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Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Experts Debate Clinton Trial

CHRISTIE SHELY/THE HOYA On Friday Georgetown Law Center experts discussed the impeachment of President Bill Clinton (SFS ’68).
CHRISTIE SHELY/THE HOYA
On Friday Georgetown Law Center experts discussed the impeachment of President Bill Clinton (SFS ’68).

Five expert attorneys involved in the impeachment of President Bill Clinton (SFS ’68) went head-to-head in a debate Friday at Georgetown Law Center.

Panelists included Monica Lewinsky’s co-counsel Plato Cacheris (LAW ’65); special counsel to President Clinton Gregory Craig; author of “The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr” Ken Gormley and other participants in the high-profile investigation.

The event concentrated on the scandal surrounding Clinton’s impeachment for perjury regarding his interactions with then-22-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Panelists also discussed the conduct of Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel who became a controversial figure for his alleged political agenda in the prosecution process.

Craig, former White House counsel to President Clinton, said that he thought the scandal was blown out of proportion by Republicans determined to oust the commander in chief from office.

“It was the U.S. Senate that saved America from a grotesque miscarriage of justice,” Craig said, referring to the fact that the Senate did not vote Clinton out of office.

Gilbert Davis, an attorney for the prosecution, said that he did not believe the impeachment was based on political bias.

“The idea that this was a right wing coup is just specious,” he said. “Isn’t the fact truly that the president lied?”

Gormley and other members of the panel expressed more centered sentiments, claiming that the matter was complicated by shades of purple rather than Democratic blue or Republican red.

“I do think this episode shows that the country’s not at its best when we’re at each others’ throats,” Gormley said in his concluding remarks. “This [scandal] marked the popularization of this angry divide we see in this country today.”

The panelists were also split over Starr’s conduct.

“People who think that Ken Starr was an irresponsible prosecutor who politicized the investigation … say if a professional prosecutor like Bob Fiske was in there this never would have been pursued,” said John Harris, editor-in-chief of Politico and moderator of the panel.

Most of the panelists, while they did not necessarily agree with Starr’s decisions, said that they respected him as an attorney.

Former Deputy Independent Counsel Solomon Wisenberg said that the advice of senior prosecutors influenced Starr’s actions.

“What was important to him was, and what he said repeatedly and what he followed, once he had career prosecutors in some leadership positions was, ‘I want to be a microcosm of the Department of Justice, and I want to rely upon the advice of senior prosecutors who have been around.'”

Erica Trachtman (LAW ’13) said that she thought the panelists’ comments touched upon the important interaction of politics and the law in issues like impeachment.

“It was really fascinating to have all of these people in one room and see them interact,” she said. “The effect the whole scandal had on Constitutional law was certainly profound.”

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