Hyde Trims Impeachment Inquiry

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee announced Wednesday that he will “streamline” his impeachment investigation to focus on three key aspects of President Clinton’s conduct, a decision that Democrats saw as a major concession to their demands for a short and narrowly defined inquiry.

Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.) said that his review will zero in on the “core charges” of whether Clinton committed perjury, obstructed justice or tampered with witnesses in efforts to conceal his sexual trysts with former White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky.

The three areas encompass the 15 potentially impeachable offenses that the committee outlined last week--except for one count charging that the president engaged in a wide conspiracy to cover up his actions.

But Hyde said that he is not ruling out the possibility of later taking up other accusations against Clinton, including the conspiracy allegation and additional matters that might be presented to Congress from the ongoing Whitewater investigation.

Nevertheless, his announcement dovetails with the wishes of House Democrats, who have argued vigorously for an inquiry that is limited in both duration and scope, with the focus restricted to the Lewinsky matter rather than all the myriad other issues still being pursued by independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr.

Democratic Backing Needed for Support

From a political standpoint, Hyde’s plan could help him and his Republican colleagues. They believe that any articles of impeachment voted against Clinton would not be accepted by the public unless there is Democratic support.

Last week’s historic House vote authorizing the impeachment inquiry fell largely along party lines, with only 31 Democrats supporting the GOP plan for an open-ended investigation.

The Hyde plan also closely follows the Watergate investigation of almost 25 years ago, when the House Judiciary Committee approved the three most damning articles of impeachment against President Nixon while ignoring other, lesser allegations.

Wednesday’s developments now set the stage for three other major decisions in the impeachment process: selection of witnesses, deciding whether both parties can stipulate that certain facts in the case are true and determining whether impeachment hearings conducted after the Nov. 3 elections will be public.

“The presumption is for open hearings,” said Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.), a member of the Judiciary Committee. “But that could switch.”

In explaining his plan, Hyde issued a terse, three-sentence statement. It said:

“The committee is attempting in this initial phase of the impeachment inquiry to establish a process for completing the inquiry by the end of the year.

“This requires streamlining its work to focus on the core charges against the president of lying under oath, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.

“Without cooperation from the White House and committee Democrats--who have consistently advocated for strict time limits--this goal cannot be met.”

In a brief interview in the Capitol, Hyde explained that the committee’s 15 allegations--except for the conspiracy count--are being folded into specific areas of investigation.

In the conspiracy charge, David P. Schippers, chief investigative counsel for the Republicans on the committee, alleged that “there is substantial and credible evidence that the president may have been part of a conspiracy with Monica Lewinsky and others to obstruct justice and the due administration of justice.”

Schippers maintained that Clinton lied under oath in his deposition in the Paula Corbin Jones sexual harassment lawsuit and before the federal grand jury here, withheld and concealed evidence and “tampered” with prospective witnesses.

No Explanation for Dropping Charge

Hyde gave no reason for dropping the conspiracy allegation, except that many of its elements are dealt with in the other 14 points raised by Schippers.

But, he said, “no decision had been made” on whether the conspiracy allegation and other matters from Starr’s Whitewater investigation, would be added later to the committee’s work.

A Republican aide on the committee put it this way: “If other information comes to us, of course we’ll look at it. But we’re not fishing for it.”

Even without the conspiracy count, some Republicans said, the investigation will address broad areas of misconduct by the president.

“Don’t read anything into any of that,” Rep. Bill McCollum (R-Fla.), a committee member and leading proponent for impeachment, said of the Hyde announcement.

A leading impeachment opponent on the committee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), said that with or without the conspiracy charge, the GOP will still be out to get the president.

“I don’t think they’re narrowing it,” Nadler said. “It all comes down to the same thing. Whether it’s 15 slices or three slices, it’s the same pie.”

But Democrats found something to cheer in Hyde’s plan.

“This is an honest admission that several of the charges brought by both Starr and Schippers are thin to the point of transparency,” said Jim Jordan, spokesman for Democrats on the Judiciary Committee.

But he added: “It’s simultaneously an attempt to politically repackage the entire matter in hopes that they can sell impeachment to an increasingly skeptical and disgusted public.”

At the White House, Press Secretary Joe Lockhart said that he saw political maneuvering in Republican actions: first voting down Democratic alternatives last week, then changing course and accepting some of them.

Public opinion polls continue to show that about two-thirds of Americans oppose removing Clinton from office for his actions in the Lewinsky affair.

“This close to an election,” Lockhart said, “it’s hard to not sense that there may be some politics at work here.”

Democrats, at an end-of-the-session news conference Wednesday, trotted out several citizens who complained that too much time and money are being wasted on the impeachment process.

Alan Landers, a former Winston cigarette model who has survived two bouts with lung cancer, open-heart surgery and emphysema, said that tobacco industry executives should be prosecuted for lying to Congress about what they put in their products.

“Prosecute them,” he said. “How do you compare the president with the tobacco cartel killing a half a million people a year? I mean, how do you equate that? Go after them!”

The full text of the Starr investigation documents released by the House Judiciary Committee are available on The Times’ Web site: https://www.latimes.com/scandal