WASHINGTON – President Clinton said yesterday he won’t ask Al Gore for a Sexgate pardon if the vice president succeeds him – but stayed mum on whether he’ll refuse one if offered.
“I don’t have any interest in [a pardon],” Clinton told the American Society of Newspaper Editors. “I don’t want one, and I am prepared to stand before any bar of justice I have to stand before.”
It’s the first time Clinton publicly said he doesn’t want a pardon – despite Gore’s claim on Wednesday that Clinton had publicly ruled out a pardon previously.
The pardon issue has come up because independent counsel Robert Ray, who succeeded Kenneth Starr, said this week that he’s considering indicting Clinton on Sexgate lying and obstruction-of-justice charges after the president leaves office.
Clinton also said his presidential library in Little Rock won’t ignore his impeachment as a part of history, but will have “a slightly different take on it” – as a kind of Clinton triumph rather than a humiliation.
“I’ll deal with the impeachment, but you have to understand I consider it one of the major chapters in my defeat of the revolution Mr. Gingrich led,” Clinton said, referring his old nemesis, ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Clinton said he’s not the least bit ashamed he was impeached for Sexgate, but seemed angry at the question and mounted a rambling defense by plugging two books by his defenders.
“I’m not ashamed of the fact that [the House] impeached me. That was their decision, not mine, and it was wrong,” Clinton said.
Clinton was impeached by the House over Sexgate charges that he lied under oath and obstructed justice to hide his affair with Monica Lewinsky. The Senate ended up voting not to throw Clinton out of office.
Clinton endorsed two books about his scandals for those who “want to know what’s really been going on.” They’re by Jeff Toobin of The New Yorker and columnists Joe Conason and Gene Lyons – all critics of Sexgate prosecutor Starr.