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| Perjury Justifies Entrapment |
BARR: Thank you Mr. Chairman. As the day draws longer,
the charges become more absurd. I think I heard, maybe I was mistaken, that we were going
in the direction in the last line of questioning, with Monica
entrapping the president.
Now, there's a rich one. I suppose that's the same as the president being trapped into
perjury. As a matter of law, is it not well established, Judge Starr, that there is no
such thing as being trapped into perjury?
STARR: Yes, that is true.
BARR: One can never be forced to tell a lie before a grand jury or a federal court. Is
that correct, legally?
STARR: There is no excuse for telling a lie, you are correct -- I mean, under oath. |
ACLU not present for
comment. |
| BARR: Let me offer up several presumptions and then ask you a question.
Let's presume, Judge Starr, that Linda Tripp is a really nasty person. Let's presume
further, Judge Starr, for purposes of a hypothetical, that Lucianne Goldberg is a crafty
manipulator. Let's presume that Monica is an over-sexed blabber mouth. Let's presume that
there really is a vast right-wing conspiracy out there somewhere, maybe at work here
today. Let's presume that Paula Jones was interested just in the money. Let's presume that
the independent counsel is not a perfect statue, and let's presume that, horror of
horrors, you use tobacco products. |
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Let's presume all of those awful things. Would any of that, in your
professional judgment, change the conclusions contained in your referral, and in your
testimony today, that there is substantial and credible
evidence that President William Jefferson Clinton may have committed impeachable offenses?
STARR: It would not change it. The facts have a real
power to them. And it was Justice Brandeis who said: "Facts,
facts, facts; give me facts." And that's what we've sought to do, congressman, in
this referral.
BARR: You have, and I commend you for standing up to the nonsense,
and that's putting it mildly, that you have had to put up with today, in questions by the
other side.
And -- in the last several years. And I really do commend you for your ability to stand up
in the face of that, and stick to the facts and stick to the law.
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Talking briefly about the law, Judge Starr, we
are not limited, here in this committee, just to what you present to us? Are we in
considering whether or not pursuant to the House resolution directing that we look into
the possible impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton, to just what you have presented,
are we? STARR: Not at all. I had a statutory duty, but you have
a constitutional duty. |
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Thorough Attention to Detail |
BARR: Thank you. I do have one quick question, then I'd like
to -- if we could have my paper distributed, please, to the members and Judge Starr.
But before I refer to that, with regard to your reference to the FBI File case on page-47
of your written testimony, Judge Starr; has your office interviewed or deposed Mac McLarty
with regard to Filegate? |
STARR: I cannot recall, off the
top of my head, whether we conducted that particular interview or not. I
will say this, and I can check and again get back to the committee, but my evaluation and
assessment, based on the professional prosecutors who carried this out, is that it was thorough, but I would have to check on that. BARR:
OK. I would appreciate it because that -- your |
conclusion there left me a little bit concerned because I
hear a great deal from the American people of concern about
abuse by the FBI in Filegate, and it's my understanding that there are a number of people
that have not yet been deposed or fully deposed in that case, and I really would
appreciate it if you would check on that and so we don't
completely close the door on that. You've got two more years to go. |
E X T+P
A G E+| "Is it
Watergate or 'Peyton Place'?" |
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