Barr: Unseal the Clinton Impeachment Files Now

Twenty years ago this December, William Jefferson Clinton became the first elected President to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives (Andrew Johnson, impeached in 1868, was never elected to the presidency).

The charges on which Clinton was impeached were perjury and obstruction of justice. The evidence supporting his impeachment was contained in the Report delivered to the House on September 9, 1998, prepared by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr and his staff of investigators and attorneys. One of those attorneys was Brett Kavanaugh, now a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and a nominee to serve as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States.

The Democrats’ long knives, sharpened the moment Justice Anthony Kennedy delivered his letter of resignation to President Trump on June 27th, have been sent to party operatives and media friends across the country and especially in the Nation’s Capital. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer made clear the moment Trump introduced Judge Kavanaugh as his choice to succeed Justice Kennedy, that the Democrat Party will employ every trick and tool at its disposal to deny Kavanaugh confirmation in the closely divided Senate.

As in past battles waged by the Democrats against Supreme Court nominees offered by Republican Presidents, beginning with Robert Bork in 1987 and Clarence Thomas four years later, the Minority Party has made crystal clear it will employ a scorched earth strategy; in which neither factual accuracy nor policy relevance will play a role.

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Bob Barr is president and CEO of the Law Enforcement Education Foundation (LEEF). From 1995-2003, he represented Georgia’s Seventh Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.