My reasoning is straightforward. The President has committed crimes and misdemeanors. While I respect judgments to the contrary, I have concluded that perjury in this instance has been committed, not only to protect the President from embarrassment, but to deny an American citizen due process under the law. It must be considered a high crime, one against the state. The fundamental issue is that no individual is above the law and that democratic governance depends on trust, which in turn depends on truth-saying.
Leadership is a conjunction of good ideas and good character.
One without the other is unsustainable. In America, process is our most important product. Winning does not vindicate taking shortcuts with public ethics, even if it can be suggested that others may have followed similar or less defensible paths. This is why lying under oath is so serious and why the President's refusal to acknowledge truthfully the factual circumstance that has been established so shatters the moral underpinnings of government. The fact that the President may face liabilities after he leaves office if he states the truth is no excuse for continued obfuscation.