Update [2005-10-23 22:32:0 by justmy2]:IMPORTANT -
A terrific dkospedia has been started to track this. Many thanks to dmsilev who took the time to put together the superb entry based on some of the data entered here. The power of the community always amazes me.
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It appears that the investigation into the leaking of a undercover CIA operative by a senior Administration official has entered its last stages.
Given the information available to the public, it seems more and more likely that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald may be considering charging some of those officials and journalists who have previously testified with perjury or obstruction of justice.
A running list can be found below the flip...
Many of the same cast of characters forcefully spoke out against this crime and detailed the reprecussions to the American system of justice if this crime was not vigorously prosecuted. In the event these charges come to fruition, it may be very valuable to have some initial ammunition against those who will may leap to the defense of some of the potential co-conspirators. I am now asking for this community's help in gathering selected quotes from high level government officials and political leaders regarding perjury.
The community's assistance with building out this list would be greatly appreciated.
Update [2005-10-8 19:32:23 by justmy2]: Thanks to Paulie2000, Christian Dem in DC, pontificator, EastFallowfield, and overseas who have participated so far. I have added each of your quotes here easier access. Keep them coming.
Governor George W. Bush
ROUND ROCK, Texas (June 8, 1999 11:46 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - Texas Gov. George W. Bush, cranking up his still-unofficial run for the White House, said on Tuesday he would have voted to impeach President Clinton for lying about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
In response to a reporter's question, Bush said he supported impeachment for a simple reason: "The man lied."
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist
There is no serious question that perjury and obstruction of justice are high crimes and misdemeanors. Blackstone's famous Commentaries--widely read by the framers of the Constitution--put perjury on equal footing with bribery as a crime against the state. Perjury was understood to be as serious as bribery, which is specifically mentioned in the Constitution as a ground for impeachment. Today, we punish perjury and obstruction of justice at least as severely as we punish bribery. Apparently, the seriousness of perjury and obstruction of justice has not diminished over time.
Indeed, our own Senate precedent establishes that perjury is a high crime and misdemeanor. The Senate has removed seven federal judges from office.
Update [2005-10-18 7:10:25 by justmy2]: I am adding a list of punditry quotes included in this
diary by Armando. Thanks again to everyone.
THE LYING OFFENDS THEM. For both politicians and journalists, trust is the coin of the realm. Without trust, the system breaks down.
"We have our own set of village rules," says David Gergen, editor at large at U.S. News & World Report, who worked for both the Reagan and Clinton White House. "Sex did not violate those rules. The deep and searing violation took place when he not only lied to the country, but co-opted his friends and lied to them. That is one on which people choke.
. . . "[S]ays Chris Matthews, who once was a top aide to the late Speaker of the House Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill . . . "[t]here has to be a functional trust by reporters of the person they're covering. Clinton lies knowing that you know he's lying. It's brutal and it subjugates the person who's being lied to. I resent deeply being constantly lied to."
. . . "His behavior," says Lieberman, "is so over the edge. What is troubling is the deceit, the failure to own up to it. Before this is over the truth must be told."
. . . "The judgment is harsher in Washington," says The Post's Broder. "We don't like being lied to."
END UPDATE
Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona)
"Are perjury and obstruction of justice expressly listed as high crimes and misdemeanors? No. Why? Because they are self-evidently so...It is self-evident to me. And accordingly, regretfully, I must vote to convict the President, and urge my colleagues to do the same."
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas)
Willful, corrupt, and false sworn testimony before a Federal grand jury is a separate and distinct crime under applicable law and is material and perjurious if it is `capable' of influencing the grand jury in any matter before it, including any collateral matters that it may consider. See, Title 18, Section 1623, U.S. Code, and Federal court cases interpreting that Section.
The President's testimony before the Federal grand jury was fully capable of influencing the grand jury's investigation and was clearly perjurious.
...Then came the dress, the tapes, and the Federal grand jury. The attempt to obstruct and cover-up grew, expanded, and developed a life of its own. It overpowered the underlying offense itself. A new strategy was required, fast: The President was advised: `Admit the sex, but never the lies.' Shift the blame; change the subject. Blame it on the plaintiff in the Arkansas case. Blame it on her lawyers. Blame it on the Independent Counsel. Blame it on partisanship. Blame it on the majority members of the House Judiciary Committee. Blame it on the process
Sen Mike DeWine (R-OH)Perjury is also a very serious crime. The Constitution gives every defendant a choice: Testify truthfully, or remain silent. No one can be forced to testify in a manner that involves self-incrimination. But a decision to place one's hand on the Bible and invoke God's witness--and then lie--threatens the judiciary. The judiciary is designed to be a mechanism for finding the truth--so that justice can be done. Perjury perverts the judiciary, turning it into a mechanism that accepts lies--so that injustice may prevail.
Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)Interviewers questioning the president's [Clinton's] lawyers Sunday struck a tone of disbelief. After White House counsel Charles F.C. Ruff insisted on "Meet the Press" that Clinton had not committed perjury, host Tim Russert said: "Now, are the American people supposed to believe that?"
Rep. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina)
"Don't lie under oath when you're a defendant in a lawsuit against an average citizen.
...
Don't sent public officials and friends to tell your lies before a federal grand jury to avoid your legal responsibilities. Don't put your legal and political interests ahead of the rule of law and common decency.
...
I don't want my country to be the country of great equivocators and compartmentalizers for the next century.
Rep. Henry Hyde
Lying under oath is an abuse of freedom. Obstruction of justice is a degradation of law. There are people in prison for such offenses.
Rep. Steve Buyer (R-Indiana)
"The President's premeditated assault on the administration of justice must be interpreted as a threat to our system of government."
Rep. Charles Canady (R-Florida)
"Perjury and obstruction of justice are akin to bribery both in their purpose and in their effect,"
Gov. Jeb Bush suspended Lake County Sheriff George Knupp Jr. on Wednesday after a grand jury indicted him on perjury charges
"It is in the best interests of the residents of Lake County, and the citizens of the state of Florida, that George Knupp Jr. be immediately suspended from public office," Bush said in an executive order.
Bill Bennett
People give a lot of leeway to people in public life. They understand that people, you know, come as sinners and they will sin continually, whether they're in public life or private life.
But they do have certain lines that you can't cross. One of them is, I think, lying under oath, perjury, high crimes. That is a serious business.
Gerry Solomon (R-NY)
UNKNOWN SOURCEIf we countenance this misconduct, what are we to say to the American citizens currently serving Federal prison sentences for perjury?
Jim Rogan (R-NY)
UNKNOWN SOURCEHow trivial is perjury to the person who loses a child custody case or goes to prison because perjured testimony was offered as a truth in a court of law? What is the impact on our system of justice when perjury is marginalized or excused for embarrassment, inconvenience, or to insulate one's self as was done here in a sexual harassment case?
Listen to the words of the United States Supreme Court on the subject of perjury: `In this constitutional process of securing a witness' testimony, perjury simply has no place whatsoever. Perjured testimony is an obvious and flagrant affront to the basic concepts of judicial proceedings. Congress has made the giving of false answers a criminal act, punishable by severe penalties; in no other way can criminal conduct be flushed into the open where the law can deal with it.'
Mr. Speaker, our Supreme Court characterizes perjured testimony not as trivial conduct, but as criminal conduct.
Tom Bliley (R-VA)
UNKNOWN SOURCE Either we are a Nation of laws or we are a Nation of men. If we are a Nation of laws, then the highest and the lowest are subject to the same law. There is no preferential treatment, and we and our Constitution grant none.
Elton Gallegly (R-CA)
UNKNOWN SOURCE Our legal system is dependent on people telling the truth, telling the truth under oath. Lying under oath undermines the rule of law.
Merrill Cook (R-UT)
UNKNOWN SOURCEI am not a lawyer, but I do not think that the law requiring us to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth means we can tell the truth that is convenient or the truth only about certain things.
A lie is a lie. A lie to a grand jury and a lie in a sworn deposition is equally a lie and equally a violation of the law, whether it is about sex or whether it is about national security.
Others who have lied under oath have been criminally charged. In the last 2 years, 3 people in my State of Utah have been charged, convicted and sentenced for lying under oath. They faced the consequences of their actions and they took their punishment.
Bill Goodling (R-PA)
UNKNOWN SOURCEI began the day by reading an article in a New York newspaper, and I quote: `Two more cops were arrested yesterday on Federal charges of lying when questioned by the FBI.' They were not before a grand jury. They were two highly decorated officers.
Then I turned to the sports page from one of the Washington newspapers, and I read the following: `A former Northwestern football player pleaded not guilty and denied lying to Federal grand juries.' The article also said two other players have been charged with lying.
There are more than 100 people in prison today, in Federal prisons, for perjury. Some of those were prosecuted by this administration, and some of those dealt with sex. Our constitutional system of government cannot survive if we allow our judicial system to be undermined, and, again, giving you the three illustrations that I just gave, what are they to think?
Ilenna Ros-Lethinen (R-FL)Mr. Speaker, our courts of law and our legal system are the bedrock of our democracy and of our system of individual rights. Lying under oath in a legal proceeding and obstruction of justice undermine the rights of all citizens who must rely upon our courts to protect their rights. If lying under oath in our courts and obstruction are ignored, or they are classified as merely minor offenses, then we have jeopardized the rights of everyone who seeks redress in our courts.
Lying under oath is an ancient crime of great weight because it shields other offenses, because it blocks the light of truth in human affairs. It is a dagger in the heart of our legal system, and, indeed, in our democracy. It cannot, it should not, it must not be tolerated.
We know that a right without a remedy is not a right, and if we ignore, allow or encourage lying and obstruction of justice in our legal system, then the rights promised in our laws are hollow.