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Undecided Republicans waiver on impeachment as Clinton seeks compromise
Updated Dec. 14, 1998
4:02 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (Court TV) — One of the few Republicans in the House who had publicly expressed a desire not to impeach President Clinton signaled a possible shift in position Monday and asked for a face-to-face conversation with the president to discuss concerns.
"If I had to vote today I would vote against impeachment," said Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., who has set a meeting with constituents for Tuesday night. He added, "I don't have the same level of conviction I had a week ago. ... I'm willing to reconsider this issue, especially in light of the fact that I'm having a community meeting."
The president had said Sunday that he would answer questions and concerns raised by any lawmakers who contact him.
Shays' comments were a fresh sign of trouble for Clinton and his defenders, who are struggling to round up enough support from moderate Republicans to defeat impeachment when it reaches the House floor this week.
Clinton, in the Middle East to shore up the Wye peace agreement, told reporters during the day he was making "every effort to make every compromise with Congress" short of impeachment.
In Congress, his defenders have been waging war on two related fronts. On the one hand, they are attempting to line up enough votes to defeat impeachment. On the other, they are trying to persuade the GOP leadership to reverse position and allow a vote on censure.
Vice President Al Gore told reporters Monday that Republicans were defying the "wisdom of the American people" by trying to prevent a vote on a lesser punishment.
Al Gore expresses criticism for the House Republican majority.
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"I would hope the leadership allows this compromise," he said.
When asked if the president would heed calls for his resignation, Gore responded, "Of course that will not happen."
The House Judiciary Committee chairman, Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., who will lead the impeachment fight on the floor, suggested Sunday that Clinton's resignation would be the best way out. Majority Leader Dick Armey and Majority Whip Tom DeLay, both Texas Republicans, concurred.
In a second ominous development for the White House, Rep. Frank LoBiondo, a Republican from New Jersey, issued a written statement saying he would support impeachment.
"I cannot in good conscience allow the nation's chief law enforcement officer to violate the law without consequences," said LoBiondo, whom Democrats had counted as a potential defector from the Republican ranks.
In a telephone interview, Shays said he has requested a meeting with the president, who is due back from the Middle East in two days. The House is scheduled to begin debate Thursday.
Shays also said Clinton's recent comments show "he still doesn't get it, and he's so intent on avoiding prosecution that he's willing to put this country in tremendous turmoil."
Clinton needs to declare "that he did not tell the truth" before Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's grand jury as well as in a civil deposition, "and in fact he lied and say he's willing to face the court like any other American citizen (after leaving office) and be held accountable for his actions," said Shays.
Shays also urged Clinton to say he won't attempt to pardon himself before leaving office, and "oppose anyone else's pardon."
Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for any crimes committed during Watergate, an event that Shay said has troubled himself and many others since.
White House Counsel Charles Ruff told the Judiciary Committee last week during hearings that Clinton would neither pardon himself nor accept a pardon.
Three Democrats have said they will vote for impeachment, meaning that at least 14 of the 228 Republicans in the 435-member House would have to vote no for impeachment to be defeated. Only about five Republicans have said publicly that they oppose impeachment, Shays among them.
In comments to reporters in the Middle East, Clinton said he had no intention of quitting.
Responding in Jerusalem to a question about whether he had lied in the Monica Lewinsky affair, Clinton said: "I've said what I've said about this. ... I don't believe it's in the interest of the United States and the American people to go through the impeachment process and have a trial in the Senate."
The swirl of statements did little to help those House members who had not decided how to vote.
"We're as conflicted as America is," said Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., one of some two dozen swing votes who will decide late this week if the House will send articles of impeachment to the Senate for trial.
Another undecided Republican, Rep. Frank Riggs of California, expressed similar frustration. In an interview Monday on NBC, Riggs predicted a Senate trial of the president would be "quite a spectacle" that would "roil the capital markets and the stock markets." Nonetheless, Riggs said his first duty is to protect the Constitution and "uphold the rule of law."
The House begins debate Thursday on four articles of impeachment approved last week by the Judiciary Committee. They include two counts of perjury, one of obstruction of justice and one of abuse of power in the Lewinsky matter.
[ Read about the Judiciary Committee votes on impeachment articles and the censure resolution.. ]
Clinton hopes to convince undecided Republicans that his affair with the former White House intern should result in public censure but not impeachment. In Jerusalem Sunday he again insisted that he did not commit perjury in his testimony about the relationship.
Clinton's stand on the perjury issue appeared to anger potential supporters in the House.
"If the president's trying to throw himself on the mercy of the court, you have to admit your guilt," said Rep. Scott Klug, R-Wis., who appeared Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Clinton's refusal to admit he lied "just kind of leaves us in a vacuum again," Rep. Jay Dickey, R-Ark., also undecided on impeachment, said on ABC's "This Week."
Acknowledgment of perjury would leave Clinton open to criminal prosecution after he leaves office. "I could not admit to doing something that I am quite sure I did not do," he said at a Jerusalem news conference dominated by questions on impeachment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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