Ensign says Clinton impeachment would be bad for country

Thursday, May 7, 1998 | 2:41 a.m.

"I think it would be bad for the country. I would not like to see that," Ensign said in an interview with The Associated Press.

"I would just like the truth to come out," the second-term congressman from Las Vegas said.

Ensign said Clinton has abused the executive privilege by trying to invoke it to blunt the investigation into Whitewater and related matters, including an alleged affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

"It appears to me the Clinton administration is obstructing the process so it can't go forward. And it is costing a lot more money because of that," Ensign said.

"The one thing that is more important than any thing else is making sure no one is above the law. It ruins our system of government if we allow someone to be above the law," he said.

Clinton on Wednesday rejected comparisons between his executive privilege claim and Richard Nixon's battle to keep taped conversations private during Watergate 25 years ago. "The facts are quite different in this case," the president said.

White House spokesman Mike McCurry, asked about Watergate comparisons earlier in the day, said of Clinton: "I don't think he's worried about any parallels to Watergate because there are none. In the case of Watergate, crimes were committed, as you may recall."

Ensign, 40, said on Thursday: "We don't know whether or not there were laws broken here because he (Clinton) is obstructing the facts.

"This has nothing to do with an affair. This has to do with whether or not laws were broken," said Ensign, who is seeking the GOP nomination to take on Democratic Sen. Harry Reid this fall.

"This is not just about Monica Lewinsky. It's suborned perjury, things like that. And many other issues. The Chinese, whether or not illegal contributions were made that influenced the government. All of those are things we need to have answered," he said.

"Because he is obstructing the process, it is going to take a lot longer and it is going to cost the American taxpayer a lot more money to investigate."

Ensign's comments echoed remarks by Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., who said in filing for re-election Monday that "something went on" between Clinton and Lewinsky, but that's not the main issue.

"I don't think anybody who reads the newspapers has any doubt that something went on between the President and Monica Lewinsky," he said. "But Congress is concerned whether he has lied or obstructed justice."

Gibbons, 53, added he has "never seen a greater effort to hide the truth" since Watergate.

Gibbons also defended Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, saying he was also independent counsel in the investigation of Republican Sen. Robert Packwood's sexual harassment case. He said Democrats never complained then about Starr's tactics.