, Schippers said to the committee: "The President, then, has lied under oath in a civil deposition, lied under oath in a criminal grand jury. He lied to the people, he lied to his Cabinet, he lied to his top aides, and now he's lied under oath to the Congress of the United States. There's no one left to lie to."[4]
After an investigation, the committee in December 1998 voted to impeach Clinton, a decision supported by Schippers.[5]
==============================================
One Clinton lies.....
"I never had sexual relations with that woman...Miss Lewinsky."
And the other Clinton swears to it.
Standing by her man (sniffle).
=============================================
VINTAGE TIME COVER The Clintons leave the WH
arm-in-arm after Bill got lewinskied. Plotting to exploit
Bill's BJ for votes, the Clintons' political apparat never faltered.
That smirk on Hillary's face tells the story.
Hillary later went on network TV all decked out in virginal pearls,
denying everything, blaming Billy's B/J on "an invention of a VRWC."
Bill later admitted to it, was impeached, and disbarred.
He had to pay Paula Jones 850,000 dollars.
There are still a few around like Pat Caddell, but whether any elected office-holders fall into that category is hard to say. Doubtful.
That was the rationale at the time; however,
- it wasn't certain to many that Gore would win even with the oval office; indeed, his performance in office, or lack thereof, might have provided a basis for persuasive criticism;
- if he did survive the election he undoubtedly would have been easier to tie in knots than the crafty, duplicitous Clinton and crew;
- many believed Gore, who was thought to be slow and clumsy, would show he wasn't fit for a 2nd term.
Perhaps most importantly, Clinton could justify his bold-face televised lie to the nation by claiming that his remaining in office was in the nation's best interest. Likewise, the R's could argue it was in the nation's interest that they not convict Clinton because that improved their odds of staying in power.
Any number of voters could conclude the Gore/Oval office argument did nothing but provide cover; that the senate had demonstrated they were prepared to ignore their duty and do whatever was necessary to maintain their power.
The resulting distrust may well have been an element in the close result of the Bush-Gore contest.
From the article: He used to tell his kids, Never bet against God, Notre Dame and the Democratic Party, according to his son, who said, After he got old and the Clinton impeachment, he said, At least, Im two out of three.
Thanks for posting. He was a good guy. I bought and read his book. It was a depressing but a very revealing and honest book. If you get a chance, read it. When both sides are corrupt, there is no place to go. Too bad we didn’t have Trump as the Senate majority leader then.
Or did he.....?
Wasn’t he a FReeper for a while?
Nice guy. I interviewed him on radio in the early 2000s.
RIP. From my reading, a real Patriot, and one of the great public figures of the 1990’s.
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