World News Tonight (ABC) - 1998-09-11
Channel: malgent
Transcript
Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)
[0:00] from here.
[0:06] >> Good evening. I'm Peter Jennings. There
[0:07] has not been a day like it, and it could
[0:09] only happen in the so-called information
[0:11] age. In front of television sets
[0:13] everywhere today, the world has been
[0:15] watching the president seemingly bear
[0:16] his soul about a sexual affair that has
[0:19] tormented the country for all these
[0:21] months. and on television, but mostly on
[0:23] the internet. The world has had access
[0:25] to the most intimate details of the
[0:27] president and Miss Lewinsk's behavior.
[0:30] And today, the Independent Council's
[0:32] report laid out almost a dozen reasons
[0:34] why he, Mr. Star, thinks Congress should
[0:37] consider impeaching the president. Our
[0:39] broadcast tonight is about all this. Mr.
[0:42] Clinton's presidency may hang in the
[0:44] balance this weekend.
[0:46] >> More things. This morning with friendly
[0:48] religious leaders in the White House,
[0:50] the president said he wanted to get to
[0:52] the rock bottom truth.
[0:54] >> I don't think there is a fancy way to
[0:56] say that I have sinned.
[1:00] It is important to me that everybody who
[1:02] has been hurt
[1:04] know that the sorrow I feel is genuine.
[1:09] First and most important, my family.
[1:12] Also, my friends, my staff, my cabinet,
[1:17] Monica Lewinsky and her family
[1:20] and the American people.
[1:23] I have asked all for their forgiveness.
[1:26] >> It was the first time Mr. Clinton had
[1:28] apologized to Monica Lewinsky in public.
[1:30] Within hours, the depressing details of
[1:33] their relationship would stream out onto
[1:35] the internet and to every member of the
[1:37] Congress. The Independent Council's
[1:39] report counts 11 ways in which Kenneth
[1:42] Star believes the president perjured
[1:44] himself, obstructed justice, tampered
[1:46] with witnesses, and abused his
[1:48] presidential authority. By late this
[1:51] afternoon, the president's legal team
[1:53] was doing what it could to refute the
[1:55] charges and control the damage that will
[1:58] clearly occur when the country digests
[2:00] the Star report. The salacious
[2:03] allegations in this referral are simply
[2:07] intended to humiliate,
[2:10] embarrass, and politically damage the
[2:14] president.
[2:16] For all the bits and pieces that have
[2:17] made it into the public arena in the
[2:19] past few months, today was the day that
[2:21] the independent council's report finally
[2:23] became public in such a big way. And
[2:26] again, we remind you, as we have before,
[2:28] this report basically amounts to Mr.
[2:30] Star's prosecutorial argument on grounds
[2:33] for impeachment. ABC's Jackie Jud is
[2:35] with us at the end of quite a long day.
[2:37] Jackie, would you start by outlining for
[2:39] us Mr. Star's case?
[2:40] >> Right, Peter. The report is thick with
[2:42] details that the prosecutors say
[2:44] demonstrate the president lied and
[2:46] obstructed justice. First in the Paula
[2:49] Jones sexual harassment lawsuit and then
[2:51] again in the Star investigation.
[2:54] The report concludes there is
[2:56] substantial and credible information
[2:59] that the president's lies about his
[3:01] relationship with Lewinsky were abundant
[3:03] and calculating. As evidence, the report
[3:06] includes explicit details about 10
[3:09] sexual encounters Lewinsky said she had
[3:12] with Mr. Clinton, including one in the
[3:15] Oval Office bathroom and another that
[3:17] occurred while Mr. Clinton was on the
[3:19] phone with a member of Congress. The
[3:22] details are necessary, prosecutors,
[3:24] right, to prove the president perjured
[3:26] himself in the Jones case and again
[3:29] before Ken Star's grand jury when Mr.
[3:32] Clinton denied having sexual relations
[3:34] with Lewinsky, whatever definition is
[3:37] used. The report also accuses the
[3:40] president of witness tampering, of
[3:42] attempting to get his personal
[3:44] secretary, Betty Curry, to back up his
[3:46] false testimony in the Jones case if she
[3:49] were called as a witness. The report
[3:52] says after he testified, Mr. Clinton had
[3:55] two conversations with Curry about
[3:57] Lewinsky, in which he made statements to
[3:59] her that he knew were false. Curry told
[4:02] prosecutors the president said to her,
[4:05] "We were never really alone. You could
[4:07] see and hear everything. I never touched
[4:10] her, right?" Curry said these remarks
[4:12] were more like statements than
[4:14] questions. And concluded that the
[4:16] president wanted her to agree with him.
[4:19] Prosecutors also allege there is
[4:21] circumstantial evidence to prove that
[4:24] Mr. Clinton obstructed justice by having
[4:26] Lewinsky get rid of gifts from him that
[4:29] had been subpoenaed. They describe a
[4:31] timeline in which Lewinsky met with the
[4:33] president on December 28th of last year.
[4:36] According to Lewinsky, she and Mr.
[4:38] Clinton discussed the possibility of
[4:40] moving the gifts out of her possession.
[4:43] Hours after that meeting, Lewinsky told
[4:45] prosecutors Betty Curry called her to
[4:47] say something like, "The president said,
[4:49] "You have something to give me." But
[4:52] Curry testified she could not recall a
[4:54] conversation with Mr. Clinton about the
[4:56] gifts. And that Lewinsky may remember
[4:59] better than I. I don't remember."
[5:02] The report also claims that Mr. Clinton
[5:05] was not telling the truth when he
[5:06] suggested in the Jones deposition that
[5:09] he was hardly involved in helping
[5:10] Lewinsky find a job. According to the
[5:14] report, when she got an offer from
[5:15] Revlon, Vernon Jordan notified the
[5:18] president and Curry with the news,
[5:20] "Mission accomplished." And the
[5:22] president said, "Thank you very much."
[5:25] Finally, Star accuses the president of
[5:27] abusing the powers of his office by
[5:30] repeatedly misleading and delaying the
[5:32] investigation. Star says Mr. Clinton's
[5:35] public denials of a relationship with
[5:37] Lewinsky were an intentional and
[5:39] calculated falsehood to deceive Congress
[5:42] and the American people. There is a
[5:45] wealth of new information in the report
[5:47] about Mr. Clinton's alleged efforts at a
[5:49] coverup. One incident describes a middle
[5:52] of the night phone call last December.
[5:54] Lewinsky says Mr. Clinton told her she
[5:57] was going to have to testify in the
[5:59] Jones case and to continue using their
[6:01] cover stories to explain her visits to
[6:04] the White House. Lewinsky told
[6:06] prosecutors that was this was something
[6:08] that was instantly familiar to me. I
[6:10] knew exactly what he meant. Peter
[6:13] >> Jackie, thank you very much. Jackie Jud
[6:15] in Washington. When the president spoke
[6:16] at that prayer breakfast this morning,
[6:18] he said that legal language should not
[6:21] obscure the fact that he'd done wrong.
[6:23] But legal language in legal argument at
[6:25] the very heart of the president's
[6:26] defense strategy. In fact, it began even
[6:29] before Mr. Star's report was made public
[6:32] to everyone. Sam Donaldson is at the
[6:34] White House. Sam, that's right, Peter.
[6:36] While the president was standing back
[6:37] from all this today in the role of
[6:38] Confess center, his lawyers were
[6:40] mounting a tough no holes barred legal
[6:43] and public relations campaign to counter
[6:45] the Star Report.
[6:48] >> Even before the Star Report was out, the
[6:50] Clinton lawyers had distributed a 73page
[6:52] rebuttal arguing among other points that
[6:55] a private mistake with Monica Lewinsky
[6:57] is not a high crime or misdemeanor and
[6:59] thus not an impeachable action. that the
[7:01] president did not commit perjury because
[7:04] while he may not have directly answered
[7:05] the questions asked, what he said was
[7:08] literally true. That he did not engage
[7:10] in witness tampering because at the time
[7:12] he had certain conversations with Betty
[7:14] Curry, she had not yet been called as a
[7:17] witness. That the president's invocation
[7:19] of privileges was not an abuse of power,
[7:21] as Star alleges, but basically done to
[7:23] protect the constitutional interests of
[7:25] future presidents. Against this
[7:27] background of fine legal argument, Mr.
[7:30] Clinton's lawyers met reporters.
[7:32] >> There are a lot of lurid allegations
[7:36] in the prosecutor's referral, but there
[7:39] is no credible evidence of impeachable
[7:42] offenses.
[7:43] >> But what about Monica Lewinsky's
[7:45] testimony that the president had gone
[7:46] over cover stories with her, telling her
[7:48] to say she was visiting Betty Curry, not
[7:50] him, or on occasion just dropping off
[7:53] papers to him?
[7:54] >> The president never advised her to
[7:57] testify falsely. He has admitted a
[8:00] wrongful relation and there is a
[8:03] concominant concealment by its very
[8:06] nature. That's all that is involved
[8:08] here. And when the president called
[8:10] Betty Curry in and went over his
[8:11] recollection with her that he was never
[8:13] really alone with Lewinsky. Why did he
[8:16] do that if it was not to suggest to her
[8:18] that that should be her own
[8:19] recollection?
[8:20] >> She did not feel that she was being
[8:22] influenced, misled, or otherwise
[8:24] mistreated in the course of that
[8:25] conversation. What do you think the
[8:27] president had in mind when he was
[8:29] falsely going over his own recollection
[8:31] with her?
[8:31] >> What the president was attempting to do,
[8:33] as he has testified, was to refresh his
[8:36] recollection about a series of events
[8:38] that had occurred over the preceding
[8:39] year.
[8:40] >> The president may have dropped his
[8:41] attack on Kenneth Star, but his lawyers
[8:43] certainly have not have dropped theirs.
[8:45] David Kendall said today that while he
[8:47] hadn't fully read the Star report, he is
[8:49] certain it contains misstatements of
[8:50] fact. and he drove home his point that
[8:52] he believes the detailed recitation in
[8:55] that report of Mr. Clinton's sexual
[8:57] activities is meant simply to embarrass
[8:59] and damage the president. It is going to
[9:01] be a tenacious and perhaps bitter fight,
[9:04] Peter, all the way to the end.
[9:06] >> No kidding, Sam. Many thanks, Sam
[9:07] Donaldson at the White House. In this
[9:09] relationship between the president's
[9:11] lawyers and the independent council,
[9:12] today in many instances was just another
[9:14] day because the president's attorneys
[9:16] are at war with Mr. Star have been for
[9:18] some time because they believe Star is
[9:20] out to get the president in a very
[9:22] personal way. We are joined now by our
[9:24] legal analyst Jeffrey Tubin. Jeffrey,
[9:27] Mr. Kendall said he hadn't read all of
[9:29] the report yet, but I think you have, or
[9:30] at least all of the relevant details.
[9:32] Just give us your first impression about
[9:34] the legal nature of it. Well, the report
[9:37] makes an extremely compelling case that
[9:40] there was a sexual relationship between
[9:43] the president and Monica Lewinsky, as
[9:45] any human being would define the term
[9:47] sexual relationship. And and the problem
[9:49] for the president is that he and his
[9:52] lawyers, as they made clear today, are
[9:54] sticking with the technical distinction
[9:57] that that she was having sex with him,
[10:00] but he wasn't having sex with her.
[10:02] >> Well, try that a little farther for me.
[10:04] Mr. Kendall said again today, the
[10:06] president hadn't perjured himself, even
[10:08] though it seems pretty clear the
[10:10] president himself has said that he lied
[10:12] when he said he didn't have sex. David
[10:13] Kendall has said there was no perjury.
[10:16] He said that over and over again because
[10:18] it's a criminal offense. Members of
[10:20] Congress have said they believe it's an
[10:22] impeachable offense, but the problem is
[10:24] the factual setting seems to be putting
[10:26] the president's legal position on a
[10:28] collision course with reality.
[10:30] >> Thanks, Jeffrey Tubin, our legal analyst
[10:33] on this. When we come back, we're going
[10:35] to show you at a little length or some
[10:37] length a part of the president's
[10:39] extraordinary speech in the White House
[10:41] today. We think you'll agree, a unique
[10:43] moment for the American presidency.
[10:49] >> This is World News Tonight with Peter
[10:52] Jennings, brought to you by Publishers
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[12:14] >> This morning, the president met with
[12:15] more than 100 religious leaders for the
[12:17] White House prayer breakfast. It had
[12:19] been scheduled for some time. As you all
[12:21] know, the president has apologized in
[12:23] increments over the last several days,
[12:24] but nothing he has said, perhaps nothing
[12:27] any president has ever said was quite
[12:28] like this morning's performance. He
[12:30] stayed up very late last night to write
[12:33] it very carefully.
[12:36] >> Now, what does all this mean
[12:40] for me and for us?
[12:42] First,
[12:44] I will instruct my lawyers to mount a
[12:47] vigorous defense using all available
[12:51] appropriate arguments,
[12:54] but legal language must not obscure the
[12:57] fact that I have done wrong.
[13:02] Second,
[13:04] I will continue on the path of
[13:06] repentance,
[13:08] seeking pastoral support and theirs of
[13:10] other and that of other caring people
[13:14] so that they can hold me accountable for
[13:18] my own commitment.
[13:21] I am grateful for those who have
[13:25] stood by me and who say that in this
[13:27] case and many others the bounds of
[13:29] privacy have been excessively and
[13:32] unwisely invaded.
[13:35] That may be,
[13:37] nevertheless,
[13:39] in this case, it may be a blessing
[13:45] because I still sin.
[13:48] And if my repentance is genuine and
[13:50] sustained,
[13:52] and if I can man maintain
[13:55] both a broken spirit and a strong heart,
[14:00] then good can come of this for our
[14:03] country as well as for me and my family.
[14:08] Now, the president was speaking before a
[14:10] very friendly audience this morning.
[14:11] There's an enormous debate in the
[14:13] spiritual religious community about
[14:15] whether the president should be
[14:16] censored, even in some cases, you may
[14:18] have heard, kicked out of his Southern
[14:20] Baptist denomination, out of his church.
[14:23] As for sustained repentance, Mr. Clinton
[14:26] saying there he'll seek pastoral support
[14:28] and counsel. The White House spokesman
[14:30] Mike Mccur said a little later today
[14:31] that Mr. Clinton is not under any
[14:33] psychiatric care. And ABC's Peggy Way,
[14:36] who covers religion for us and was at
[14:37] the prayer breakfast, says Mr. Clinton
[14:39] most likely means in this instance he
[14:41] will commit himself to regular meetings
[14:43] with a small group of trusted
[14:45] confidants. It is a common practice
[14:47] among some Christians comparable to what
[14:49] is done in groups such as Alcoholics
[14:52] Anonymous.
[14:54] In just a moment, we'll talk to our
[14:56] political analysts about what kind of
[14:58] impact this is having today and may have
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[17:09] >> Well, there's so much to digest and the
[17:11] country will have a whole weekend to do
[17:13] it. We're going to try a little bit of
[17:15] it now. We're joined by ABC's Sam
[17:16] Donaldson, Jackie Jud, Koki Roberts, and
[17:19] ABC News political analyst George
[17:20] Stephanopoulos, who as I guess most
[17:22] people know used to work in the White
[17:23] House. George, let me start with you.
[17:26] reading about the White House today in
[17:27] the Star Report. Is there anything about
[17:29] what goes on in that place? Anything any
[17:31] clue that this rings untrue?
[17:34] >> I I don't think so, Peter. You know, a
[17:36] good narrative and a good novel gets all
[17:37] the small details right. And I think
[17:39] that's one thing that Kenar has done.
[17:42] Monica Lewinsky says she was meeting
[17:43] with the president on November 15th and
[17:46] he got a phone call from a congressman.
[17:48] Sure enough, the phone records show a
[17:50] phone call from a congressman. The
[17:52] description of the Oval Office complex,
[17:54] the Oval Office suite is dead on. And
[17:57] the area where they supposedly had the
[17:59] bulk of the sexual relationship is the
[18:02] most secret, perhaps the only secret
[18:04] area in the whole White House.
[18:05] >> Can you explain to me why the
[18:07] president's lawyers are still insistent
[18:09] as they are on the legalities of the
[18:12] president did or did not commit perjury?
[18:14] I
[18:14] >> I can't because I think it's a mistake
[18:16] politically. Maybe it would work in a
[18:17] court of law, but I think it's going to
[18:19] be very difficult for members of
[18:21] Congress to make the argument uh that
[18:23] the president didn't have sex with
[18:24] Monica Lewinsky, and that's what the
[18:26] denial of perjury forces them to do.
[18:28] >> Koki Roberts, uh, congressman and
[18:30] senators are going to take this home
[18:31] with them over the weekend, but I know
[18:33] you've already been talking to them.
[18:34] What's the first take on all this?
[18:36] >> Well, it's interesting, Peter. The take
[18:38] at the moment is disgusting. Uh they
[18:41] they tell me that members of their
[18:42] staffs have been reading uh lurid
[18:44] passages out loud in the offices and
[18:47] getting a giggle out of them but then
[18:48] being disgusted, angry, sad, all of
[18:52] those words. But then they follow it up
[18:54] by saying but we don't know if there's
[18:56] anything impeachable here. And I think
[18:58] that that is the that's the big question
[19:01] and that they are going to go home this
[19:03] weekend, listen to what the voters are
[19:05] saying and see if people's outrage is
[19:08] such that they have to they have to take
[19:10] a political action.
[19:12] >> Sam Donaldelsson at the White House.
[19:14] There is so much detail in this report
[19:16] and the rebuttal from the president's
[19:18] lawyers is so vigorous today. What kind
[19:21] of a weekend do they look forward to?
[19:23] >> Very tough weekend. The president knows
[19:25] he's very deep trouble, Peter. uh he is
[19:27] now a confessed sinner as you heard and
[19:29] he is going to keep on doing that but
[19:31] even though he's a confessed sinner he
[19:33] does not want to pay for it in any
[19:35] formal sense and that's why the lawyers
[19:36] have been set out to fight to tooth and
[19:39] nail in answer to your question to
[19:40] George clearly down here the reason they
[19:42] have to continue to maintain there was
[19:44] no perjury is because of what Koki said
[19:46] if in fact the president were to confess
[19:48] to a federal crime to have committed a
[19:50] felony more and more members of Congress
[19:52] would find it easier and easier to say
[19:54] we have to remove him from office.
[19:55] >> Thank you Sam. Last question for Jackie
[19:57] Jud because there's been an attack on
[19:59] Star today for so much detail, Jackie.
[20:02] Why did the Star people, to the best of
[20:03] your knowledge, put so much detail in
[20:06] about the president's behavior with Miss
[20:08] Lewinsky?
[20:09] >> Well, what they've said is they
[20:10] essentially needed to do it, Peter, to
[20:12] prove their case. Mr. Clinton insisted
[20:14] that he did not commit perjury when he
[20:16] denied he had sexual relations, as
[20:19] defined by Paula Jones's lawyers. to
[20:21] dispute that they had to put the detail
[20:23] in to say this clearly does fall inside
[20:25] the definition.
[20:26] >> Okay, Jackie, thank you very much.
[20:28] George and Sam and Ki as well. So much
[20:30] of the president's future hinges on how
[20:33] this all plays with you. So, how will a
[20:35] country react? How's it beginning to
[20:37] react? When we come back,
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[23:01] >> So much of what happens to Mr. Clinton
[23:03] now depends on how the public digests
[23:04] the details of the independent council's
[23:06] report. Our news staff has been making
[23:08] random calls around the country. We get
[23:10] things like enough already. Uh sounds
[23:13] revoling, focus on the law, too graphic,
[23:16] and in some cases people may even be
[23:18] desensitized
[23:20] uh to the Star Report by everything that
[23:22] has happened in the last few months. But
[23:23] ABC's Aaron Brown has been gauging the
[23:26] early reaction to what people are seeing
[23:28] today.
[23:30] >> Knowingly made a phone.
[23:31] >> From a gym in Los Angeles to an internet
[23:33] company in Boston to a cafe with
[23:36] computers in Chicago, it was as if
[23:38] reality hit home.
[23:40] >> We are now finding that our worst fears
[23:43] have been confirmed.
[23:44] >> I feel embarrassed for him
[23:47] because he just made a fool of himself.
[23:50] And this just reinforces how much of a
[23:53] fool he made of himself.
[23:54] >> I think he's in a lot of trouble.
[23:56] There's a lot of condemning evidence
[23:58] there.
[23:58] >> It was too much, too graphic for Benny.
[24:01] >> I feel dirty reading this. This is It's
[24:04] disgusting. I don't feel that we should
[24:05] be reading things like this. I just
[24:07] doesn't feel right.
[24:08] >> And at the University of California at
[24:10] Berkeley, a political science student
[24:12] saw some danger in all that X-rated
[24:15] detail. The problem is that most people
[24:16] are going to be focusing on what they
[24:18] see as kind of salacious details of this
[24:20] report and they're not going to look at
[24:22] what are really the more um potentially
[24:24] uh troublesome parts about obstruction
[24:26] of justice.
[24:27] >> We saw some but not a lot of evidence
[24:29] that minds were changed by the report.
[24:32] >> I believe that sometimes people do fall
[24:33] off the wagon and they have affairs. But
[24:35] if he's sitting there saying no, I
[24:36] didn't do that and he's lying to the
[24:38] public. Yeah, that changes my opinion
[24:40] completely.
[24:41] >> But still mostly we heard this. I think
[24:44] the reality of it is what he did was
[24:45] deceitful to his family, was deceitful
[24:48] to the public. But did it cause us any
[24:50] real harm? No,
[24:52] >> not that I see.
[24:53] >> That is but a first reaction. And over
[24:55] the weekend, as the report is read in
[24:58] newspapers and on the web, it could
[25:00] change. Aaron Brown, ABC News, New York.
[25:03] >> The internet obviously had millions of
[25:05] people logging on to get the Star Report
[25:07] today. There was some jamming as
[25:08] expected, but for the most part, the
[25:11] internet held up just fine. And you can
[25:14] read the full transcript of the Star
[25:16] Report and the presidential rebuttal.
[25:18] There's even a 5-minute tape of the
[25:21] president actually speaking at the
[25:22] prayer breakfast this morning. A lot of
[25:24] other information at abcnews.com, on the
[25:27] web, or through America Online. We'll be
[25:29] back in just a moment.
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[26:39] through here. All you can think about is
[26:42] getting rid of it quickly. I even tried
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[27:01] >> And if you suffer from gas, there's a
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[27:06] >> Today, you've heard about it for months.
[27:08] Now read it. The Star Report on
[27:10] ABCNews.com. Then on 2020, the latest
[27:13] breaking events from Washington. Plus,
[27:15] Barbara Walters interview with famed
[27:17] novelist Danielle Steele on 2020 Friday.
[27:20] Tonight,
[27:22] >> brief review of what has been a day
[27:24] unlike any other. The Independent
[27:25] Council's report laid out almost a dozen
[27:27] reasons why the president should be
[27:28] impeached. The report contains details
[27:31] that prosecutors say demonstrate that
[27:33] Mr. Clinton lied and obstructed justice.
[27:35] The president's lawyers say today that
[27:37] he's not committed any impeachable
[27:39] offenses. This morning, the president
[27:41] said he has sinned, but he promises his
[27:43] lawyers would mount a vigorous defense
[27:45] against the independent council's
[27:47] allegations. That is our report on World
[27:50] News Tonight. Of course, we'll continue
[27:51] to provide complete coverage on this
[27:53] report to Congress through all of our
[27:54] programs tonight and over the weekend.
[27:56] We'll also have a 1-hour special
[27:58] broadcast Sunday evening at 9:00 8
[28:00] Central after people have had a good
[28:02] look at this. Perhaps you'll join us
[28:03] then. I'm Peter Jennings. Good night.
[28:07] Monday. The document that could destroy
[28:10] the president. The nation seen it. What
[28:12] do they think? Will upcoming elections
[28:13] be affected? Watch ABC's World News
[28:15] Tonight with Peter Jennings. This has
[28:18] been a presentation of ABC News. More
[28:20] Americans get their news from ABC News
[28:22] than from any other source. ABC News,
[28:25] now always