Ken Starr’s former counsel talks impeachment
"[It’s] categorically different and categorically worse.” Paul Rosenzweig, a senior counsel during Bill Clinton's impeachment, explains why President Trump's misconduct is worse.
Every impeachment process has been different
The first impeached U.S. president, Andrew Johnson, was impeached because he fired his war secretary without notifying Congress. That move angered Congress to the degree where they reinstated the secretary. Johnson immediately fired him again. Congress reacted by voting to impeach Johnson. Johnson was acquitted by the Senate with only one vote to spare.
Elder voters might remember
The impeachment trial of Bill Clinton. That "high crimes and misdemeanors" involved illicit sex between Clinton and his intern and an attempt to cover it up. Clinton lied under oath about his sexual indiscretions and was impeached. He, too, was acquitted by the Senate (likely because most of the male Senators could relate to lying about an affair). Possibly the most significant result of this trial was that the prosecuting attorney, Ken Starr, made a name for himself.
This former attorney of the infamous trial thinks that the case against the president is pretty solid and pretty compelling
Paul Rosensweig was a senior counsel during the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Now, his former boss Ken Starr is on the team defending President Trump. While the Clinton and Trump impeachments have clear similarities, Rosensweig notes that legally, they're very different. “I think the most notable is that, for me, Trump's conduct is actually much worse. The underlying thing about Bill Clinton was an inappropriate, but consensual, affair with an intern. It was a very bad private act. Clinton's public errors, the misuse of his public authority, came when he lied under oath to the grand jury, when he lied under oath in the civil case, when he attempted to obstruct the criminal investigation of Starr, asking people to lie for him. It would be more solid and more compelling if the president were to permit his closest aides to testify, people like Mr. Mulvaney and Mr. Bolton”, Paul Rosensweig tells Brut.
Brut.
Every impeachment process has been different
The first impeached U.S. president, Andrew Johnson, was impeached because he fired his war secretary without notifying Congress. That move angered Congress to the degree where they reinstated the secretary. Johnson immediately fired him again. Congress reacted by voting to impeach Johnson. Johnson was acquitted by the Senate with only one vote to spare.
Elder voters might remember
The impeachment trial of Bill Clinton. That "high crimes and misdemeanors" involved illicit sex between Clinton and his intern and an attempt to cover it up. Clinton lied under oath about his sexual indiscretions and was impeached. He, too, was acquitted by the Senate (likely because most of the male Senators could relate to lying about an affair). Possibly the most significant result of this trial was that the prosecuting attorney, Ken Starr, made a name for himself.
This former attorney of the infamous trial thinks that the case against the president is pretty solid and pretty compelling
Paul Rosensweig was a senior counsel during the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Now, his former boss Ken Starr is on the team defending President Trump. While the Clinton and Trump impeachments have clear similarities, Rosensweig notes that legally, they're very different. “I think the most notable is that, for me, Trump's conduct is actually much worse. The underlying thing about Bill Clinton was an inappropriate, but consensual, affair with an intern. It was a very bad private act. Clinton's public errors, the misuse of his public authority, came when he lied under oath to the grand jury, when he lied under oath in the civil case, when he attempted to obstruct the criminal investigation of Starr, asking people to lie for him. It would be more solid and more compelling if the president were to permit his closest aides to testify, people like Mr. Mulvaney and Mr. Bolton”, Paul Rosensweig tells Brut.
Brut.