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“THE PURSUIT OF JUSTICE BY THE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H840-H841 on March 4, 1998.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
THE PURSUIT OF JUSTICE BY THE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Nethercutt) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. NETHERCUTT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address a subject that is on the minds of all Americans, the pursuit of justice by the Independent Counsel.
In recent weeks, we have seen the personal character and motives of Kenneth Starr subjected to an unprecedented number of insults and attacks by friends of the President, attacks which are designed to delay justice and shift focus away from the truth.
Sadly, Mr. Speaker, these attacks only tarnish our system of law in America. Our criminal justice system was designed to operate outside the political arena. It was intended that officers of the court would seek justice based on the presentation of the facts and the determination of whether conduct based on these facts was unlawful or not.
The search for truth and determination of the facts has sadly become an indictment by political operatives of the Independent Counsel and his office. Diverting attention from the facts of this case does not serve justice, it simply demeans the Presidency.
Mr. Speaker, Congress passed the Independent Counsel statute in response to the Watergate experience of 1974, assuring that an independently appointed court official would best be able to seek justice involving allegations against high government officials. Moving the prosecution process outside the White House best assures that credible allegations of wrongdoing against such officials will not go unchecked. It is certainly not in our national interests for a President to investigate himself.
The history of the Independent Counsel statute is interesting. Congress reauthorized it three times. President Clinton himself signed the reauthorization legislation in 1994. Many Members of this Congress back in 1994 voted for such reauthorization.
Under the law, the Independent Counsel is given the same investigative authority as the Department of Justice. The authority includes conducting grand jury investigations, granting immunity to witnesses, and challenging in court any privilege claims or attempts to withhold evidence on national security grounds.
We must also understand, Mr. Speaker, that obtaining testimony by subpoena is an important investigative tool to determine the facts of allegations of wrongdoing by the President. Without facts, neither truth nor justice can be preserved.
Mr. Speaker, the Attorney General appointed Mr. Starr through a judicial panel and maintains full authority to remove the Independent Counsel. Mr. Starr was not appointed because he was without integrity; he was appointed because he is a fine lawyer, possessed of substantial legal skills and experience, and respected for his character and honesty.
If President Clinton genuinely believes Mr. Starr has acted beyond authority, the Attorney General may remove him for cause and appoint a different Independent Counsel. The power to do so resides in this President.
If the President believes the insults that his spokesmen level at Mr. Starr, then the President should seek removal. If he does not agree with those insults, the President should instruct his defenders to stop their public criticism, criticism that is not designed to learn the truth, but to deflect it and bring contempt on our justice system.
With international challenges facing our country, the public needs reassurance that our highest national leader is truthful, that his representations to us are reliable, that we can trust his word on matters of national security, that he is an honorable representative for all Americans. Under the circumstances, the President's sacred honor is in question. All the criticisms against the Independent Counsel by political operatives of the President do not change that at all. Their criticisms serve not the best interests of the country nor the one standard that Americans support most, the truth.
Mr. Speaker, all Americans need to know that our President is honorable. Seeking the truth should not just be another political campaign. Assaulting our legal system and the officers of the court who administer it, who serve under it, may have temporary political benefit. Public opinion polls ebb and flow, but the long-term damage is more lasting. Public distrust of our legal system, the system in which we want our citizens to have faith, will result from a contradiction of the noble American principle that we are a country of laws, not men. That rule of law and justice is of paramount importance to a civil society. No person, no matter how popular, is above the law.
Mr. Speaker, we should all take a careful look at the phenomenon unfolding before us, the gaming of our justice system, where criticizing legal authority is the defense weapon of choice, where putting a proper spin on the evidence is a substitute for being truthful and honest and accepting the consequences.
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Free societies governed by laws fairly administered can prevail over political tyranny only if citizens have faith in and respect for authorities charged with enforcing the laws. Law is the embodiment of the moral sentiment of the people. The laws of our country are the most perfect branch of ethics. Laws should be like death, which spares no one. It has been said that every violation of truth is a stab at the heart of human society.
Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, our society, our country, needs the truth in this instance. To people of integrity, there would be no conversation so agreeable as that of a man, be he the President or the independent counsel, who has no intention to deceive. The withholding of truth can be a worse deception than a direct misstatement. Searching for the truth is the noblest occupation of mankind. Obscuring it is a curse on our society that will damage our institutions of government and our national spirit for years to come.
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