Political Quotes

“Mr. Chief Justice, I ask to send a question to the desk on behalf of myself and Senator Blumenthal to the House managers. The CHIEF JUSTICE. Thank you, Senator. The question for the House managers from Senator Leahy and Senator Blumenthal: The President's counsel claimed, ``If a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.'' He added a hypothetical, ``'I think I'm the greatest president there ever was and if I'm not elected, the national interest will suffer greatly.' That cannot be an impeachable offense.'' Under this view, there is no remedy to prevent a president from conditioning foreign security assistance, in violation of the Impoundment Control Act, on the recipient's willingness to do the president a political favor. If the Senate fails to reject this theory, what would stop a president from withholding disaster aid funding from a U.S. city until that mayor endorses him? What would stop the president from withholding nearly any part of the $4.7 trillion annual federal budget subject to his personal political benefit? Mr. Manager JEFFRIES. Mr. Chief Justice, distinguished Members of the Senate, I thank the Senators for that very important question.…”