Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 26, 1974 (2/2)
Impeachment Hearings: House Judiciary Committee, July 26, 1974 (2/2)
[01.09.23] Mr. RANGEL. Thank you. I wonder as we try to talk about specifics so that the President would be in a better position to defend himself whether we really take into consideration that the mandate of this Committee is to report, to the. House of Representatives and it seems to me that if we got bogged down with specifics before the House of Representatives has worked its will, that perhaps we would not give the, general recommendation to the House that it. rightfully deserves. It is not our constitutional responsibility to impeach the President but merely to report to the House. So that it seems to me that we should not be talking about specifics but give the maximum amount of information to !he House of -Representatives so that they can deal with the problem constitutionally. Mr. COHEN. I yield to the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Railsback. Mr. RAILSBACK. Thank you. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Doar, I wonder if I could direct a question to you, I wonder if in past impeachment cages it has not been the procedure that the Judiciary Committee has recommended and then on some occasions the I-louse of Representatives itself has formally drafted and prepared articles of impeachment which were then submitted to the Senate. In other words, it is my recollection that there may have been cases -where the House judiciary Committee simply made a recommendation that the House itself had the responsibility of drafting and adopting the articles of impeachment based on the recommendation. and I wonder if we couldn't do it that way. What is your feeling about that? Mr. DOAR. My understanding is that has been the past practice. Mr. RAILSBACK. I thought that was the--- The CHAIRMAN. The time of the gentleman from Maine has expired. Mr. HOGAN. Mr. Chairman ? Mr. MOORHEAD. Mr. Chairman? The CHAIRMAN. Before we proceed, the Chair would like to state some propositions. First of all, we do know that we are proceeding under a very unique proceeding. Impeachment has offered us except for the case of Andrew Johnson no guidelines, no precedents. It is a fact, however, that the rules of evidence do not apply as such. The rules that will be the rules that will apply should this impeachment proceeding move on into the, House and then to trial in the Senate will be the rules that the Senate will adopt. We do know as a matter of fact from impeachment proceedings and the research that has been extensive, and I-all I need do is recall to the Members of the House that the House of Representatives has indeed impeached without any articles of impeachment except merely to impeach, and that at on a mere motion, a privileged motion of any member of the House, that the House could move to impeach. So that therefore this discussion and this issue requiring specificity in order to lay the groundwork for articles of impeachment seems to me to be begging of a question which I think has long been settled. What we do here is to proceed with deliberations concerning the Proposition that certain articles of impeachment be recommended by this committee to the House of Representatives, Mr. RAILSBACK. Will the chairman yield? The CHAIRMAN. In the, report I hat the. committee will then furnish the, House of Representatives that Information will be specifically included together with that--counsel for the President as has, been properly pointed out by the gentleman from Maine would be Provided with all of the information which is contained in the summary of information which details all of the specifics and that prior to trial in' the Senate, upon proper request by counsel for the President, should it reach that stage, discover and other proceedings, that these material would be then provided. And I believe that this affords all of the opportunity for fairness in this to insure that the House of Representatives not act as a trial body under the exacting rules of evidence as we know them because this as a. matter Of fact, and all of US are aware, I think, who; have been long wrestling- with this question, that the House of Representatives is indeed not the trial body but the. body merely recommending articles of impeachment, even if they may be in the broadest sense. [01.14.51]