PrintBill Clinton: If it were a Democratic president, impeachment hearings would be underway
Former President Bill Clinton told CBS "Sunday Morning" that if it were a Democratic president in office instead of Donald Trump, impeachment hearings would have already begun.
"I think if the roles were reversed -- now, this is me just talking, but it's based on my experience -- if it were a Democratic president, and these facts were present, most people I know in Washington believe impeachment hearings would have begun already," Clinton told "CBS Sunday Morning."
The former Democratic president added, "And most people I know believe that the press would have been that hard, or harder. But these are serious issues."
As of last month, the special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation has led to 75 criminal charges, five guilty pleas, and one sentencing.
Asked if the media has been unfair to Trump in its reporting on the Russia probe, Clinton said, "I think they have tried by and large to cover this investigation based on the facts."
Clinton is delusional. The notion that the media wouldn't go all out to protect a Democratic president is absurd. Besides, what "facts" is the media covering relating to Russian "collusion" by the president of the United States? Every indictment, every charge, and all guilty pleas have been totally unrelated to "collusion" - most of the charges against Trump aides cover crimes committed before Trump was even running for the office. They have nothing to do with an investigation into Russian "collusion."
While in office, Clinton was the subject of an investigation led by independent counsel Ken Starr and faced impeachment in connection with his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Starr's report accused Clinton of lying under oath, obstruction of justice, witness-tampering and abuse of power. The House impeached Clinton in 1998, but the Senate acquitted the President, preventing his removal from office.
"It wasn't a pleasant experience," Clinton told CBS. "But it was a fight that I was glad to undertake. They knew there was nothing impeachable. And so, we fought it to the end. And I'm glad."
That's a debatable point. But what's telling is that the GOP did not initiate impeachment hearings against Clinton until the Starr Report was all but finished. There was solid, DNA evidence that Clinton lied under oath about having sex with Monica Lewisnsky. Contrast the Clinton impeachment process with the former president's claim that impeachment hearings would already have begun if there was a Democratic president in office. The special counsel's report was finished and hard evidence presented. Today, there is no evidence at all of an impeachable offense and Mueller is just getting warmed up.
Clinton still doesn't think lying under oath was impeachable, despite the fact that he was disbarred for it. And his notion that if Trump were a Democrat, an impeachment investigation in the House would already have begun is just balmy.
