Robert Ray Finishes in the Sink
Clintonian lies, both outrageous and opaque.

By Ann Coulter, syndicated columnist
January 20, 2001 2:00 p.m.

ow everyone can be annoyed with the “four years, $40 million” blown by the Office of the Independent Counsel. In lieu of indictment and prosecution, Independent Counsel Robert Ray allowed President Clinton to sign a “statement” admitting to nothing, packed with lies, and administering no punishment. Why did Ray take the job if he wasn’t going to finish it?

Fittingly, Clinton’s statement is shot through with a litany of his own travails, the punishment he has received, and the “high price” he has already paid: "I've already settled the Paula Jones case . . . I have also paid court and counsel fees and restitution and been held in civil contempt for my deposition testimony regarding Ms. Lewinsky . . . I have apologized for my conduct and I have done my best to atone for it with my family, my administration and the American people. I have paid a high price for it,” whine, whine, whine. . .

It’s rather jarring to come to the end of the document and see that it is signed by Clinton, rather than Ray. It’s as if Ray was paying tribute to the fact that independent counsels are unconstitutional by doing exactly what he had the constitutional authority to do, which is absolutely nothing.

Appropriate to the signatory, the statement is bristling with Clintonian lies of both the outrageous variety as well as the opaque sort. The First Perjurer states, for example, that he “settled the Paula Jones case, even after it was dismissed as being completely without legal and factual merit.”

I don’t know. Not many people would pay approximately a million dollars in damages, sanctions, and legal fees — as the president who can admit to no wrongdoing did — to get rid of a case that was “completely without legal and factual merit.” After having fought the Paula Jones suit tooth and nail for five years, something must have prompted Clinton to do that.

Clinton’s statement also describes his lies in the Jones deposition for which he was held in contempt as statements which the judge herself “agreed had no bearing on Ms. Jones case.”

Not to be a stickler for the facts, but when Judge Wright held Clinton in civil contempt — a procedure the judge had to invent specially for Clinton — she explicitly and repeatedly stated that she was holding Clinton in contempt for giving “intentionally false” testimony about “material” facts in the Jones case.

Among many other blindingly clear statements of the direct “bearing” Clinton’s lies had on the Jones case, Judge Wright wrote: "Contrary to numerous assertions, this court did not rule that evidence of the Lewinsky matter was irrelevant or immaterial to the issues in the [Jones] case. Indeed, the court specifically acknowledged that such evidence might have been relevant to the plaintiff’s case.”

Comical lie #3 (Lifetime record: 7,327): “I tried to walk a fine line between acting lawfully and testifying falsely, but I now recognize that I did not fully accomplish this goal.”

Only “now” does he recognize that it was not quite precisely accurate to claim under oath that he had never been alone with Monica Lewinsky? Only “now” does he realize that he was lying when he denied having sexual relations with her — and she with him (something else he stated under oath, which the New York Times constantly forgets). This is what Ray deftly maneuvered Clinton into admitting?

By allowing Clinton to claim that he has only recently realized that he was alone with Monica (etcetera) Ray didn’t even get Clinton to admit he committed all elements of perjury.

Clinton’s meretricious “statement” does not provide closure, send a message, wrap things up — or anything else it is purported to have accomplished. The most piercing “message” on President Clinton’s crimes came from the Supreme Court after the Senate Democrats refused to remove an impeached Clinton from office. When Clinton delivered his next State of the Union address, not one single Justice showed up. Not one. Never before has the entire Supreme Court boycotted a president’s scheduled State of the Union address.

What did Ray’s deal with Clinton add to that?

Apparently the only big concession Ray won from Clinton was that the statement had to be issued while America’s Most Famous Perjurer was still president. So, armed with the threat of indicting Clinton for perjury, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice, and armed as well as with scores of witnesses, White House logs, taped admissions, and DNA evidence — Ray pressured Clinton to do what he’s been doing as president for eight years: Lie one more time.

Let’s not send Ray to negotiate with Saddam Hussein.

Of course, Ray isn’t the first person to play Neville Chamberlain when facing off with the man voted “Second Most Evil of the Millennium.” Others who have fallen under Clinton’s spell include: Pat Robertson, David Brock, William Ginsberg, Susan McDougal, and Al Gore. Those who weren’t afraid include: Matt Drudge, Lucianne Goldberg, Ken Starr, the Supreme Court, Christopher Hitchens, and David Schippers.

Which group would you rather be in right now? When it came to this flimflam artist, all anyone ever had to fear was fear itself. If only Ray had known that.