Clinton impeachment trial transcripts — January 19, 1999            Full Coverage Search Clinton in Crisis The Trial Trial Guide Evidence Guide Transcripts Video Discuss the Trial The Starr Report and Rebuttals Video Index Documents Starr Investigation Jones v. Clinton Whitewater Jones v. Clinton Whitewater The following transcript was provided to Court TV by Federal Document Clearing House: SENATE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL OF PRESIDENT CLINTON (CONTINUED) JANUARY 19, 1999 SPEAKERS: WILLIAM H. REHNQUIST, CHIEF JUSTICE, U.S. SUPREME COURT U.S. SENATOR TRENT LOTT, MAJORITY LEADER CHARLES F.C. RUFF, OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL (CONTINUED) RUFF: Now you will also learn from us but not from the managers that Mr. Jordan placed no pressure on any company to give Ms. Lewinsky a job. Indeed, two of the companies he called didn't even offer her a job. And just as the managers dramatically misstate the record relating to Mr. Jordan's efforts to help Ms. Lewinsky find a job, so, too, do they invent a nonexistent link between a call Mr. Jordan made ultimately to Mr. Perelman, the CEO of MacAndrews & Forbes, Revlon's parent, and the offer Ms. Lewinsky finally received from Revlon with her signing of the affidavit in the Jones case. We will demonstrate beyond any question once again the conclusions the managers have drawn are simply false. Begin with the fact that both Mr. Jordan and Miss Lewinsky have testified that there was no such link between the job and the affidavit. And the only person to ever suggest such a link was, once again, Ms. Tripp. Now I presume that it is not the managers' intention to suggest that we bring Ms. Tripp before you to explore her motivations for making that suggestion. RUFF: Next, take Ms. Lewinsky's interview with the MacAndrews official, which she described as having gone poorly, a characterization adopted by the managers for obvious reasons, because it suggests that there was a desire on their part to heighten the supposed relevance of the call that Mr. Jordan made to Mr. Perelman. In other words, under their theory, Ms. Lewinsky's job prospects at MacAndrews & Forbes, or Revlon, were kaput until Vernon Jordan made the call and resurrected her chances. Unfortunately, like so much of the obstruction case, the facts do not bear out this convenient theory. In fact, the man who interviewed Ms. Lewinsky at MacAndrews was impressed with her. And because there was nothing available in his area, sent her resume to Revlon where she was hired by someone who did not know about Mr. Jordan's call to Mr. Perelman. So much for obstruction of that job search. RUFF: That then is an overview of the charges contained in these articles. You will hear about them in greater detail than I could offer you today when my colleagues speak in the next two days, but I want to bring my presentation to you to a close. We are not here to defend William Clinton, the man. He, like all of us, will find his judges elsewhere. We are here to defend William Clinton, the president of the United States, for whom you are the only judges. You are free to criticize him, to find his personal conduct distasteful, but ask whether this is the moment when, for the first time in our history, the actions of a president have so put at risk the government the framers created that there is only one solution. You must find not merely that removal is an acceptable option, that we will be OK the day after you vote. You must find that it's the only solution, that our democracy should not be made to sustain two more years of this president's service. RUFF: You must put that question, because the one thing that our form of government cannot abide is the notion that impeachment is merely one more weapon the Congress can use in the contest between the legislative and executive branches. Let me be very clear. We do not believe that President Clinton committed any of the offenses charged by the managers. And for the reasons we'll set out at length over the next two days, we believe the managers have misstated the record, have constructed their case out of tenuous extrapolations without foundation, have at every turn assumed the worst without the evidence to support their speculations. You put these lawyers in a courtroom and they win ten times out of ten. But suppose we are wrong. Suppose that you find that the president committed one or more of the offenses that the managers have charged. Then there remains only one issue before you. Whatever your feelings may be about William Clinton the man, or William Clinton the political ally or opponent, or William Clinton the father and the husband, ask only this: should William Clinton the president be removed from office? Are we at that horrific moment in our history when our union can be preserved only by taking the step that the framers saw as a last resort? RUFF: I'm never certain how to respond when an advocate on the other side of a case calls up images of patriots over the centuries who have sacrificed themselves to preserve our democracy. I have no personal experience with war. I've only visited Normandy as a tourist. But I do know this: My father was on Omaha Beach 55 years ago. If you want to know how he would feel if he were here today, he wouldn't fight -- no one fought for one side of this case or the other. He fought as all those did for our country and our Constitution. And as long as each of us -- manager, president's counsel, senator -- does his or her constitutional duty, those who fought for their country will be proud. RUFF: We, the people of the United States, have formed a more perfect union. We formed it; we nurtured it; we've seen it grow. We have not been perfect. And it perhaps the most extraordinary thing about our Constitution that it thrives despite our human imperfections. When the American people hear the president talk to Congress tonight, they will know the answer to the question: Neighbor, how stands the union? It stands strong, vibrant, free. And I close as I opened two hours ago -- two and a half hours ago -- William Jefferson Clinton is not guilty of the charges that have been brought against him. He didn't commit perjury. He didn't obstruct justice. He must not be removed from office. Thank you. REHNQUIST: The chair recognizes the majority leader. LOTT: Mr. Chief Justice, in a moment the Senate will recess until 8:35 p.m. this evening, at which time the Senate will proceed as a body over to the House of Representatives for a joint session to receive a message from the president. Following the joint session, the Senate will adjourn until 11 a.m. tomorrow morning. As a reminder to all senators, the leader's lecture series is scheduled for tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. in the Old Senate Chamber with former President George Bush as the guest speaker. I now ask that the Senate stand in recess under the previous order. REHNQUIST: In the absence of objection, it's so ordered. END Testimony index COPYRIGHT 1999 BY FEDERAL DOCUMENT CLEARING HOUSE, INC. NO PORTION OF THIS TRANSCRIPTION MAY BE COPIED, SOLD OR RETRANSMITTED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN AUTHORITY OF FEDERAL DOCUMENT CLEARING HOUSE, INC.