Page:Impeachment of Donald J. Trump, President of the United States — Report of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives.pdf/26

 On October 8, 1998, the House adopted H. Res. 581, which authorized and directed the Judiciary Committee to investigate "whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of Representatives to exercise its constitutional power to impeach William Jefferson Clinton." H. Res. 581 contained express authorization for the Committee to subpoena documents and witnesses and to issue interrogatories. As with the resolution governing the Nixon impeachment inquiry, H. Res. 581 specified that this authority could be exercised by the Chairman or Ranking Member, with each having the right to refer disagreements to the full Committee.

The Committee's proceedings unfolded rapidly afterward. As in the Nixon impeachment proceedings, the Committee relied substantially during its investigation of President Clinton on evidence gathered from a prior investigation—that conducted by Independent Counsel Starr. Committee staff also conducted a limited number of depositions during which counsel for President Clinton was not present; additionally, Committee Majority staff conducted interviews which neither Minority staff nor counsel for the President attended. On two occasions in October and November 1998, White House attorneys wrote to Chairman Hyde and Committee Majority counsel expressing concern about their lack of an opportunity to participate in these depositions and interviews. Majority counsel for the Committee responded by pointing to the Nixon-era staff memorandum as proof that counsel for the President has no right to attend depositions or interviews of witnesses. The President's contrary view, Committee counsel stated, was "on the wrong side of history."

On November 19, 1998, Independent Counsel Starr testified in a public hearing before the Committee. He was the sole witness who presented factual evidence before the Committee, and his testimony consisted primarily of descriptions of evidence his office had gathered in the course of its investigation. That evidence included tens of thousands of pages of grand jury testimony, which by definition was taken in secret and without the opportunity for adversarial questioning. In addition, in November and December 1998, the Subcommittee on the Constitution and the full Committee, respectively, held open hearings on the background and history of impeachment and on the offense of 20