William Hughes: “listening to the minority whip reminds me of my younger days when I visited the carnival and saw the shell game. That is…”

“listening to the minority whip reminds me of my younger days when I visited the carnival and saw the shell game. That is what this is all about. Many of the Republicans as a matter of policy have been opposed to the independent counsel statute for years. They find many reasons basically to gut it, to derail it, and to attempt to weaken it, and this business about not covering Congress is just nonsense. First of all, the Department of Justice is in the executive branch of the Government, as my colleagues know. There is no conflict involving the prosecution of Members of Congress who step out of line. They have been doing it all down through the history of the executive branch of the government. The conflict comes in because we ask the Attorney General to investigate and prosecute Members within the executive government, numbering some 60. The minority whip misquoted the law. This does not weaken the law. It is permissive now. Why should we require the Attorney General in every instance to prosecute Members of Congress, Democrats or Republicans, unless there is a need to do that? The Attorney General has that authority now and will have that authority in this legislation.”