IV
105TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. RES. 545
Impeaching Kenneth W. Starr, an independent counsel of the United States
appointed pursuant to 28 United States Code section 593(b), of high
crimes and misdemeanors.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 18, 1998
Mr. HASTINGS of Florida submitted the following resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
RESOLUTION
Impeaching Kenneth W. Starr, an independent counsel of
the United States appointed pursuant to 28 United
States Code section 593(b), of high crimes and mis-
demeanors.
Resolved, That Kenneth W. Starr, an independent
counsel of the United States of America, is impeached for
high crimes and misdemeanors, and that the following ar-
ticles of impeachment be exhibited to the Senate:
Articles of Impeachment exhibited by the House of
Representatives of the United States of America in the
name of itself and of all the people of the United States
of America, against Kenneth W. Starr, an independent
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counsel of the United States of America, in maintenance
and support of its impeachment against him for high
crimes and misdemeanors.
ARTICLE I
In his conduct of the office of independent counsel,
Kenneth W. Starr has violated his oath and his statutory
and constitutional duties as an officer of the United States
and has acted in ways that were calculated to and that
did usurp the sole power of impeachment that the Con-
stitution of the United States vests exclusively in the
House of Representatives and that were calculated to and
did obstruct and impede the House of Representatives in
the proper exercise of its sole power of impeachment. The
acts by which Independent Counsel Starr violated his du-
ties and attempted to and did usurp the sole power of im-
peachment and impede its proper exercise include:
(1) On September 9, 1998, Independent Coun-
sel Kenneth W. Starr transmitted two copies of a
‘‘Referral to the United States House of Representa-
tives pursuant to Title 28, United States Code,
§ 595(c).’’ As part of that Referral, Mr. Starr sub-
mitted a 445-page report (the ‘‘Starr Report’’) that
included an extended narration and analysis of evi-
dence presented to a grand jury and of other mate-
rial and that specified the grounds upon which Mr.
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Starr had concluded that a duly elected President of
the United States should be impeached by the House
of Representatives. By submitting the Starr Report,
Mr. Starr usurped the sole power of impeachment
and impeded the House in the proper exercise of
that power in various ways, including the following:
(a) In preparing the Starr Report, Mr.
Starr misused the powers granted and violated
the duties assigned independent counsel under
the provisions of Title 28 of the United States
Code. Section 595(c) does not authorize or re-
quire independent counsel to submit a report
narrating and analyzing the evidence and iden-
tifying the specific grounds on which independ-
ent counsel believes the House of Representa-
tives should impeach the President of the
United States. By submitting the Starr Report
in the form he did, Mr. Starr misused his pow-
ers and preempted the proper exercise of the
sole power of impeachment that the Constitu-
tion assigned to the House of Representatives.
Mr. Starr thereby committed a high crime and
misdemeanor against the Constitution and the
people of the United States of America.
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(b) In his preparation and submission of
the Starr Report, Mr. Starr further misused his
powers and violated his duties as independent
counsel and arrogated unto himself and effec-
tively preempted and undermined the proper ex-
ercise of power of impeachment that the Con-
stitution allocated exclusively to the House of
Representatives. Mr. Starr knew or should have
known, and he acted to assure, that the House
of Representatives would promptly release to
the public any report that he transmitted to the
House of Representatives under the authority
of Section 595(c). With that knowledge, Mr.
Starr prepared and transmitted a needlessly
pornographic report calculated to inflame public
opinion and to preclude the House of Rep-
resentatives from following the procedures and
observing the precedents it had established for
the conduct of a bipartisan inquiry to determine
whether a President of the United States had
committed a high crime or misdemeanor in of-
fice meriting impeachment. Mr. Starr thereby
committed a high crime and misdemeanor
against the Constitution and the people of the
United States.
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(2) Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr fur-
ther usurped and arrogated unto himself the powers
that belong solely to the House of Representatives
by using and threatening to use the subpoena pow-
ers of a federal grand jury to compel an incumbent
President of the United States to testify before a
federal grand jury as part of an investigation whose
primary purpose had become and was the develop-
ment of evidence that the President had committed
high crimes and misdemeanors justifying his im-
peachment and removal from Office. With respect to
the President of the United States, the only means
by which the holder of that office may be called to
account for his conduct in office is through the exer-
cise by the House of Representatives of the inves-
tigative powers that the constitutional assignment of
the sole power of impeachment conferred upon it.
Mr. Starr improperly used and manipulated the
powers of the grand jury and his office to effectively
impeach the President of the United States of Amer-
ica and force the House of Representatives to ratify
his decision. Mr. Starr thereby committed a high
crime and misdemeanor against the Constitution and
the people of the United States.
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In all of this, Kenneth W. Starr has acted in a man-
ner contrary to his trust as an independent counsel of the
United States and subversive of constitutional govern-
ment, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and jus-
tice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the United
States.
Wherefore Kenneth W. Starr, by such conduct, war-
rants impeachment and trial, and removal from office.
ARTICLE II
In his conduct of the office of independent counsel,
Kenneth W. Starr violated the oath he took to support
and defend the Constitution of the United States of Amer-
ica and his duties as an officer of the United States and
acted in ways that were calculated to and that did uncon-
stitutionally undermine the office of President of the
United States and obstruct, impede, and impair the ability
of an incumbent President of the United States to fully
and effectively discharge the duties and responsibilities of
his office on behalf and for the benefit of the people of
the United States of America, by whom he had been duly
elected. The acts by which Mr. Starr violated his oath and
his duties and undermined the office of President and ob-
structed, impeded, and impaired the ability of the incum-
bent President to fully and effectively discharge the duties
of that office include:
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(1) Mr. Starr unlawfully and improperly dis-
closed and authorized disclosures of grand jury ma-
terial for the purpose of embarrassing the President
of the United States and distracting him from and
impairing his ability to execute the duties of the of-
fice to which the people of the United States had
elected him. Mr. Starr has thereby committed high
crimes and misdemeanors against the Constitution
and people of the United States.
(2) Mr. Starr engaged in a wilful and persistent
course of conduct that was calculated to and that
did wrongfully demean, embarrass, and defame an
incumbent President of the United States and that
thereby undermined and impaired the President’s
ability to properly execute the duties of the office to
which the people of the United States had elected
him, including not only Mr. Starr’s wrongful disclo-
sures of grand jury material, but also other im-
proper conduct, such as his actions and conduct cal-
culated to suggest, without foundation, that the in-
cumbent President had participated in preparing a
so-called ‘‘talking points’’ outline to improperly in-
fluence the testimony of one or more persons sched-
uled to be deposed in a private civil action. By his
wilful and persistent conduct in misrepresenting as
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well as improperly disclosing evidence that he had
gathered, Mr. Starr committed high crimes and mis-
demeanors against the Constitution and the people
of the United States of America.
(3) Mr. Starr intentionally, wilfully, and im-
properly embarrassed the people and the President
of the United States by including in the Starr Re-
port an unnecessary and improper and extended de-
tailed, salacious, and pornographic narrative account
of the consensual sexual encounters that a grand
jury witness testified she had with the incumbent
President of the United States. By including that
unnecessary and improper pornographic narrative,
Mr. Starr intended to and did undermine and im-
peril the ability of the President to conduct the for-
eign relations of the United States of America and
otherwise to execute the duties of the office to which
the people of the United States had elected him, and
he knowingly and improperly embarrassed the
United States as a nation. By including that nar-
rative, knowing and intending that it would be pub-
lished and disseminated, Mr. Starr committed a high
crime and misdemeanor against the Constitution and
the people of the United States of America.
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In all of this, Kenneth W. Starr has acted in a man-
ner contrary to his trust as an independent counsel of the
United States and subversive of constitutional govern-
ment, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and jus-
tice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the United
States.
Wherefore Kenneth W. Starr, by such conduct, war-
rants impeachment and trial, and removal from office.
ARTICLE III
In his conduct of the office of independent counsel,
Kenneth W. Starr violated the oath he took to support
and defend the Constitution of the United States of Amer-
ica and the duties he had assumed as an officer of the
United States and acted in ways that were calculated to
and that did unconstitutionally arrogate unto himself pow-
ers that the Constitution of the United States assigned
to the federal courts; that were calculated to and did un-
dermine the institution of the grand jury established by
the Constitution of the United States; and that were cal-
culated to and did undermine and bring into disrepute the
office of independent counsel and offices of all those
charged with investigating and prosecuting crimes against
the United States. The acts by which Mr. Starr violated
his oath and his duties and by which he undermined the
federal courts and the grand jury and undermined and de-
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meaned the office and role of all federal prosecutors in-
clude:
(1) Mr. Starr disclosed and authorized and ap-
proved the disclosure and misuse of grand jury ma-
terials in violation of Rule 6(e)(2) of the Federal
Rules of Criminal Procedure and with contempt for
the federal courts and for the rights of those who
appear before grand juries of the United States and
of those who are subjects of grand jury investiga-
tions.
(2) Throughout his investigations, Mr. Starr
abused the powers of his office and condoned the
abuse of those powers to improperly intimidate and
manipulate citizens of the United States who were
interviewed or called to testify before a grand jury
or who were actual or potential targets of his inves-
tigations and to deprive them of rights guaranteed
to all citizens of the United States. Mr. Starr and
subordinates for whose conduct he is responsible fur-
ther abused and misused the powers of the office of
independent counsel and the powers of the grand
jury to improperly invade and needlessly intrude
upon the privacy of individuals and to demean the
rights guaranteed to all by the First and Fifth
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Amendments to the Constitution of the United
States.
(3) Throughout his investigations, Mr. Starr
has abused and misused and has authorized and ap-
proved the abuse and misuse of the powers of his of-
fice in ways that have demeaned the prosecutorial
office and that have undermined and will undermine
the ability of other prosecutorial officers of the
United States to discharge their duty to take care
that laws of the United States be faithfully executed.
(4) In his conduct of the office of independent
counsel, Mr. Starr has needlessly and unjustifiably
expended and wasted funds of the United States.
Over the past four years, Mr. Starr has expended
more than forty million dollars ($40,000,000) in a
relentless pursuit of investigations and prosecutions
that he knew or should have known did not merit
and could not justify such extraordinary expendi-
tures.
By the conduct described in this Article III of these
Articles of Impeachment, Kenneth W. Starr committed
high crimes and misdemeanors against the Constitution
and the people of the United States of America.
In all of this, Kenneth W. Starr has acted in a man-
ner contrary to his trust as an independent counsel of the