[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 11 (Thursday, February 12, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S706-S707]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             A SEARCH FOR TRUTH WITH AN INDEPENDENT COUNSEL

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to call attention to a 
serious and deeply troubling crisis in our country. This is a crisis of 
confidence, of credibility, and of integrity. Our Nation is indeed at a 
crossroads. Will we pursue the search for truth, or will we dodge, 
weave, and evade the truth?
  I am, of course, referring to the investigation into serious 
allegations of illegal conduct by the President of the United States--
that the President has engaged in a persistent pattern and practice of 
obstruction of justice. The allegations are grave, the investigation is 
legitimate, and ascertaining the truth--the whole truth, and nothing 
but the unqualified, unevasive truth--is absolutely critical. The 
search for truth is being led by a highly capable former Solicitor 
General of the United States and a former judge of the U.S. Court of 
Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Kenneth Starr.
  Mr. President, I am deeply troubled today because Judge Starr's 
pursuit of the truth is being undermined every step of the way, every 
single day, in the press by those whose sole mission is to attack and 
impugn the court-appointed independent prosecutor and the 
congressionally created process. These attackers are not the 
journalists or the broadcasters.
  Mr. President, what troubles me the most here is that these reckless 
attacks and ruthless onslaughts are being carried out by the closest 
advisers to the President of the United States.
  Just this past Sunday on Meet the Press, Paul Begala, Assistant to 
the President, accused Judge Starr of leaks and lies and called him 
``corrupt.'' That is not a paraphrase, that is a direct quote. He 
actually used the word ``corrupt.'' The smear campaign is being 
orchestrated by the White House.
  Obviously, I can't vouch for the truth or falsity of the obstruction-
of-justice charges against the President. But what I can tell you is 
that the assaults on Judge Starr, the character assassination against 
the court-appointed independent prosecutor, is authorized and approved 
by the President of the United States. And it should stop.
  The White House and the First Lady have announced that the 
President's problems are nothing more than a ``vast right-wing 
conspiracy.'' As many commentators have pointed out, this so-called 
conspiracy is so vast and so broad that it encompasses both the media 
and a White House intern.
  But I would like to point out today that the vast and broad 
conspiracy just got bigger. Apparently, this vast right-wing conspiracy 
is so sweeping and so pernicious that, in 1993, it compelled a 
Democrat-chaired Ethics Committee in a Democratic-controlled Congress 
to appoint Judge Kenneth Starr to help investigate whether Republican 
Senator Bob Packwood should be expelled from the U.S. Senate.
  Mr. President, let me refresh the recollection of the Senate 
regarding the 3-year Packwood investigation, which began in late 1992 
and ended with Senator Packwood's resignation in 1995.
  I was the vice chairman, and later the chairman, of the Ethics 
Committee during that investigation. As everyone will recall, that 
investigation was a very sensitive, personal and serious matter. It 
involved the allegation that Senator Packwood had ``engaged in sexual 
misconduct'' and ``attempted to intimidate and discredit the alleged 
victims, and misuse[d] official staff in attempts to intimidate and to 
discredit.''
  During this lengthy investigation, Senator Packwood objected to the 
Ethics Committee's review of his personal diary entries in the fall of 
1993. The committee proposed a process where the diaries would be 
reviewed by an independent hearing examiner who would serve two 
functions: First, the examiner would review the diaries to ensure that 
the committee would see all relevant and probative information. Second, 
the examiner was asked to protect the privacy interests of Senator 
Packwood, his family and friends.

  The Ethics Committee had to choose a person who was fair, impartial, 
prudent, and trustworthy. Someone who wouldn't be on a vendetta against 
Democrats or Republicans; someone who had earned the clear respect of 
both parties; someone with the highest integrity; someone with a clean 
track record; a man with sound credentials, who was above reproach. And 
the Ethics Committee chose such a man.
  They chose a man who was the son of a Baptist minister, a graduate of 
Duke University Law School, a former clerk for Chief Justice Warren 
Burger. The Ethics Committee--chaired at the time by a Democrat in a 
Democrat-controlled Congress--chose a man who was the former Solicitor 
General of the United States, a former judge of the U.S. Court of 
Appeals.
  That man was Kenneth Starr.
  Let me tell you who was on the committee at that time. The committee 
was chaired by my colleague from Nevada, Dick Bryan. The Republicans on 
the committee included myself, Senator Craig and Senator Bob Smith of 
New Hampshire. The other Democrats were my dear colleagues, Senator 
Mikulski of Maryland and the current minority leader, Senator Tom 
Daschle.
  The matter was not quiet and secretive. The entire U.S. Senate knew 
who would be called upon to exercise impartiality, discretion, and 
judgment in a highly important and highly sensitive matter. We actually 
discussed this matter on the floor of the Senate because there was a 
needed Senate action to enforce the subpoenas. Senator Alan Simpson 
referred to Judge Starr as ``a splendid man,'' and ``a man of judgment, 
honesty, integrity, and common sense.''
  Senator Arlen Specter stated, ``Many people have spoken about

[[Page S707]]

[Judge Starr's] integrity, and the committee has already endorsed his 
standing. . . . If Judge Starr makes a judgment, that is the judgment. 
That is it.''
  My colleagues on the other side didn't object or dispute that notion. 
For example, Senator John Kerry, of Massachusetts, voiced the consensus 
opinion when he declared on the Senate floor that ``Judge Starr is 
certainly a neutral party.''
  And, it didn't stop with the Democratic-chaired Ethics Committee and 
the Democrat-controlled Congress. In 1994, the U.S. District Court in 
the District of Columbia had to choose someone to serve as a special 
master to help enforce the Ethics Committee's subpoena for the Packwood 
diaries.
  The court had to choose a man who was fair, impartial, prudent, and 
trustworthy; again, someone who wouldn't be on a vendetta against 
Democrats or Republicans; again, someone who had earned the clear 
respect of both parties, and someone with the highest integrity, who 
was above reproach.
  The court chose such a man, Mr. President. It chose the former 
Solicitor General of the United States and a former judge of the U.S. 
Court of Appeals, Kenneth Starr.
  So, today, we examine the White House's ludicrous, self-serving claim 
of a ``vast right-wing conspiracy'' and find that the conspiracy has 
ensnared even more than we would have ever imagined. The ``vast right-
wing conspiracy'' can now count as members the Democrat-chaired Ethics 
Committee in 1993 and the then Democrat-controlled Senate. And, lest we 
forget, the conspiracy can also count the Federal District Court for 
the District of Columbia as one of its members.
  My point here, Mr. President, is simple: The attacks on Kenneth Starr 
are unfounded and unproductive. The attacks are, in fact, 
unconscionable.
  Let me point out, as far as this crazy conspiracy theory is 
concerned, most people would agree that the Senator from Kentucky has 
fairly solid conservative Republican credentials. If somebody were 
engineering a ``vast right-wing conspiracy,'' I think I might have 
gotten wind of it. Furthermore, let me point out that I don't know Ken 
Starr. I do not recall ever meeting him in my 14 years in Washington. 
If he were a fire-breathing Republican ideologue, one would think that, 
as active in Republican politics as I have been over the last 15 years, 
I might have run into him someplace along the line.
  The crisis in the White House is a crisis for our entire country. The 
crisis will only be resolved by a fair and sober search for the truth. 
It is clear from the record that Judge Starr is the right man for this 
job. I think that it is important for the President and his people to 
stop this smear campaign. Let Ken Starr do his court-appointed job and 
let the American people learn the truth, the whole truth, and nothing 
but the truth.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. KENNEDY addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.

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