Aug. 10, 2025

The Theory 2 Action Weekend Show--August 10, 2025

FAN MAIL--We would love YOUR feedback--Send us a Text Message Welcome to the Weekend Show Key Points in the Program: • David shares our new weekend show format that includes politics, deep book dives, and flourishing tips • Recommendation for the 2Way podcast featuring Mark Halperin, Sean Spicer, and Dan Turrentine • in our Book of the Week segment, we feature, "Sellout" by David Shippers (2000) reveals how Senate Republicans in 1999 undermined the impeachment process of Willam Jefferson Cli...

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FAN MAIL--We would love YOUR feedback--Send us a Text Message

Welcome to the Weekend Show

Key Points in the Program:

• David shares our new weekend show format that includes politics, deep book dives, and flourishing tips
• Recommendation for the 2Way podcast featuring Mark Halperin, Sean Spicer, and Dan Turrentine
• in our Book of the Week segment, we feature, "Sellout" by David Shippers (2000) reveals how Senate Republicans in 1999 undermined the impeachment process of Willam Jefferson Clinton.  
• Three critical meetings in January 1999 where Senate leadership showed they had no intention of conducting a fair trial
• Not a single senator visited the room containing evidence against Clinton
• Senator Stevens told Chairman Hyde: "I don't care if you prove he raped a woman and then shot her dead. You're not going to get 67 votes"
• Seven Republican senators who voted against conviction effectively nullified the process
• All 45 Democrats voted as a block to acquit despite the evidence
• John Maxwell's Law of Process teaches that leadership growth requires daily improvement
• Getting 1% better each day through consistent practice leads to flourishing

Text us your thoughts on the new format and whether you think President Clinton should have been impeached.


03:33 - Admin and Podcast recommendation

13:53 - Book of the Week: Overview

20:45 - Book of the Week: Key Point--Strike 1

27:53 - Book of the Week: Key Point: Strike 2

43:30 - Book of the Week: Key Point: Strike 3

01:08:14 - Books Book and More Books

01:12:06 - Finishing with Flourishing

WEBVTT

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Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life.

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Now here's your host, david Kaiser.

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Hello, I am David and welcome back to the Theory to Action podcast.

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I am your host, I am your guide, I am your right-hand man for all things books and, in particular, conservative books.

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I've been reading books for the better part of the last 15 years.

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If you got questions on books, I got answers.

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Now there's not many not many at all conservative podcasts out here who mainly talk all about books or even devote their whole podcast to books and everything around books in general, but that's me.

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Whereas we've been doing that for the last four years, over 550 unique books have been covered here over those four years and hundreds of hours of content.

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We have a huge archive at our website, teammojoacademycom TeamMojoAcademycom.

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We have a wonderful search function up there.

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Be sure to check that out.

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So, whether it's books to help you understand your American history from a conservative point of view, or books to help you choose action in your personal life and, ultimately, to help you flourish in that personal life, or whether that's books to just help you understand the revolution in politics that we've just been coming through for the better part of the last two decades, if not longer, or if that's your Catholic faith, that's what we talk about here on the Mojo Academy and on this podcast, theory to Action.

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So what do we have in store for you today on the Weekend Show?

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Well, today's show we're going to be talking about first, our new format.

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We're going to go over some review details there to make sure you understand how we're changing and what we're changing to and what you should be expecting.

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I have a politics endorsement, a wholehearted endorsement of a new podcast in politics that I've been listening to for the last two years Not this podcast, even though I shouldn't toot my own horn.

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This is a great podcast.

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But I have an even better podcast in the political realm that I've been watching for the last two years.

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I want to tell you about that Our book of the day.

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Fantastic, deep, deep dive.

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I think you're really going to enjoy it.

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It completely pushes back on the conventional history of a very important event in the last 30 years and we're going to cover that in depth.

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I love this book.

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I zoomed through it in Audible and I can't wait to share it with you.

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In our Books, books and More Books segment, we are going to share a couple books.

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I think you're really going to like one in particular.

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And then, for the finishing and flourishing.

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We are going back to an old, reliable Mr John Maxwell himself from his 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership book.

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I think you're really going to like that.

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So with that let's jump into our first segment.

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So just a reminder about our new format here.

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We are bunching together a lot of segments we've done in the past, whether that's finishing with flourishing, where everything was around one book in particular, that segment's still going to be at the tail end of our weekend show, which is part of our new format that we're going to come out with a weekend show every weekend and it's just going to be a longer type show with more segments kind of bunched together.

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We're going to cover some politics, some news, some culture.

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In the beginning that will be a segment.

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We will always have a book of the week and that will be our deep dive into the key ideas and the key nuggets of wisdom from that particular book.

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So we're not going away from books at all, just really a reminder that we're bunching a lot of segments together to give you guys more content and less time on the weekend.

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And then we will still have our old format where we dive into just one book on a very key nugget of wisdom in the midweek, with the midweek show either Wednesday or Thursday.

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So that is just a reminder of what you should expect.

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Oh, also, we will have a Books Books, more Books segment almost every week where we're just going to go out and share with you what's coming down the pike in terms of new books to keep a lookout for and anything that we're reading that's kind of caught our eye.

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So right now those are the four to five segments we have.

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I'm sure we're going to mix and match as we go along.

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We'll develop new segments to make sure the content is fresh for you guys, but so far the reaction has been outstanding.

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Thank you, we appreciate your feedback, as it was a lot of hard work to kind of change our formatting and you know, sometimes it's not easy to just riff on bullet points and get your presentation skills a little bit better versus scripting off bullet points, which is kind of part of the personal development that I'm going through here as we switch gears, and I am very excited to share with you this new podcast it's not new to me but it's new to you guys that I have been listening to for the last at least two years, I believe.

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So let's get into that detail now.

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I know I just said two years, it's probably been a year and a half.

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So the podcast is it's called Two Way, the number two W-A-Y, two Way, and it is started by Mark Halperin, who is an old editor.

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He's the editor-in-chief of Two-Way, but he also is New York Times bestselling author and they have this thing called the Morning Meeting on Two-Way, and the Morning Meeting is Mark Halperin, sean Spicer, former White House press secretary, and then he was former press secretary for Trump in his first term.

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Trump won.

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And then Dan Turrentine, who worked for Bill Clinton and is now a strategic consultant, and it's those three.

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So it's Mark Halperin, sean Spicer, dan Turrentine, and that is the two-way podcast, and that is the two-way podcast.

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Now, what's fascinating is the morning meeting usually runs about an hour and I probably discovered it sometime I want to say the summer of 2024, about a year ago and I discovered it on YouTube and the fascination was they would well, first two-way would have their own it's like a full video Zoom call and it would have Mark Halperin, sean Spicer, dan Turrentine on it, along with probably 50 other people that were just regular Joe Schmoes like you and me and Mark would go out to the Joe Schmoes and say he would pose a question and then they would chime in on it and they will allow them one or two minute segments to really just kind of and you would get every oddball.

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You know opinion summer of 2024, to the point that I was getting more confident because I felt like it was a focus group.

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If not every day I forget how often they came up, but every time it came up during the summer last year I was clicking on it and I was fascinated and I wouldn't listen to the whole thing.

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This two-way video platform that came up on YouTube.

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I wouldn't listen to the whole thing.

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This two-way video platform that came up on YouTube.

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I wouldn't listen to the whole thing, but as I was getting ready for work, I would have it on in the background and listen to regular people give what was important to them, what issues.

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And then Mark Halperin is a great interviewer.

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I used to not like him.

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He's always been somewhat liberal, but I think he is a real professional now because he had an incident where he was accused I think he made some bad remarks to women or something.

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Anyhow, he paid that penalty, got kicked off a network or something.

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I don't think it was any, I think it was just verbal remarks.

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Not that I condone those, but he paid his penalty and he's kind of resurrected himself.

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And he every time I hear him speak and he is interviewing people and he's interacting with people.

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I think he is just really up to his professional game, like maybe he stepped on a rake back then but now he's like overcompensating, where he I think he actually has a pretty good personality and will laugh occasionally.

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I think he's so kind of dialed in to not say anything off color or whatever to get in any type of hot water with anybody, that he almost doesn't let his personality come out, not not to say that you.

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You know his personality needs to be.

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You know ripping on, not ripping on, but you know just to not even allow yourself to laugh or enjoy you know good conversation as long as it's not at the expense of someone else.

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And you know character, you know physical traits or something else whatever.

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I don't even know what he was accused of, but I know there was some skirmish, there was something.

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He was let go kind of has been off the radar for the last five to seven years and then has come back and he is a really good interviewer and Sean and Dan really seem to respect him and I've watched him interview a lot of people over the last year and he is a very good interviewer.

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He allows them to talk but he will also kind of keep you if you're being interviewed by him.

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He doesn't allow you to just kind of filibuster and he doesn't allow you to dodge, but he's he's a respectful interviewer, not like Sean Hannity who just talks over top of you the whole time so you never even hear what you're the interviewee is supposed to be saying.

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So anyhow, I'm highly recommending this, this podcast, I think by far in this new digital media age.

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You know, back in the day I grew up as a political junkie.

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You know watching Tim Russert on Sunday mornings that was the political show this week with David Brinkley.

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You know Cokie Roberts and George Will, sam Donaldson, you know and Meet the Press with Tim Russert.

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I grew up watching those old Sunday shows.

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I think the this podcast gives you the same amount of good knowledge of what is happening in the political world and it's done by.

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I really have come to respect the other two guys too.

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Sean Spicer didn't really like him as press secretary in Trump one but have come to respect his opinion throughout the whole last year, year and a half.

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And Dan Turrentine I respect his honesty because he's not one of the radicals and he knows that the only way for that party to come back is they're going to have to come back to the center and that base just continues to pull them hard, hard left.

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So highly recommend two-way podcast.

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The number two W-A-Y, and I highly recommend the morning meeting is not the video platform chat I was talking about.

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Let me explain the morning meeting.

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The morning meeting is Mark, sean and Dan, for about 45 minutes, literally having a morning meeting on what is the latest in politics, and that's fascinating.

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I don't listen to it every morning because they have, I think, a morning meeting every morning like it's their job and you know politics is not our jobs.

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So but anytime you can tune in.

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I think you know if you get one or two, you kind of stay up with politics because it's that good and, yes, I would put them on the level of the Tim Russerts and the this week with David Brinkley's going back in the day.

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So I hope you enjoy that.

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Check out Two-Way and the Morning Meeting with Mark Halperin, sean Spicer and Dan Turntine.

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I will put a link in the show notes.

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All right, let's move on to our book of the week, which I think you're going to enjoy immensely.

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Last week we set a baseline for political scandals.

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We ranked them one through five, we discussed them and if you missed that episode, be sure to go back and listen.

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We got some great reviews from it.

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In that ranking last week we said the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal came in at number three.

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Now for context, here's a quick recap of the conventional wisdom surrounding that scandal.

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It dominated headlines throughout the late 1990s and involved President Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern.

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While it didn't involve direct abuse of power like Watergate, it led to Clinton's impeachment by the House of Representatives.

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The affair began in 1995 and became public in 1998.

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Initially Clinton denied it under oath, but mounting evidence, including the infamous blue dress, forced him to admit a quote inappropriate relationship, unquote.

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He was impeached on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.

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In 1999, the Senate held a trial.

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Clinton was acquitted.

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1999, the Senate held a trial.

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Clinton was acquitted Despite surviving impeachment.

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The scandal damaged his reputation and sparked debates about morality and leadership and conduct expected of our public officials.

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That's the conventional narrative.

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Now let's turn to our book of the week to dig deeper and challenge this perspective and this conventional wisdom.

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In our book of the week Sellout the inside story of President Clinton's impeachment.

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Author David Shippers, the chief investigative counsel for the House Judiciary Committee, shares his insider view of the impeachment process.

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Now the book reveals a chaotic and messy Capitol Hill.

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It exposes lies, hypocrisy, political gamesmanship on both sides.

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Shippers argues that much of the public was misled by political spin and, contrary to the narrative that the scandal was only about sex, shippers lays out a broader case involving perjury, witness tampering and obstruction of justice to shield Clinton from accountability.

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He also claims there's significant evidence that was left unexplored due to political cowardice.

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We're going to get into that.

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Shippers, unencumbered by political loyalty, offers his insights and what really happened behind those closed doors.

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I was in Washington DC during this time.

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I was a young staff assistant for my member of Congress and I'll never forget the buzz on Capitol Hill after Matt Drudge broke the story in January of 1998.

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And then fast forward to 2000, and Shippers wrote this book to reveal the untold story of what happened behind the scenes.

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So let's go to the book for our first pull quote into this very controversial chapter of our history.

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What I have tried to do is recount my firsthand knowledge of the impeachment process as viewed by an outsider a lifelong Democrat, I might add who became intimately involved.

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The account encompasses our investigation of the Department of Justice during the spring and summer of 1998, prior to the receipt of the independent counsel Kenneth Starr's referral.

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Also, events in the House Judiciary Committee once the material was received will be discussed, as will the impeachment inquiry itself, the proceedings in the House of Representatives and the trial in the Senate.

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Now, the founders of our country created the impeachment process as part of the checks and balances that is vital to our US government.

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Impeaching the president requires just to take a little history lesson here requires the House of Representatives to charge the chief executive with high crimes and misdemeanors.

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Then the House managers must then prove the charge with clear and convincing evidence in a trial held exclusively by the Senate.

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Now, while the process worked in the House we will find out over the next half hour.

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It completely failed in the Senate, and here's where Shippers writes this in the Senate, and here's where Shippers writes this.

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When the time came to name this book, one word immediately came to mind sellout.

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The Republican leadership in the Senate and House sold out the House managers and our investigation.

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Democrats in both houses sold out basic principles of law and decency for the sake of protecting one of their own.

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But, most distressingly, the President of the United States of America and his White House water boys sold out the American people, not just in a one time spasm of political expediency, but in a deliberate snarl of sophistry and cynical manipulation of public opinion, the singular aim of which was political self-preservation.

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In the process, he soiled not just himself but the constitution, the public trust and the presidency itself.

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Now there is so much in this book it's going to be hard to cover in the time we have together.

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But I'm going to do my best to give you the major key points and we're just going to start with three main points.

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That's good, we're going to.

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We're going to to start with three main points.

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We're going to talk about threes here.

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Three strikes and you're out.

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And then we're also going to include chapter markers to make it easier for you to navigate this long and deep dive into the book.

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So let's hear from David Shippers beginning in chapter two.

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So let's hear from David Shippers.

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Beginning in chapter two.

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When people ask me what's the one thing Americans should know that they don't already know about the impeachment process, it's that before we ever appeared on the floor of the United States Senate, the House impeachment managers and I knew we didn't have a shot to win.

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It was a flat out rigged ball game, what we in Chicago would refer to as a first ward election no shot, no way.

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The bottom line was this In the US Senate, politics trumped principles and polls trumped honor.

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It wasn't all the senators, but it was the ones that counted, the leadership, and not just the Democratic leadership, the Republican leaders.

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They're really the ones we couldn't believe, our own guys selling us down the river Now.

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The sellout unfolded over three critical meetings in January of 1999.

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There was more to it, but we're going to keep it simple here.

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And that shaped the whole course of the impeachment trial.

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At the center of all of it was Trent Lott, senate GOP Majority Leader from Mississippi, who requested a meeting with the House managers to discuss procedures.

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The House managers entered the meeting with hope and determination, seeing it as their opportunity to make the case directly to the Senate Majority Leader.

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They wanted to ensure the Senate and the American people had access to all the evidence, which is a necessary and vital step for justice and accountability.

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Now imagine the scene a large committee room filled with the 13 House managers, chief Counsel David Chippers and a handful of others, all waiting for the majority leader to arrive.

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All waiting for the majority leader to arrive.

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They were ready to advocate for fairness and transparency, understanding the weight of the moment, and what followed would alter the course of history, and not for the better.

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Let's pick up the action.

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Finally, senator Lott and Republican Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania entered and sat at the head of a big rectangular table.

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Lott leaned back in his chair with a power lean that said I'm in charge.

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And I'll never forget the very first words out of his mouth Henry, you're not going to dump this garbage on us.

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Huh, came the bewildered reply from the House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde from Illinois.

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You're not going to dump this garbage on us.

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I immediately thought of Jay McMullin, who once covered City Hall for the Chicago Sun-Times.

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When McMullin saw a do-gooder get upset, he'd point at the guy and laugh and say look at him, he thinks it's all on the legit.

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Stupid me, I guess.

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I thought everything was on the legit.

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But no, it was clear right off the bat that things were not all legit.

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Rather, the Senate Republican leadership wanted to sink us.

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You know, lott said we've been discussing this with the Democrats and everybody wants a fair hearing.

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But we don't want to spend weeks on this.

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We just can't shut down the Senate.

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We have more important matters to address.

00:24:21.993 --> 00:24:29.303
Important, I thought, like the impeachment of a president isn't important.

00:24:30.464 --> 00:24:33.810
Lott mentioned the importance of quote bipartisanship.

00:24:33.810 --> 00:24:38.222
He had an idea he thought could quote unquote fly.

00:24:38.222 --> 00:24:48.402
We'd be given one day to present our case, the president would get one day to present his case and then the Senate would vote.

00:24:48.402 --> 00:25:02.583
I didn't always think this way, but I learned that every time I heard the word bipartisan on Capitol Hill we were about to be sold out, because bipartisan meant doing the will of the Democrats.

00:25:02.583 --> 00:25:06.593
Bipartisan meant two articles of impeachment instead of four.

00:25:06.593 --> 00:25:11.952
It meant emasculating the inquiry by limiting the witnesses.

00:25:11.952 --> 00:25:17.363
It meant limiting the impeachment inquiry to Monica Lewinsky only.

00:25:17.943 --> 00:25:23.770
When Lott talked about bipartisanship, we knew he was waving the white flag.

00:25:23.770 --> 00:25:28.757
Congressman Chris Cannon of Utah was the first to explode.

00:25:28.757 --> 00:25:34.195
He's one tough cookie and his face just started getting redder and redder.

00:25:34.195 --> 00:25:37.243
Then he leaned forward, screaming and pointing his finger.

00:25:37.243 --> 00:25:40.049
What in the hell are you talking about?

00:25:40.049 --> 00:25:43.683
One day We've got two articles of impeachment.

00:25:43.683 --> 00:25:46.592
We're supposed to be doing the people's business.

00:25:46.592 --> 00:25:49.744
Who the hell are you to tell us we have one day.

00:25:51.127 --> 00:26:06.086
Then Congressman Charles Kennedy from Florida said you know, senator, if this is the way you're going to operate in the Senate, maybe we'll just appear on the floor of the Senate and say we won't participate in this kangaroo court or this travesty there were shouts of.

00:26:06.086 --> 00:26:07.709
We got boxes of evidence here.

00:26:07.709 --> 00:26:10.433
We got witnesses One day.

00:26:10.433 --> 00:26:14.423
That's insane.

00:26:14.423 --> 00:26:19.108
Congressman Jim Rogan of California added the exclamation point to the whole exchange.

00:26:19.108 --> 00:26:21.913
We're entitled to a trial.

00:26:21.913 --> 00:26:23.836
Why are we being sold out?

00:26:23.836 --> 00:26:28.880
You're double-crossing us.

00:26:28.880 --> 00:26:29.780
We've done our duty.

00:26:29.780 --> 00:26:30.580
It's up to you to do your duty.

00:26:30.580 --> 00:26:31.801
We are all Republicans.

00:26:31.801 --> 00:26:34.663
You're going to let them make fools out of us?

00:26:34.663 --> 00:26:38.954
Lott was obviously shocked.

00:26:38.954 --> 00:26:50.780
My friend Congressman Hyde said nothing, but I sensed that he was deeply angry and thinking there goes my committee.

00:26:53.846 --> 00:27:04.709
So the House Republicans faced a tense divide with Senate Republicans during the impeachment process, particularly over trial rules and witness testimonies.

00:27:04.709 --> 00:27:15.201
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott attempted to reassure House members with vague promises, but frustrations just boiled over in that heated meeting.

00:27:15.201 --> 00:27:25.420
Key figures like House Manager, bob Barr, and Bill McCollum expressed anger at the Senate's perceived dismissal of the House's efforts.

00:27:25.420 --> 00:27:29.256
And then Lindsey Graham urged caution.

00:27:29.256 --> 00:27:35.657
He was a House member at the time, emphasizing the political implications of clashing with the Senate Republicans.

00:27:35.657 --> 00:27:43.558
Ultimately, the House committee rejected Lott's proposal, but it marked a significant disagreement between the two chambers.

00:27:43.558 --> 00:27:52.920
But on the scorecard, this was strike one for the House managers and the American people.

00:27:55.246 --> 00:28:03.359
The next day, a meeting between House managers and a bipartisan Senate committee was arranged to discuss trial procedures.

00:28:03.359 --> 00:28:07.076
But it came clear that the Senate leadership had already devised a plan.

00:28:07.076 --> 00:28:17.930
Each side would have 24 hours, or three eight-hour sessions to present their case, followed by 16 hours for senators to then ask questions.

00:28:17.930 --> 00:28:31.633
Witnesses could only be called if a strong case was made, but the president's attorneys could depose them first, which effectively limited the live testimony on the Senate floor.

00:28:31.633 --> 00:28:34.318
So let's get back to the action.

00:28:34.318 --> 00:28:42.321
Actually, I want to point out just one number, one takeaway nugget of wisdom from all of this.

00:28:42.321 --> 00:28:46.369
It's a quote regarding the questions from senators.

00:28:46.369 --> 00:28:50.458
And here's the quote the senators asking questions.

00:28:50.458 --> 00:28:52.847
Now there is a joke.

00:28:52.847 --> 00:28:59.388
They were afraid to ask questions because they were afraid to even look at the evidence.

00:28:59.388 --> 00:29:02.154
Keep this in the back of your mind.

00:29:02.154 --> 00:29:04.507
They were afraid to look at the evidence.

00:29:04.507 --> 00:29:11.430
We're going to come back to this and it's an important part of the whole kit and caboodle.

00:29:12.353 --> 00:29:20.655
Now, going back to the book, the procedural meeting took place in the Senate Majority Leader's office with three Democrats.

00:29:20.655 --> 00:29:36.207
The procedural meeting took place in the Senate Majority Leader's office with three Democrats Senators Joseph Biden of Delaware, joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and Carl Levin of Michigan and three Republicans Fred Thompson of Tennessee, ted Stevens of Alaska and Pete Domenici of New Mexico Representing the House.

00:29:36.207 --> 00:29:44.871
We had Managers Bryant, rogan, hutchison the three who would be presenting evidence and Henry Hyde.

00:29:44.871 --> 00:29:48.681
I was there with a number of committee staffers.

00:29:48.681 --> 00:29:50.786
As usual, there were a lot of people there.

00:29:50.786 --> 00:29:54.676
I didn't know, but they all looked important and no doubt felt important.

00:29:55.846 --> 00:29:58.113
Right away, we started hearing the same old song.

00:29:58.113 --> 00:29:59.979
We're here to work this out.

00:29:59.979 --> 00:30:08.405
We here in the Senate want to give you guys a real opportunity and when I hear lines like that, I'm already looking for the grease.

00:30:08.405 --> 00:30:12.516
Senator Domenici was the first to let us know the score.

00:30:12.516 --> 00:30:14.119
Senate style.

00:30:14.119 --> 00:30:19.596
We don't want you to think that we're whitewashing or shortchanging the process.

00:30:19.596 --> 00:30:24.971
However, I assure you that you'll never get 67 votes to remove the president from office.

00:30:24.971 --> 00:30:27.857
You don't want to hear this, but it's true.

00:30:27.857 --> 00:30:30.769
How to get out of this mess?

00:30:30.769 --> 00:30:34.336
That seemed to be the main thing Domenici cared about.

00:30:34.336 --> 00:30:41.055
The attitude was we are the judges who set the rules, we are the triers of fact.

00:30:41.055 --> 00:30:46.413
We are putting together a program that will get us out of here as quickly as possible.

00:30:47.737 --> 00:30:57.365
Now, to me, that showed incredible disrespect for the House of Representatives, no different from what Biden said just a few minutes later.

00:30:57.365 --> 00:31:02.987
We want to work with with you, even though technically you don't have a say in the matter.

00:31:02.987 --> 00:31:07.459
He was reminding us, not so gently, who makes the rules.

00:31:07.459 --> 00:31:11.828
That did not sit well with Chairman Hyde, and he let him know it.

00:31:11.828 --> 00:31:14.515
We're here because of the Constitution.

00:31:14.515 --> 00:31:16.365
No one wants to be here.

00:31:16.365 --> 00:31:20.493
It's nothing but a political loser for all of us concerned.

00:31:21.596 --> 00:31:23.766
Then Chairman Hyde got off a good shot.

00:31:23.766 --> 00:31:38.873
After having just been told by the Senate leadership that, in effect, the trial was over before it began, he said I doubt if you would want to get the senators on record before a trial, stating that they would never vote for impeachment.

00:31:38.873 --> 00:31:53.480
Senator Stevens interrupted we can get them for you tonight Then do that, said Hyde, and let the American people see who has prejudged this case before trial.

00:31:53.480 --> 00:31:57.776
That shut Stevens up, at least temporarily.

00:31:57.776 --> 00:32:09.414
And now here comes just a beauty of a nugget of wisdom After the last four years of the worst president in modern American history, joe Biden.

00:32:09.414 --> 00:32:24.525
Just picture him 25 years ago with that smug smile, with all his animations and gesticulations, with all his animations and gesticulations.

00:32:24.525 --> 00:32:30.215
And you just know that he's lying through his teeth on everything he's saying, like a used car salesman.

00:32:37.105 --> 00:32:38.150
Let's go back to this book for the story.

00:32:38.150 --> 00:32:40.902
That didn't age well for the Senator from Delaware at the time.

00:32:40.902 --> 00:32:45.876
Look, said Biden, we don't want tawdry sex on the floor of the Senate.

00:32:45.876 --> 00:32:52.931
We don't want you bringing in Monica Lewinsky, having her sit down in the well of the Senate seducing the world.

00:32:52.931 --> 00:32:57.556
Rogan said you know, senator, we have no intention of going into sexual stuff.

00:32:57.556 --> 00:33:00.592
The sexual stuff is the mere background.

00:33:00.592 --> 00:33:09.121
Our evidence is going to involve perjury and ongoing obstruction of justice, the real criminal activity.

00:33:10.002 --> 00:33:13.170
One of the senators asked how long we would need.

00:33:13.170 --> 00:33:15.634
The answer was about five weeks.

00:33:15.634 --> 00:33:17.137
What do you mean?

00:33:17.137 --> 00:33:20.609
Five weeks, sputtered Ted Stevens from Alaska.

00:33:20.609 --> 00:33:25.219
You're going to bring the Senate of the United States to a screeching halt for five weeks.

00:33:25.219 --> 00:33:28.751
While we are trying this, bombs are falling on our rack.

00:33:28.751 --> 00:33:32.893
Asa Hutchison, a house manager, reminded him.

00:33:32.893 --> 00:33:37.871
Senator, you don't normally do anything until March anyhow.

00:33:39.165 --> 00:33:43.547
Rogan then reminded the gathering that the Senate hadn't seemed worried about time.

00:33:43.547 --> 00:33:52.407
Would it let the impeachment of Florida Judge Elsie Hastings drag out in committee for over 400 days?

00:33:52.407 --> 00:33:56.673
Hyde stepped in to be the peacemaker.

00:33:56.673 --> 00:33:59.895
Perhaps we could cut it down a bit.

00:33:59.895 --> 00:34:05.166
Maybe we do need time to put on witnesses and bring in evidence.

00:34:05.166 --> 00:34:06.269
He added.

00:34:06.269 --> 00:34:09.378
I would like to make a request of the Senate at this time.

00:34:09.378 --> 00:34:12.492
You know, some of our congressmen have been prosecutors.

00:34:12.492 --> 00:34:17.971
They're real fine trial lawyers, but it's been years since they have done any work like this.

00:34:17.971 --> 00:34:26.315
We're asking the Senate to permit Mr Shippers here to put the witnesses on and perhaps even argue the case.

00:34:27.885 --> 00:34:36.077
You would have thought Chairman Hyde had told Biden that Delaware had just been reduced to a protectorate status.

00:34:36.077 --> 00:34:46.478
Biden turned the color of a tomato, pointing at me no way, no way is that guy going to open his mouth on the floor of the Senate?

00:34:46.478 --> 00:34:49.594
Then he got a big smile on his face.

00:34:49.594 --> 00:34:54.996
I learned later that when Biden smiles, you're in trouble.

00:34:54.996 --> 00:34:58.271
Hyde asked why not?

00:34:58.271 --> 00:34:58.994
What's the problem?

00:34:58.994 --> 00:35:01.851
Because it's not in the rules.

00:35:01.851 --> 00:35:04.829
Biden blurted back the rules don't provide for it.

00:35:04.829 --> 00:35:10.606
The rules require only congressmen can speak Wrong.

00:35:10.606 --> 00:35:22.759
I had read the Senate rules on impeachment procedure and I knew that they specifically provided that counsel for the parties be admitted, to appear and to be heard in an impeachment trial.

00:35:22.759 --> 00:35:25.351
Nevertheless, I kept my mouth shut.

00:35:25.351 --> 00:35:29.715
But perhaps that's all Hyde could get out.

00:35:29.715 --> 00:35:31.451
Biden would not be silenced.

00:35:31.451 --> 00:35:33.971
No way, no, that's off the table.

00:35:34.211 --> 00:35:44.719
Now what Chairman Hyde said we'd like to put live witnesses on and we have 10 to 15 witnesses that we would like to put on the stand.

00:35:44.719 --> 00:35:46.452
Biden freaked out again.

00:35:46.452 --> 00:35:49.128
Oh, come on, henry, come on, you've got to be.

00:35:49.128 --> 00:35:50.452
I mean live witnesses.

00:35:50.452 --> 00:35:56.704
You put on live witnesses, then the president brings in 100 witnesses and then you just want to put on more witnesses.

00:35:56.704 --> 00:35:57.969
We're trying.

00:35:57.969 --> 00:36:00.396
We'll be trying this case till June.

00:36:00.396 --> 00:36:09.291
Hyde responded Senator, your rules provide for a trial, for witnesses and evidence to be taken.

00:36:09.291 --> 00:36:14.246
And that's when Biden gave it all to us in plain English.

00:36:14.246 --> 00:36:19.692
He leaned back and said we make our own rules.

00:36:19.692 --> 00:36:26.099
And later on we understand how strike two ends.

00:36:27.161 --> 00:36:33.228
To finalize the meeting, senator Lieberman asked, as a peacemaker, about the number of witnesses in the expected timeline.

00:36:33.228 --> 00:36:41.757
It was estimated to take three weeks, with no expectation that the president would call witnesses, despite his potential threats to do so.

00:36:41.757 --> 00:36:49.626
He offered a similar bluff in the House of Representatives but then ultimately no witnesses were called.

00:36:49.626 --> 00:36:53.293
Shippers writes this in the book.

00:36:53.293 --> 00:37:00.612
To close out, strike two Walking out with Hyde and Rogan, I said you wouldn't believe it.

00:37:00.612 --> 00:37:04.739
The best friend we had in that room was Senator Lieberman.

00:37:04.739 --> 00:37:16.885
They both agreed with friends like these Republicans, who needs enemies?

00:37:16.885 --> 00:37:24.490
To fully understand the context of the trial procedures, let's examine how they were established.

00:37:24.510 --> 00:37:29.583
In January 1999, at the start of the 106th Congress, the Senate was composed of 55 Republicans and 45 Democrats.

00:37:29.583 --> 00:37:33.150
They maintained the Republican majority from the previous Congress.

00:37:33.150 --> 00:37:38.028
The 1998 midterm elections had not altered the balance in the Senate.

00:37:38.028 --> 00:37:51.086
So the Senate's composition during President Clinton's impeachment trial, which took place from January 7th to February 12th 1999, was 55 Republicans and 45 Democrats.

00:37:51.086 --> 00:38:03.896
Despite some Republicans being less than resolute, the GOP had enough votes to secure a simple majority of 51 on all the procedural matters.

00:38:03.896 --> 00:38:09.795
It was a simple majority vote With effective leadership from Majority Leader Trent Lott.

00:38:09.795 --> 00:38:20.250
It's plausible that the necessary votes could have been gathered either from within the Republican caucus or with support from conservative Democrats.

00:38:20.250 --> 00:38:22.204
However, the Democrats rolled Senator with support from conservative Democrats.

00:38:22.204 --> 00:38:25.996
However, the Democrats rolled Senator Majority Leader Lott.

00:38:25.996 --> 00:38:34.398
They convinced him that achieving the 67 votes required for conviction was unattainable.

00:38:34.398 --> 00:38:40.418
So, as a result, the Senate and this whole effort was just going to lose momentum.

00:38:40.418 --> 00:38:49.465
Result the Senate and this whole effort was just going to lose momentum and the decision by the GOP leadership was made to move past the trial as fast as possible and focus on other legislative business.

00:38:51.688 --> 00:38:52.288
How do we know?

00:38:52.288 --> 00:38:57.213
Because senators themselves have written the books.

00:38:57.213 --> 00:39:09.010
In his book, passion for the Truth, from finding JFK's single bullet to questioning Anita Hill, to impeaching Clinton.

00:39:09.010 --> 00:39:13.539
Then Senator Arlen Specter wrote a book in 2000.

00:39:13.539 --> 00:39:16.007
He was a GOP senator.

00:39:16.007 --> 00:39:23.880
He recounts his unique quote not proven vote that he found, under Scottish law, equivalent to acquittal.

00:39:23.880 --> 00:39:32.139
He argued that the prosecution failed to meet the high burden of truth proof for removal and that the process was overly partisan.

00:39:32.139 --> 00:39:40.099
Specter ultimately voted not proven in the second impeachment article, citing insufficient evidence.

00:39:40.099 --> 00:39:42.429
Impeachment article citing insufficient evidence.

00:39:42.429 --> 00:39:55.128
Now, specter was known for his supporting of abortion rights and bipartisan deals, and he later switched to the Democratic Party in 2009.

00:39:55.148 --> 00:39:58.293
But just one question needs to be asked of the senator Did you visit the room with the evidence in it?

00:39:58.293 --> 00:39:59.315
Mr Senator?

00:39:59.315 --> 00:40:01.458
His answer would be.

00:40:01.458 --> 00:40:05.394
No, he did not visit the room with the evidence in it.

00:40:05.394 --> 00:40:08.932
Let's keep going to another senator.

00:40:08.932 --> 00:40:15.516
In his book Herding Cats A Life in Politics by Trent Lott, written in 2005,.

00:40:15.516 --> 00:40:26.795
Lott, the Mississippi Senate Majority Leader during the trial, describes his role in negotiating a bipartisan agreement with the Democrats and Tom Daschle as the minority leader.

00:40:26.795 --> 00:40:39.239
He wanted a streamlined process without live witnesses, portraying it as a pragmatic leadership amid the chaos of then Washington DC.

00:40:39.239 --> 00:40:45.961
He defends this as a necessary consensus-building effort.

00:40:45.961 --> 00:40:59.067
He directly countered David Shipper's accusation of Republican timidity and poll-driven avoidance of a full trial On Article 1 perjury before a grand jury.

00:40:59.067 --> 00:41:29.795
Lott voted actually guilty to convict Clinton, joining 49 other senators all Republicans and a 50 to 50 vote, also short of the required 67 votes.

00:41:29.795 --> 00:41:41.396
But again, let's ask the most important question and which is the theme throughout this whole mess Senator Lott, did you visit the evidence room?

00:41:41.396 --> 00:41:46.030
Did you do your due diligence in examining that evidence?

00:41:46.030 --> 00:41:49.898
And no, would have been his reply.

00:41:49.898 --> 00:42:17.860
And then just one more follow-up question as Senate GOP majority leader, do you think, sir, as the leader, it was your job to constitutionally go and visit and examine the evidence for yourself, to then explain the power of that evidence to your GOP colleagues and to other conservative senators, especially conservative Democrat senators.

00:42:17.860 --> 00:42:21.233
I'm sure the answer would have been crickets.

00:42:21.233 --> 00:42:27.235
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott did not visit the evidence room.

00:42:27.235 --> 00:42:31.085
And then just one final senator to examine.

00:42:31.085 --> 00:42:37.559
In his book, my Declaration of Independence, by James M Jeffords, written in 2001,.

00:42:37.559 --> 00:42:53.007
Jeffords, a then Vermont GOP senator, explains his acquittal vote on both articles as opposition to what he saw as excessive GOP partisanship and an overreaching in pursuing impeachment for personal misconduct.

00:42:53.007 --> 00:43:09.702
He frames the events as a low part, a low point for the party, and it contributed later to his defection to an independent status and ultimately to leaving the Senate.

00:43:09.702 --> 00:43:17.815
Just one question needs to be asked of the Senator again Did you visit, sir, the room with the evidence in it?

00:43:17.815 --> 00:43:19.628
And no would have been his answer.

00:43:19.628 --> 00:43:21.737
He did not visit the room with the evidence in it and no would have been his answer.

00:43:21.737 --> 00:43:24.226
He did not visit the room with the evidence in it.

00:43:24.226 --> 00:43:29.777
Let's continue on with our threes and to the third strike.

00:43:32.804 --> 00:43:38.072
Things then moved quickly as Hyde and some managers worked to secure concessions from the Senate.

00:43:38.072 --> 00:43:51.827
Hyde initially told the house managers that they would have three to four days for the entire Senate trial and to speed things up, they worked to shorten the number of witnesses.

00:43:51.827 --> 00:44:00.894
In their testimonies Shippers talks about, he offered proofs for each witnesses which are summaries of their answers that they had given at trial.

00:44:00.894 --> 00:44:13.231
He wanted these offers presented to the Senate in open session to make the evidence public even if the witnesses were themselves not called.

00:44:13.231 --> 00:44:23.802
And at one point Hyde told us that Senator Lott doubted he could get 51 votes needed to call the witnesses.

00:44:23.802 --> 00:44:26.954
House Manager Rogan was frustrated.

00:44:26.954 --> 00:44:29.273
Henry, they got 55 votes over there.

00:44:29.273 --> 00:44:39.434
But Senator Lott warned some Republicans that they might defect upset, that we would be asking for too many witnesses.

00:44:39.434 --> 00:44:51.556
And in response Congressman Barr, house Manager Barr, said let those Republican senators stand before the public and God and explain why they don't think we should prove our case.

00:44:51.556 --> 00:44:54.445
Let them go back to their states and justify it.

00:44:55.847 --> 00:45:11.282
And despite all the horse trading, the trial officially began on January 7th 1999, with the Chief Justice of the United States entering the Senate and each senator taking a solemn vow to do equal and impartial justice.

00:45:11.282 --> 00:45:13.891
Let's pick up the book there.

00:45:13.891 --> 00:45:21.998
As I watched the ceremony on TV with my staff, I had tears in my eyes and I think everybody else did too.

00:45:21.998 --> 00:45:27.217
One by one, the senators walked down to the well of the Senate and signed the oath.

00:45:27.217 --> 00:45:32.076
When I left our office, a journalist asked me what do you think the Senate will do?

00:45:32.076 --> 00:45:40.378
Come on, I just watched each one of them take a solemn oath to do equal and impartial justice.

00:45:40.378 --> 00:45:46.206
I hope they'll do it.

00:45:46.206 --> 00:45:47.349
The reporters just rolled their eyes.

00:45:47.349 --> 00:45:49.653
I suppose, being from Chicago, I should have known better.

00:45:49.653 --> 00:45:56.195
But I believe those senators were sincere in their oath and their commitment to the Constitution.

00:45:56.195 --> 00:46:11.041
Sure, I felt that there were probably some 15 Republicans in the Senate who would vote guilty even without evidence and 15 Democrats who would vote not guilty even if we had a videotape of Clinton killing somebody.

00:46:11.041 --> 00:46:15.648
But I trusted the other 70 senators to vote their consciences.

00:46:18.110 --> 00:46:26.918
When the Senate voted 100 to 0 on a procedure for impeachment, reality began to take hold.

00:46:26.918 --> 00:46:42.344
When I heard the vote, I turned to Hyde and said when that gang votes 100 to nothing for anything, we're in trouble.

00:46:42.344 --> 00:46:47.983
Chairman Hyde responded yeah, I think you're right.

00:46:47.983 --> 00:46:53.288
The next day we were all called to a meeting in Lott's conference room.

00:46:53.288 --> 00:47:01.393
We went over there flat out, hat in hand, begging to get leadership's backing to put on the case, because until then we had been clobbered, and not just by Democrats.

00:47:01.393 --> 00:47:08.938
The Republicans had simply been holding the Democrats coats, just standing by, nothing doing shortcake.

00:47:10.668 --> 00:47:16.157
On our side were Rogan these are house managers Rogan, hutchison, brian and Hyde.

00:47:16.157 --> 00:47:26.380
On their side, senators Domenici, stevens, thompson, rod Grahams of Minnesota, james Inhofe of Oklahoma and Robert Bennett of Utah.

00:47:26.380 --> 00:47:31.536
Hyde said Senator, we're really begging of you to go to bat for us.

00:47:31.536 --> 00:47:35.034
We'd like to put some evidence on and live witnesses.

00:47:35.034 --> 00:47:37.753
The American people have not seen what we've got.

00:47:37.753 --> 00:47:41.490
All you've seen is the public documents.

00:47:41.490 --> 00:47:47.190
Domenici replied Henry, you know, if we ask too much we'll get nothing.

00:47:47.190 --> 00:47:49.797
We have to be bipartisan on this.

00:47:49.797 --> 00:47:56.114
There was that word again, bipartisan, as in appeasement.

00:47:56.114 --> 00:47:58.938
Then Senator Stevens chimed in.

00:47:58.938 --> 00:48:07.173
You know you need 51 votes for each and every one of these witnesses and if you don't get 51 votes we're going to look totally silly.

00:48:07.173 --> 00:48:09.179
The Democrats will beat us.

00:48:09.179 --> 00:48:11.070
We'll lose on preliminary matters.

00:48:11.070 --> 00:48:13.155
This will set the stage for everything.

00:48:13.155 --> 00:48:13.916
We'll look goofy.

00:48:13.916 --> 00:48:23.213
I kept wondering where these men had gone to school, or maybe they just missed math class the day it was explained that 55 is greater than 51.

00:48:23.213 --> 00:48:27.539
House manager Rogan exploded again.

00:48:27.539 --> 00:48:29.822
You've got 55 senators.

00:48:29.822 --> 00:48:38.469
Put it to the floor, put it to the vote or, better yet, caucus your senators and find out if we can get 51 of them to vote for live witnesses.

00:48:38.469 --> 00:48:46.541
If there is any witness that you can't pick up 51 votes for, we won't ask for that witness.

00:48:46.541 --> 00:48:50.411
And here's the real kicker.

00:48:50.411 --> 00:48:59.085
Here's where we get to the ultimate root of the issue, the core of the GOP leadership problem in 1999.

00:49:00.027 --> 00:49:05.447
Going back to the book, the conversation then turned to Monica Lewinsky.

00:49:05.447 --> 00:49:18.157
We volunteered to put our material into executive session so that it would not be public, but at least then the senators could make an informed judgment about what to do with it.

00:49:18.157 --> 00:49:24.992
One of the senators asked you want the senators to spend their time going over documents that you've already gone over?

00:49:24.992 --> 00:49:28.579
Rogan replied absolutely, we did.

00:49:28.579 --> 00:49:29.927
Why don't you?

00:49:29.927 --> 00:49:34.938
How else can you reach a rational decision on guilt or innocence?

00:49:36.505 --> 00:49:38.891
The argument went on, with Senator Stevens getting mad.

00:49:38.891 --> 00:49:42.277
He said Henry, we're just trying to prevent you from embarrassing yourself.

00:49:42.277 --> 00:49:49.838
Senator Hyde responded remember, we'd like to bring over all the evidence.

00:49:49.838 --> 00:49:53.250
Stevens cut Hyde off.

00:49:53.250 --> 00:49:57.032
Henry, come on, you want to put all this stuff in.

00:49:57.032 --> 00:49:58.811
You want to spend all this time?

00:49:58.811 --> 00:50:00.833
You want to go through this dog and pony show?

00:50:00.833 --> 00:50:05.516
There's no way you're going to get 67 votes over here, no matter what you do.

00:50:06.925 --> 00:50:07.987
Hyde didn't give up.

00:50:07.987 --> 00:50:17.679
He told the senators the committee had evidence to indicate that the president had actually committed a brutal assault of another woman, though he didn't identify her.

00:50:17.679 --> 00:50:20.847
He was referring to a woman in Arkansas named Juanita Broderick.

00:50:20.847 --> 00:50:30.135
We had no intention of bringing that evidence before the Senate, but this was Hyde's way of saying look, you don't know everything we have.

00:50:30.135 --> 00:50:38.802
And that's when Senator Stevens said Henry, I don't care if you prove he raped a woman and then stood up and shot her dead.

00:50:38.802 --> 00:50:47.224
You're not going to get 67 votes.

00:50:54.125 --> 00:50:54.284
Silence.

00:50:54.284 --> 00:50:54.806
I raised my hand.

00:50:54.806 --> 00:50:55.407
Senator, can I ask a question?

00:50:55.407 --> 00:50:59.594
I just watched 100 senators raise their right hand to God and to swear to do equal and impartial justice.

00:50:59.594 --> 00:51:07.516
I'm only a Democrat from Chicago, but are you telling me that the senators are going to ignore that oath?

00:51:07.516 --> 00:51:12.735
Also Without hesitation, he said you're damn right, they are.

00:51:12.735 --> 00:51:16.768
Then I said the system doesn't work.

00:51:16.768 --> 00:51:21.918
Not too loudly, but I'm sure they heard me.

00:51:21.918 --> 00:51:28.311
I sat down and they kept talking about how they would not tolerate the word sex on the Senate floor.

00:51:28.311 --> 00:51:34.755
Again, our people promised that the word would not be used in the well of the Senate and they had no answer for that.

00:51:36.646 --> 00:51:40.315
After the meeting the House managers went back to Hyde's office and shook their heads.

00:51:40.315 --> 00:51:44.324
After the meeting the House managers went back to Hyde's office and shook their heads.

00:51:44.324 --> 00:51:49.248
Later they learned the Senate would only allow the House managers to use publicly available evidence.

00:51:49.248 --> 00:51:54.414
And another deal just gave them three witnesses, but they would not get the live testimony they wanted.

00:51:54.414 --> 00:51:58.000
So there was three meetings and three strikes and they were out.

00:52:03.577 --> 00:52:05.164
The American people lost any type of justice.

00:52:05.164 --> 00:52:11.373
Shipper closes this chapter of the book with this quote Politicians, they say, care only about getting reelected.

00:52:11.373 --> 00:52:14.239
I found that didn't apply in the House.

00:52:14.239 --> 00:52:25.005
It didn't apply to the House managers.

00:52:25.005 --> 00:52:26.467
It didn't apply to the Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee.

00:52:26.467 --> 00:52:27.987
They did what justice demanded without thinking about re-election.

00:52:28.007 --> 00:52:28.588
Then I came to the US Senate.

00:52:28.588 --> 00:52:29.929
It was pathetic and sickening.

00:52:29.929 --> 00:52:39.235
They would break each other's backs to get in front of a camera and announce how they'd vote before they'd even look at a word of our evidence.

00:52:39.235 --> 00:52:44.059
I was disenchanted, disgusted and, frankly, ashamed.

00:52:44.059 --> 00:52:57.864
I told my staff at the time that the public has to know what the Senate did and that I don't know how the American people could see this and not be outraged.

00:52:57.864 --> 00:53:10.237
As I said, a first ward election from Chicago, rigged all the way A year earlier, almost to the day, I would have never guessed I would be so disillusioned by my government.

00:53:10.237 --> 00:53:22.536
To summarize, the impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton was ultimately undermined by the Senate GOP leadership who completely sold out the process.

00:53:22.536 --> 00:53:35.798
Their lack of resolve was staggering Spines of straw, I would say, but on the House side, that they were all aware of this time.

00:53:35.798 --> 00:53:38.931
And who sold out who?

00:53:38.931 --> 00:53:42.253
For me, this marked a turning point.

00:53:42.253 --> 00:53:45.414
It became clear that my time in the Capitol was coming to an end.

00:53:45.414 --> 00:53:48.233
The rampant corruption was undeniable.

00:53:48.233 --> 00:53:51.414
It permeated the whole entire city.

00:53:51.414 --> 00:53:55.065
I was disgusted by the Senate Republicans in particular.

00:53:55.065 --> 00:54:05.972
They showed a complete lack of any backbone and the stench of the political decay was everywhere and I just knew I had to leave.

00:54:07.876 --> 00:54:12.289
As we wrap up this segment of our podcast, I wanted to share something deeply meaningful to me.

00:54:12.289 --> 00:54:16.398
It's been hanging on my wall for the past 25 years.

00:54:16.398 --> 00:54:18.429
It's a framed picture that I created.

00:54:18.429 --> 00:54:23.086
It features a cover of the weekly standard from the week of the pivotal vote.

00:54:23.086 --> 00:54:32.971
It shows Congressman Henry Hyde with the words alongside his face, the good fight Beneath it.

00:54:32.971 --> 00:54:41.197
I included his final words, delivered on the floor of the Senate, which I photocopied from the congressional record and carefully framed with the image.

00:54:41.197 --> 00:54:46.476
I'd like to read those powerful parting words from Congressman Hyde.

00:54:47.036 --> 00:54:55.005
Now, these are not trivial matters, these are not partisan matters.

00:54:55.005 --> 00:55:01.858
These are matters of justice, the justice that each of you has taken as a solemn oath to serve in this trial.

00:55:01.858 --> 00:55:05.570
Some of us have been called Clinton haters.

00:55:05.570 --> 00:55:16.378
I must tell you, distinguished senators, that this impeachment is not, for those of us from the House, a question of hating anyone.

00:55:16.378 --> 00:55:21.034
This is not a question of who we hate.

00:55:21.034 --> 00:55:31.096
It is a question of what we love, and among the things we love are the rule of law, equal justice before the law, and honor in our public life.

00:55:31.096 --> 00:55:38.434
All of us are trying as hard as we can to do our duty, as we see it, no more and no less.

00:55:40.097 --> 00:55:42.922
Senators, this trial is being watched around the world.

00:55:42.922 --> 00:55:50.896
Some of those watching, thinking themselves superior in their cynicism, wonder what it is all about.

00:55:50.896 --> 00:55:52.425
But others know.

00:55:52.425 --> 00:56:01.340
Political prisoners know that this is about the rule of law, the great alternative to arbitrary and unchecked state power.

00:56:01.340 --> 00:56:13.246
The families of executed dissidents know that this is about the rule of law, the great alternative to lethal abuse of power by the state.

00:56:13.246 --> 00:56:28.706
Those yearning for freedom know that this is about the rule of law, the hard-won structure by which men and women can live by their God-given dignity and secure their God-given rights in ways that serve the common good.

00:56:28.706 --> 00:56:34.036
If they know this, can we not know it?

00:56:34.036 --> 00:56:47.195
If across the river in Arlington Cemetery there are American heroes who died in defense of the rule of law, can we give no less than the full measure of our devotion to that great cause?

00:56:47.195 --> 00:57:06.394
I wish to read a letter I recently received that expresses my feelings far better than my poor words and here the photocopy cut off, so I will skip that part by Bobby Summers and continue on with Chairman Hyde's words.

00:57:07.840 --> 00:57:16.273
Mr Chief Justice and Senators, on June 6, 1994, it was the 50th anniversary of the Americans landing at Normandy.

00:57:16.273 --> 00:57:39.744
I went ashore at Normandy, walked up to the cemetery area where, as far as the eye could see, there were white crosses, stars of David and the British, had a bagpipe band scattered among the crucifixes, the crosses playing Amazing Grace with that peaceful, mournful sound that only the bagpipe can make.

00:57:39.744 --> 00:57:43.952
If you could keep your eyes dry, you were better than I.

00:57:43.952 --> 00:57:51.882
But I walked to one of those crosses marking a grave because I wanted to personalize the experience.

00:57:51.882 --> 00:58:00.588
I was looking for a name, but there was no name it said, here lies, in honored glory, a comrade in arms, known but to God.

00:58:00.588 --> 00:58:05.891
How do we keep faith with that comrade in arms?

00:58:05.891 --> 00:58:23.842
Well, go to the Vietnam Memorial on the National Mall and press your hands against a few of the 58,000 names carved into that wall and ask yourself how can we redeem the debt we owe all those who purchased our freedom with their lives?

00:58:23.842 --> 00:58:26.467
How do we keep the faith with them?

00:58:26.467 --> 00:58:46.960
I think I know we work to make this country the kind of America they were willing to die for, that is, an America where the idea of sacred honor still has the power to stir men's souls.

00:58:46.960 --> 00:58:54.190
My solitary, solitary hope is that 100 years from today, people will look back at what we have done and say they kept the faith.

00:58:54.190 --> 00:58:59.902
I'm done.

00:58:59.902 --> 00:59:07.586
The chief justice says to, the chair is recognized and the majority leader stands.

00:59:07.586 --> 00:59:15.152
He adjourns the Senate until 930 am, tuesday, january 19, 1999.

00:59:15.152 --> 00:59:20.456
And I think you know how the story ends.

00:59:28.039 --> 00:59:32.867
On February 12, 1999, the Senate voted on two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, perjury before a grand jury and obstruction of justice.

00:59:32.867 --> 00:59:38.215
Both articles failed to secure the two thirds majority 67 votes required for conviction.

00:59:38.215 --> 00:59:43.931
The key Republican senators who voted against conviction on article.

00:59:43.931 --> 00:59:52.572
One were, and I'm I want to name the GOP cowards because they should be read.

00:59:52.572 --> 01:00:06.791
They are specter of Pennsylvania who voted not proven effectively the acquittal on both impeachment articles, citing insufficient evidence.

01:00:06.791 --> 01:00:12.572
Next is Chafee of Rhode Island voted to acquit on both articles.

01:00:12.572 --> 01:00:15.010
Jeffords of Vermont voted to acquit on both articles.

01:00:15.010 --> 01:00:16.599
Jeffords of Vermont voted to acquit on both articles.

01:00:16.599 --> 01:00:21.411
Snow of Maine voted to acquit on both articles.

01:00:21.411 --> 01:00:25.460
Collins of Maine voted to acquit on both articles.

01:00:25.460 --> 01:00:39.182
Gordon of Washington voted to acquit on perjury article but voted to convict on obstruction article but voted to convict on obstruction.

01:00:39.182 --> 01:00:42.690
And Stevens of Alaska voted to acquit on perjury but convicted on, voted to convict on obstruction.

01:00:44.014 --> 01:00:45.958
And how about those conservative Democrats?

01:00:45.958 --> 01:00:47.603
Where were they on all of this?

01:00:47.603 --> 01:00:48.585
Any of them?

01:00:48.585 --> 01:00:51.233
Did any of them stand up for the Constitution?

01:00:51.233 --> 01:01:06.835
Those vaunted conservative Democrats, often Southern enroll senators that were aligned with Republicans on issues like fiscal restraint and gun rights and defense and social conservatism?

01:01:06.835 --> 01:01:09.025
Yes, those senators.

01:01:09.025 --> 01:01:10.510
How did they vote?

01:01:10.510 --> 01:01:14.307
They voted in block.

01:01:14.307 --> 01:01:18.230
All 45 Democrats voted to acquit Clinton.

01:01:18.230 --> 01:01:44.804
They were the following Breaux of Louisiana, wendell Ford of Kentucky, bob Graham of Florida, max Cleland of Georgia, ernest Hollings of South Carolina and Robert Byrd of West Virginia.

01:01:44.804 --> 01:01:47.847
Now, robert Byrd was the senior senator from West Virginia.

01:01:47.847 --> 01:01:54.576
He had conservative views on cultural issues and constitutional matters and fiscal discipline.

01:01:54.576 --> 01:02:03.748
But on this day he was a staunch defender of Clinton during the impeachment and he framed it as a constitutional overreach.

01:02:03.748 --> 01:02:19.766
And that was really rich, because he would go on and on in the well of the Senate with these lengthy constitutional discourses and he appeared to be so smart.

01:02:19.766 --> 01:02:21.391
And yet he was a fraud.

01:02:21.391 --> 01:02:27.713
When, given the opportunity to stand up for the Constitution, he folded like a cheap tent.

01:02:37.559 --> 01:02:42.853
And again, the only question to ask of any US Senator during the trial of William Jefferson Clinton is this question did you visit the room with the evidence in it?

01:02:42.853 --> 01:02:46.289
And no would have been their answer.

01:02:46.289 --> 01:02:58.389
None of them visited the room with the evidence in it, which begs the question was the evidence kept under lock and seal that effective?

01:02:58.389 --> 01:03:05.547
Here's your answers, going back to the book, before we begin to examine the evidence.

01:03:05.547 --> 01:03:06.992
I had the secure room.

01:03:06.992 --> 01:03:13.704
I had the room secured and our offices swept for possible electronic surveillance instruments, commonly called bugs.

01:03:13.704 --> 01:03:15.646
Offices swept for possible electronic surveillance instruments, commonly called bugs.

01:03:15.646 --> 01:03:27.934
In addition, not one sensitive conversation was held in a room with windows facing the street, since parabolic microphones outside could pick up the discussion With security concerns out of the way.

01:03:27.934 --> 01:03:29.936
We read every single piece of evidence.

01:03:29.936 --> 01:03:32.617
The review took approximately two weeks.

01:03:32.617 --> 01:03:36.782
This was the most intense part of our work.

01:03:36.782 --> 01:03:38.166
It was seven days a week, 14 to 16 hours a day.

01:03:38.166 --> 01:03:48.789
One day I was told that a Democratic congressman went into the Democrats' private room with Minority Special Counsel Abby Lowell.

01:03:48.789 --> 01:03:55.251
At one point the congressman blurted out my God, this is indefensible.

01:03:55.251 --> 01:03:57.728
The man is a perjurer, a liar.

01:03:57.728 --> 01:03:59.465
He's obstructing justice.

01:03:59.465 --> 01:04:01.266
How can we defend him?

01:04:01.266 --> 01:04:08.333
That Democratic congressman, like all the rest, voted against impeachment.

01:04:08.333 --> 01:04:18.534
So that was on the House side, before the House managers were to present their evidence to the Senate in the trial.

01:04:18.534 --> 01:04:23.731
So how did the US senators handle the evidence?

01:04:23.731 --> 01:04:28.592
Let's go to page 262 at the top for that quote.

01:04:28.592 --> 01:04:36.873
The managers then invited the senators over to the Ford building to view the evidence and question my staff.

01:04:36.873 --> 01:04:59.490
That move had worked in the House and the managers hoped it would work in the Senate, but it turned out that, as the sign-in sheets revealed, not one single senator took the time to review the evidence that we were clamoring clamoring to present openly to this day.

01:04:59.490 --> 01:05:01.367
I find that appalling.

01:05:01.367 --> 01:05:15.768
And again, that was two quotes from our wonderful book of the week sellout by David Chippers the inside story of president Clinton's Impeachment.

01:05:15.768 --> 01:05:23.813
So three meetings, three strikes and justice is out and the rule of law is out.

01:05:25.101 --> 01:05:35.653
Now, if you want two good books to complement this book of the week by David Chippers, I would recommend Catching Our Flag Behind the Scenes of Presidential Impeachment by House Manager Joe Rogan.

01:05:35.653 --> 01:05:37.608
It was written in 2011.

01:05:37.608 --> 01:05:49.056
It is a detailed memoir of Rogan's time as a House manager and his time during the impeachment process.

01:05:49.056 --> 01:06:00.916
He highlights the compelling evidence against President Clinton while expressing deep frustration over the Senate's shortened trial and its refusal to call crucial witnesses, especially Monica Lewinsky.

01:06:00.916 --> 01:06:14.472
Rogan's perspective aligns with our Book of the Week as a critique of the Senate, accusing it of cowardice and prioritizing political expedience over law.

01:06:16.400 --> 01:06:25.110
And another book is the Meaning of Is the Squandered Impeachment and Wasted Legacy of William Jefferson Clinton by Bob Barr in 2004.

01:06:25.110 --> 01:06:33.014
Bob Barr was a Georgia congressman and a key figure and house manager in initiating Clinton's impeachment.

01:06:33.014 --> 01:06:39.427
He provides a scathing critique of the president's actions, including corruption, hypocrisy and perjury.

01:06:39.427 --> 01:06:46.253
He famously references Clinton's what is the meaning of is is remark.

01:06:46.253 --> 01:06:57.289
He condemns Republican GOP leaders for limiting the scope of the impeachment and accuses the Senate of orchestrating a trial designed to avoid a full examination of the evidence.

01:06:57.289 --> 01:07:07.213
Barr's account mirrors closely our book of the week lamenting a bipartisan failure to uphold justice in the integrity of the process.

01:07:08.480 --> 01:07:30.764
Now, ultimately, my stance is this To all the US senators If you took the time to go to the Ford building and thoroughly review the evidence and listen to the testimony, albeit abridged due to the lack of courage to hold a full and fair trial, if you still found yourself unable to vote for impeachment, I can understand that.

01:07:30.764 --> 01:07:31.545
I get it.

01:07:31.545 --> 01:07:36.695
You would have given it your all and you would have did the very best you could.

01:07:36.695 --> 01:07:42.512
The trial being cut short was a complete travesty of justice.

01:07:42.512 --> 01:07:46.449
No live witnesses, no proper examination of the facts.

01:07:46.449 --> 01:07:49.208
It was just truly unjust.

01:07:49.208 --> 01:08:06.934
And for each senator avoiding to step foot in the evidence room and yet still claim to vote based on their conscience is deeply troubling and, frankly, I'm sorry, it's unconscionable.

01:08:06.934 --> 01:08:13.063
Plain and simple, those that voted no were cowards.

01:08:13.063 --> 01:08:23.492
All right, let's talk some books and books and more books.

01:08:23.492 --> 01:08:25.912
We have some doozies.

01:08:26.793 --> 01:08:37.886
Selena Zito, a great reporter, has written a book came out in July, so I missed it by a little bit Butler, the untold story of the near assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America's Heartland.

01:08:37.886 --> 01:08:41.140
Selena Zito, a very good reporter.

01:08:41.140 --> 01:08:45.313
I've read her before and this book is all about.

01:08:45.313 --> 01:08:47.739
She was actually in the front row.

01:08:47.739 --> 01:08:54.471
She was supposed to interview Trump after the rally.

01:08:54.471 --> 01:09:05.332
She was supposed to board a plane and I think they were going back to to Bentminster in New Jersey and she was supposed to interview the president from the Butler Farm showgrounds.

01:09:05.332 --> 01:09:17.560
But she was only four feet away from the presidential podium when the bullets started to fly and a campaign staffer tracked her down on the ground and obviously survived.

01:09:17.560 --> 01:09:25.666
But I think she ends up talking to Trump by phone several times throughout the rest of that day and this is her book.

01:09:25.666 --> 01:09:27.487
She's also written another book.

01:09:27.487 --> 01:09:28.645
She's written several books.

01:09:28.645 --> 01:09:34.251
Rush Limbaugh turned me on to her before he passed the great revolt.

01:09:34.251 --> 01:09:35.012
That's what it is.

01:09:35.012 --> 01:09:36.458
I've read the Great Revolt.

01:09:36.458 --> 01:09:48.645
It was all about Northeastern Ohio and Northwestern Pennsylvania and those counties that went for Trump in 2016.

01:09:48.645 --> 01:09:50.530
Fascinating book.

01:09:50.530 --> 01:09:55.301
I thought she did a really good reporting and that was the book that turned me on to her.

01:09:55.301 --> 01:10:00.109
So I highly recommend the Great Revolt to understand the 2016 election too.

01:10:01.172 --> 01:10:12.606
Moving on to our next book, sam Tannenhaus released a book back in June I missed, but Buckley the Life and Revolution that Changed America.

01:10:12.606 --> 01:10:25.015
Obviously, william Buckley, very strong in the conservative movement, essentially kind of resurrected it in the mid-50s with his publication of God and man at Yale.

01:10:25.015 --> 01:10:28.158
But this is a very long book.

01:10:28.158 --> 01:10:44.617
If you don't like long books, this is not going to be a friend of yours 1,040 pages and the audible clocks in at a strong 31 hours and 39 minutes, but not sure if I'll get through to this book.

01:10:44.617 --> 01:10:48.430
There's actually another Buckley biography.

01:10:48.430 --> 01:10:49.152
Let me find that.

01:10:49.152 --> 01:10:56.530
Oh, yes, here it is American Impresario by Lawrence Perlman.

01:10:56.530 --> 01:11:07.300
Now, lawrence Perlman was an 18-year-old aspiring pianist and a son of Soviet Jewish immigrants, and he wrote a letter to William Buckley, the conservative icon, in 1994.

01:11:07.300 --> 01:11:22.417
And this is their friendship From 1995 to February 27, 2008, the day Buckley passed away in his Connecticut home while Pearlman practiced piano in a nearby room for a private recital that evening.

01:11:22.417 --> 01:11:26.530
For Buckley and friends, that, unfortunately, would never happen.

01:11:26.530 --> 01:11:28.807
So this book is being released.

01:11:28.807 --> 01:11:30.867
Oh, it was March.

01:11:30.867 --> 01:11:33.547
I thought it was March of 2026.

01:11:33.547 --> 01:11:35.345
It's March of 2025.

01:11:35.345 --> 01:11:39.128
It's already out, clock's in at a short six hours 11 minutes.

01:11:39.128 --> 01:11:43.206
And this year, 2025,.

01:11:43.206 --> 01:11:49.550
2025 is the 100th, and this is the 100th anniversary of William Buckley's birth.

01:11:49.550 --> 01:11:52.466
So that's why many books are coming out.

01:11:52.466 --> 01:11:53.289
So check that out.

01:11:53.289 --> 01:11:54.466
American Persario, impersario William F Buckley Jr.

01:11:54.466 --> 01:11:55.292
So that's why many books are coming out.

01:11:55.292 --> 01:11:55.675
So check that out.

01:11:55.675 --> 01:12:01.934
American persario, impresario william f buckley jr, in the elements of american character by lawrence perlman.

01:12:02.716 --> 01:12:15.293
Let's go to our final segment, finishing with flourishing as always.

01:12:15.293 --> 01:12:17.315
Let's open it up with our quote of the day.

01:12:17.315 --> 01:12:28.500
In a study of 90 leaders from a variety of fields, leadership experts Warren Bennis and Bert Nannis made a discovery about the relationship between growth and leadership.

01:12:28.500 --> 01:12:32.027
It is the capacity to develop and improve their skills.

01:12:32.027 --> 01:12:35.314
That distinguishes leaders from their followers.

01:12:35.314 --> 01:12:42.573
Successful leaders are learners and the learning process is ongoing, a result of self-discipline and perseverance.

01:12:43.239 --> 01:12:48.472
The goal each day must be to get a little better, to build on the previous day's progress.

01:12:48.472 --> 01:12:56.654
The problem is that most people overestimate the importance of events and underestimate the power of process.

01:12:56.654 --> 01:13:05.814
We want quick fixes, we want the compounding effect that Ann Scheiber received over 50 years, but we want it in 50 minutes.

01:13:05.814 --> 01:13:07.664
Don't get me wrong.

01:13:07.664 --> 01:13:08.587
I appreciate events.

01:13:08.587 --> 01:13:11.301
They can be effective catalyst.

01:13:11.301 --> 01:13:18.425
They can be effective catalyst, but if you want lasting improvement, if you want power, then rely on process.

01:13:18.425 --> 01:13:22.926
If I need to be inspired to take steps forward, then I'll attend an event.

01:13:22.926 --> 01:13:27.488
If I want to improve, then I'll engage in a process and stick with it.

01:13:27.488 --> 01:13:39.595
And that is the law of process and the goal is to get a little better each and every day, building on yesterday's progress.

01:13:39.595 --> 01:13:59.561
Just like we talked about midweek on chop wood, carry water, the process is where you get better.

01:13:59.561 --> 01:14:02.248
The process is the small, mundane, unsexy little things that we do each and every day that gives us that compounding effect.

01:14:02.269 --> 01:14:11.882
Compounding effect we've reviewed for the Academy Review and similar to the Slight Edge, another great book that we've reviewed for the Academy, for the Mojo Academy.

01:14:11.882 --> 01:14:13.326
Check out both of those.

01:14:13.326 --> 01:14:16.212
If you're a member, check out both of those books.

01:14:16.212 --> 01:14:21.006
If you're not a member, please click on the top right to find out more about the details.

01:14:21.006 --> 01:14:24.707
On our membership page, tmojoacademycom top right.

01:14:24.707 --> 01:14:38.082
Click on that button and you will get all the details to become an Academy member Mojo Academy member and we got over 50 books in there, so certainly worthwhile checking out.

01:14:38.101 --> 01:14:42.551
But getting back to this nugget of wisdom, how is your commitment to the process?

01:14:42.551 --> 01:14:48.890
What's the one thing you can do more today that would be a positive impact in your life?

01:14:48.890 --> 01:14:56.313
What's the one thing you need to stop doing to help you optimize your process and flourish?

01:14:56.313 --> 01:15:01.525
That's our flourishing segment.

01:15:01.525 --> 01:15:05.654
Finishing with flourishing segment, because we all need to be lifelong learners.

01:15:05.654 --> 01:15:08.068
We learned that in Chop Wood, carry Water.

01:15:08.068 --> 01:15:16.895
We all need to take ownership of how to get better in our respective fields, whether that's our professional lives, our family lives, our spiritual lives, our personal lives.

01:15:16.895 --> 01:15:19.988
Lifelong learning is the first step.

01:15:19.988 --> 01:15:23.189
It's one of the crucial pillars to living a flourishing life.

01:15:23.189 --> 01:15:26.604
So let's begin today to read a book.

01:15:26.604 --> 01:15:31.341
Read a book brief, listen to a course, listen to a book.

01:15:31.341 --> 01:15:37.953
Study the old school way by taking notes something, anything, just to get 1% better.

01:15:37.953 --> 01:15:49.113
Flourishing happens when we become lifelong learners, and becoming a lifelong learner happens when we chop wood and carry water, like we learned about last week.

01:15:49.113 --> 01:15:54.853
Let's continue to chop wood and carry water and learn something today.

01:15:54.853 --> 01:16:04.051
So that is today's show, the Theory to Action Weekend show.

01:16:04.051 --> 01:16:07.189
We hope you are enjoying this new format and our new segments.

01:16:07.189 --> 01:16:16.805
We're trying to pack more flourishing and more content in and give you more nuggets of wisdom to help you get more knowledge and more wisdom in less time.

01:16:16.805 --> 01:16:18.567
Be sure to text me with any feedback.

01:16:18.567 --> 01:16:20.667
Text link is in the show notes.

01:16:20.667 --> 01:16:25.032
We would love to know what you are thinking of our new format.

01:16:25.220 --> 01:16:28.126
What did you think of our book of the week, sellout, by David Shippers?

01:16:28.126 --> 01:16:32.692
I knew it was going to be long, but I thought it was oh so good.

01:16:32.692 --> 01:16:34.863
I thought it was going to be long, but I thought it was oh so good.

01:16:34.863 --> 01:16:39.614
I thought it was so good it almost became like an audible Mojo Academy review.

01:16:39.614 --> 01:16:47.029
So and I have to I have to ask did you think that President Clinton should have been impeached back then?

01:16:47.029 --> 01:16:55.413
Did I change your mind, or did you at least agree with me that the US senators back in 1999 should have leased?

01:16:55.413 --> 01:17:04.740
Went and respected the process and viewed the evidence in the Ford building Text me feedback.

01:17:04.740 --> 01:17:05.202
Let me know.

01:17:05.202 --> 01:17:09.792
Be sure to check out those new books that were coming out or just came out.

01:17:09.792 --> 01:17:11.904
Thank you for listening.

01:17:11.904 --> 01:17:19.100
We appreciate you greatly and, as always, keep flourishing and keep fighting the good fight.

01:17:49.497 --> 01:17:50.717
Thank you for joining us.

01:17:50.717 --> 01:17:54.091
We hope you enjoyed this Theory to Action podcast.

01:17:54.091 --> 01:18:03.268
Be sure to check out our show page at teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources.

01:18:03.268 --> 01:18:17.305
Until next time, keep getting your mojo on, thank you.