[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 50 (Monday, December 14, 1998)]
[Pages 2465-2466]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Prior to the House Judiciary Committee Vote on the First Article 
of Impeachment

December 11, 1998

    Good afternoon. As anyone close to me knows, for months I have been 
grappling with how best to reconcile myself to the American people, to 
acknowledge my own wrongdoing, and still to maintain my focus on the 
work of the Presidency.
    Others are presenting my defense on the facts, the law, and the 
Constitution. Nothing I can say now can add to that. What I want the 
American people to know, what I want the Congress to know, is that I am 
profoundly sorry for all I have done wrong in words and

[[Page 2466]]

deeds. I never should have misled the country, the Congress, my friends, 
or my family. Quite simply, I gave in to my shame.
    I have been condemned by my accusers with harsh words. And while 
it's hard to hear yourself called deceitful and manipulative, I remember 
Ben Franklin's admonition that our critics are our friends, for they do 
show us our faults.
    Mere words cannot fully express the profound remorse I feel for what 
our country is going through and for what members of both parties in 
Congress are now forced to deal with.
    These past months have been a tortuous process of coming to terms 
with what I did. I understand that accountability demands consequences, 
and I'm prepared to accept them. Painful though the condemnation of the 
Congress would be, it would pale in comparison to the consequences of 
the pain I have caused my family. There is no greater agony.
    Like anyone who honestly faces the shame of wrongful conduct, I 
would give anything to go back and undo what I did. But one of the 
painful truths I have to live with is the reality that that is simply 
not possible. An old and dear friend of mine recently sent me the wisdom 
of a poet, who wrote, ``The moving finger writes, and having writ moves 
on. Nor all your piety, nor wit shall lure it back to cancel half a 
line. Nor all your tears wash out a word of it.''
    So nothing, not piety, nor tears, nor wit, nor torment, can alter 
what I have done. I must make my peace with that. I must also be at 
peace with the fact that the public consequences of my actions are in 
the hands of the American people and their Representatives in the 
Congress. Should they determine that my errors of word and deed require 
their rebuke and censure, I am ready to accept that.
    Meanwhile, I will continue to do all I can to reclaim the trust of 
the American people and to serve them well. We must all return to the 
work, the vital work, of strengthening our Nation for the new century. 
Our country has wonderful opportunities and daunting challenges ahead. I 
intend to seize those opportunities and meet those challenges with all 
the energy and ability and strength God has given me.
    That is simply all I can do: the work of the American people.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 4:10 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. At approximately 4:25 p.m. the Committee on the Judiciary of the 
House of Representatives voted the first article of impeachment.