Q. Senator Lieberman asks the House managers: The House managers argue
that the President should be removed from office because of the inconsistency
between his actions and the President's duty to faithfully execute the
laws. Given that any criminal act would arguably be at odds with the President's
duty to execute the laws, is it your position that the President may be
impeached and removed for committing any criminal act, regardless of the
type of crime it is? If the President were convicted of driving while intoxicated,
would that be grounds for removal? What if he were convicted of assault?
REPRESENTATIVE LINDSEY GRAHAM The answer is no. I would not want my
President removed for any criminal wrongdoing. I would want my President
removed only when there was a clear case that points to this, the right
decision for the future of the country. Just remember this: Our past is
America's future in terms of the law. I would not want my President removed
for trivial offenses, and that is the heart of the matter here. I think
I know why he took a poll. I think I know very well what he was up to,
but his political and legal interest are so paramount in his mind, the
law be damned. And anybody that got in his way be damned. Those are strong
statements, but I think they're borne out by the facts in this case. And
that's what I would look for.
I would look for a violation of the law that's the dark side of politics.
I would look for something like what Richard Nixon did.
Richard Nixon lost faith with the American electoral process. He believed
his enemies justified being cheated; that when his people broke into the
other side's office, when confronted with that wrongdoing, he legitimized
it. He didn't trust the American people to get it right, and he went out
in shame. My belief is that this President did not trust the American legal
system to vindicate his interest without cheating. My belief is that when
he went back to his secretary, it is not reasonable that he was trying
to refresh his memory and get his thoughts together. My belief is that
he tried to set up a scenario that was going to make a young lady pay a
price if she ever decided to cooperate with the other side. I believe he
did not need to refresh his memory whether or not Monica Lewinsky wanted
to have sex with him and he couldn't. I don't believe he was refreshing
his memory when he asked his secretary, "I never touched her, did
I?" I believe that you should only remove a President who is -- in
a calculated fashion puts the legal and political interest of himself over
the good of the nation in a selfish way; that you only should remove a
President who, after being begged by everybody in the country, "Don't
go into a grand jury and lie," and he in fact lied. Nothing trivial
should remove my President. We need to try this case, ladies and gentlemen,
because you need to know who your President is. Thank you.