**************************************************************** Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), a man well-acquainted with DOJ witch-hunts, Sept. 18 introduced in the House of Representatives a resolution calling for the removal of Special Prosecutor Ken Starr on charges of "high crimes and misdemeanors." The passage of the resolution requires the immediate mobilization of allied ranks throughout the nation: The resolution is put forward as a Rule 9 measure, a "Question of Privilege," which pertain only to matters "affecting the rights of the House collectively, its safety, dignity, and the integrity of its proceedings." Such a resolution must therefore be taken up within two legislative days of its annnouncement. Two "legislative days" are determined by the activity of Congress. ****************************************************************** [Source: U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.): "Privileged Resolutions" page in the {Congressional Record}, Sept. 18, 1998] ANNOUNCEMENT OF INTENTION TO OFFER RESOLUTION RAISING QUESTION OF PRIVILEGES OF THE HOUSE (House of Representatives - September 18, 1998) Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, most respectfully I thank you for recognizing me and per mitting me to act expeditiously in a matter that I wish to bring to the attention of the House. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to rule IX, I hereby give notice of my intention to offer a resolution as a question of the privilege of the House. The form of my resolution is as follows, and I shall try to be as expeditious as possible. Impeaching Kenneth W. Starr, an independent counsel of the United States appointed pursuant to 28 United States Code section 593(b), of high crimes and misdemeanors. Resolved that Kenneth W. Starr, an independent counsel of the United States of America, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the Senate: Articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives of the United States of America in the name of itself and of all the people of the United States of America, against Kenneth W. Starr, an independent counsel of the United States of America, in maintenance and support of its impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors. Article I. In his conduct of the office of independent counsel, Kenneth W. Starr has violated his oath and his statutory and constitutional duties as an officer of the United States and has acted in ways that were calculated to and that did usurp the sole power of impeachment that the Constitution of the United States vests exclusively in the House of Representatives and that were calculated to and did obstruct and impede the House of Representatives in the proper exercise of its sole power of impeachment. The acts by which Independent Counsel Starr violated his duties and attempted to and did usurp the sole power of impeachment and impede its proper exercise include. On September 9, 1998, Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr transmitted two copies of a `Referral to the United States House of Representatives pursuant to Title 28, United States Code, section 595(c).' As part of that Referral, Mr. Starr submitted a 445-page report (the `Starr Report') that included an extended narration and analysis of evidence presented to a grand jury and of other material and that specified the grounds upon which Mr. Starr had concluded that a duly elected President of the United States should be impeached by the House of Representatives. By submitting the Starr report, Mr. Starr usurped the sole power of impeachment and impeded the House in the proper exercise of that power in various ways, including the following. - PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY - Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, may I make a parliamentary inquiry? The SPEAKER. The gentleman may state his parliamentary inquiry. Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, if I may, this is a lengthy document, and unless the rules require all of it to be read into the Record, this Member has no great need to read it all, if that is permitted, and, if I would be permitted under leave, I would place it on the Record. The SPEAKER. The form of a question of privilege should be read into the Record so all Members are notified. Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. (a) In preparing the Starr Report, Mr. Starr misused the powers granted and violated the duties assigned independent counsel under the provisions of Title 28 of the United States Code. Section 595(c) does not authorize or require independent counsel to submit a report narrating and analyzing the evidence and identifying the specific grounds on which independent counsel believes the House of Representatives should impeach the President of the United States. By submitting the Starr Report in the form he did, Mr. Starr misused his powers and preempted the proper exercise of the sole power of impeachment that the Constitution assigned to the House of Representatives. Mr. Starr thereby committed a high crime and misdemeanor against the Constitution and the people of the United States of America. (b) In his preparation and submission of the Starr Report, Mr. Starr further misused his powers and violated his duties as independent counsel and arrogated onto himself and effectively preempted and undermined the proper exercise of power of impeachment that the Constitution allocated exclusively to the House of Representatives. Mr. Starr knew or should have known, and he acted to assure, that the House of Representatives would promptly release to the public any report that he transmitted to the House of Representatives under the authority of Section 595(c). With that knowledge, Mr. Starr prepared and transmitted a needlessly pornographic report calculated to inflame public opinion and to preclude the House of Representatives from following the procedures and observing the precedents it had established for the conduct of a bipartisan inquiry to determine whether a President of the United States had committed a high crime or misdemeanor in office meriting impeachment. Mr. Starr thereby committed a high crime and misdemeanor against the Constitution and the people of the United States. (2) Independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr further usurped and arrogated onto himself the powers that belong solely to the House of Representatives by using and threatening to use the subpoena powers of a federal grand jury to compel an incumbent President of the United States to testify before a federal grand jury as part of an investigation whose primary purpose had become and was the development of exercise that the President had committed high crimes and misdemeanors justifying his impeachment and removal from office. With respect to the President of the United States, the only means by which the whole of that office may be called to account for his conduct in office is through the exercise by the House of Representatives of the investigative powers that the constitutional assignment of the sole power of impeachment conferred upon it. Mr. Starr improperly used and manipulated the powers of the grand jury and his office to effectively impeach the President of the United States of America and to force the House of Representatives to ratify his decision. Mr. Starr thereby committed a high crime and misdemeanor against the Constitution and the people of the United States. In all of this, Kenneth W. Starr has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as an independent counsel of the United States and subversive of constitutional government to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States. Wherefore Kenneth W. Starr by such conduct warrants impeachment and trial and removal from office. Article II: In his conduct of the office of independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr violated the oath he took to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and his duties as an officer of the United States and acted in ways that were calculated to and did unconstitutionally undermine the office of the President of the United States and obstruct, impede and impair the ability of an incumbent President of the United States to fully and effectively discharge the duties and responsibilities of his office on behalf and for the benefit of the United States of America by whom he had been duly elected. The acts by which Mr. Starr violated his oath and his duties and undermined the office of the President and obstructed, impeded and impaired the ability of the incumbent President to fully and effectively discharge the duties of that office include: (1) Mr. Starr unlawfully and improperly disclosed and authorized disclosures of grand jury material for the purpose of embarrassing and humiliating the President of the United States and distracting him from and impairing his ability to execute the duties of the office to which the people of the United States had elected him. Mr. Starr has thereby committed high crimes and misdemeanors against the Constitution and the people of the United States. (2) Mr. Starr engaged in a willful and persistent course of conduct that was calculated to and did wrongfully demean, embarrass and defame an incumbent President of the United States and thereby undermine and impaired the President's ability to properly execute the duties of the office to which the people of the United States had elected him including not only Mr. Starr's wrongful disclosures of grand jury material, but also other improper conduct such as his actions and conduct calculated to suggest without foundation that the incumbent President had participated in preparing a so-called, quote, talking points, unquote, outline to improperly influence the testimony of one or more persons scheduled to be deposed in a civil action. By his willful and persistent conduct and misrepresenting as well as improperly disclosing evidence that he had gathered, Mr. Starr committed high crimes and misdemeanors against the United States and the people of the United States of America. (3) Mr. Starr intentionally, willfully and improperly embarrassed the people and the President of the United States by including in the Starr Report an unnecessary and improper and extended detailed salacious and pornographic narrative account of the consensual sexual encounters that a grand jury witness testified she had with an incumbent President of the United States. By including that unnecessary and improper pornographic narrative, Mr. Starr intended to and did undermine and imperil the ability of the President to conduct the foreign relations of the United States of America and otherwise to execute the duties of the office to which the people of the United States had elected him, and he knowingly and improperly embarrassed the United States as a Nation. By including that narrative knowing and intending that it would be published and disseminated, Mr. Starr committed a high crime and misdemeanor against the Constitution and the people of the United States of America. Article III: In his conduct of the office of independent counsel, Kenneth Starr violated the oath he took to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and the duties he had assumed as a officer of the United States and acted in ways that were calculated to and that did unconstitutionally arrogate onto himself powers that the Constitution of the United States assigned to the federal courts that were calculated to and did undermine the institution of the grand jury established by the Constitution of the United States of America and that were calculated to and did undermine and bring into disrepute the office of independent counsel and offices of all those charged with investigating and prosecuting crimes against the United States. The acts by which Mr. Starr violated his oath and duties and by which he undermined the federal courts and the grand jury and undermined and demeaned the office and role of all federal prosecutors include: (1) Mr. Starr disclosed and authorized and approved the disclosure and misuse of grand jury materials in violation of Rule 6(e)(2) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and with contempt for the federal courts and for the rights of those who appear before grand juries of the United States and of those who are subjects of grand jury investigations. (2) Throughout his investigations Mr. Starr abused the powers of his office and condoned the abuse of those powers to improperly intimidate and manipulate citizens of the United States who were interviewed or called to testify before a grand jury or who were actual or potential targets of his investigation and to deprive them of rights guaranteed to all citizens of the United States. Mr. Starr and subordinates for whose conduct he is responsible further abused and misused the powers of the office of independent counsel and the powers of the grand jury to improperly evade and needlessly intrude upon the privacy of individuals and to demean the rights guaranteed to all by the first and fifth amendments to the Constitution of the United States. (3) Throughout his investigations, Mr. Starr has abused and misused and has authorized and approved the abuse and misuse of the powers of his office in ways that have demeaned the prosecutorial office and that have undermined and will undermine the ability of other prosecutorial offices of the United States to discharge their duty to take care that the laws of the United States be faithfully executed. (4) In his conduct of the office of independent counsel, Mr. Starr has needlessly and unjustifiably expended and wasted funds of the United States. Over the past 4 years Mr. Starr has expended more than $40 million in a relentless pursuit of investigations and prosecutions that he knew or should have known did not merit and could not justify such extraordinary expenditures. By the conduct described in Article III of these Articles of Impeachment, Kenneth Starr committed high crimes and misdemeanors against the Constitution and the people of the United States. In all of this, Kenneth Starr has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as an independent counsel of the United States and subversive of constitutional government to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States. Wherefore Kenneth W. Starr by such conduct warrants impeachment and trial and removal from office. Final article, Mr. Speaker, Article IV: By his conduct as an officer of the United States of America, including the conduct described in Articles I through III of these articles of impeachment, Kenneth W. Starr has violated the oath he took to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. He has acted and persisted in acting in ways that were calculated to and did embarrass the United States and the people of the United States before the international community and that were calculated to and did undermine the ability of the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch, and the Judicial Branch to effectively exercise the powers and discharge the duties assigned to each by the Constitution of the United States of America. He has unconstitutionally and improperly exercised powers that were not his to exercise and has acted in ways that were calculated to and did improperly demean a President of the United States and diminished the capacity of the President to effectively discharge the duties that the people of the United States elected him to perform. He has unconstitutionally and improperly exercised his powers and has acted in ways that were calculated to and did demean the House of Representatives and that have effectively deprived the House of Representatives of it is right to exercise its sole power of impeachment in a deliberate and bipartisan manner that was consistent with the procedures and precedents it had established in prior proceedings and inquiries to determine whether the President of the United States or any officer should be impeached. He has unlawfully and improperly exercised his powers in ways that demeaned the institution of the federal grand jury, that demonstrated contempt of the courts of the United States and the rules that govern their proceedings, and that demeaned the office of independent counsel and offices of all those charged with responsibility for seeing that the laws of the United States are faithfully executed. By his conduct as an independent counsel, Kenneth W. Starr has committed high crimes and misdemeanors against the Constitution and the people of the United States. In all of this, Kenneth W. Starr has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as an independent counsel of the United States and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States. Wherefore, Kenneth W. Starr, by such conduct, warrants impeachment and trial and removal from office. Mr. Speaker, most respectfully, I gratefully thank my fellow colleagues for their patience in the House of Representatives. That concludes my noticing of the privileged resolution that I most respectfully put before the body. The SPEAKER. Under Rule XI, a resolution offered from the floor by a Member other than the majority leader or the minority leader as a question of the privileges of the House has immediate precedence only at a time designated by the Chair within 2 legislative days after the resolution is properly noticed. Pending that designation, the form of the resolution noticed by the gentleman from Florida will appear in the Record at this point. The Chair will not at this point determine whether the resolution constitutes a question of privilege. That determination will be made at the time designated for consideration of the resolution.