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Kucinich Presents Case For Impeaching Bush

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Jul 25, 2008 6:17 pm US/Eastern

Kucinich Presents Case For Impeaching Bush

Florida representative Robert Wexler supports Kucinich's case

WASHINGTON (CBS4.com) ― A  crowd gathered outside of the room for Friday's hearing in the House Judiciary Committee that focused on executive power and the possibility of impeachment of President George W. Bush.

The hearing was brought about when former Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, brought impeachment charges against Bush.

Florida congressman Robert Wexler laid down his complete support for the charges during his opening statement.

"Never before in the history of this nation has an administration so successfully diminished the constitutional power of the legislative branch. It is unacceptable and must not stand," Wexler said.

The Florida Congressman then decided to lay out his view of the impeachable offenses of the President.

"The White House is charged with: Deliberately lying to Congress and the American people and manipulating intelligence regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Ordering the illegal use of torture, firing U.S. attorneys for political purposes, and denying the legitimate constitutional powers for congressional oversight by blatantly ignoring subpoenas among countless other crimes," Wexler said.

But, the deep division of opinion on political lines was evident early with the ranking Republican Lamar Smith questioning the need of the hearing at all.

"Nothing is going to come out of this hearing with regard to impeachment of the president. I know it, the media knows it, even the Speaker knows, it will only serve to impeach our own credibility," Smith said.

Republican Mike Pence of Indiana stated he saw no credible evidence for impeachment, but also warned about the dangers surrounding impeachment hearings.

"These hearings, intentionally or unintentionally, take us down the road of the criminalization of American politics," Pence said.

The Democratic Chairman of the committee, Rep. John Conyers, emphasized many times during the hearing that the hearing wasn't about impeachment, but a look at the scope of executive power.

Only two presidents in history have faced impeachment, Andrew Johnson from Tennesssee, and Bill Clinton. Johnson became immensely unpopular after the Civil War, even though he had served as Abraham Lincoln's vice-president. He was going to be convicted by the Senate, but by a margin of one vote, he managed to finish out his term.

President Clinton's impeachment divided the country along partisan lines. Clinton's trial before the Senate was not close on votes to convict, and Clinton even emerged from the mess more popular among voters than he was before.

One other president, Richard Nixon, faced a likely impeachment and conviction for his crimes and cover-up during the Watergate break-in. He resigned from office to avoid the impeachment. He was later pardoned by President Ford, in an attempt to move the country forward instead of continuing the hearings and a likely court case. Many experts say Ford only served one term because of his pardoning of Nixon.

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