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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.
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[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.