{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://norton.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/norton-says-clinton-impeachment-offers-good-context-for-today-s-trump", "Norton Says Clinton Impeachment Offers Good Context for Todays Trump Impeachment", "2019-12-18", "2019", "2019-12", "Democrat", "House", "DC", "Eleanor Norton", "N000147", "norton.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C.  Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) released her brief floor remarks during the 1998 Clinton impeachment proceedings to give residents context for today's impeachment against President Trump. Twenty-one years ago on the House floor, Norton said of the Clinton impeachment, the framers raised the bar as high as possible, allowing impeachment not even for crimes, but only for high crimes. The Republicans have lowered the bar as low as they can to reach tawdry private consensual sex.\nThe facts of Trump's impeachment have no parallel in American history in seriousness of the acts and strength of the evidence presented, Norton said. Unlike President Clinton, President Trump has denied all wrongdoing and continues to abuse his office, creating a clear and present danger to our country and to our constitutional checks and balances.\nNorton's full 1998 remarks are below.\n Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, this impeachment is unfair on three counts. It is unfair\nto the President whose admitted misconduct in covering-up of a private\nsexual affair cannot compare to the Nixon precedent where high stake\ncrimes were not in doubt. It is unfair to the country because the\npreference of the voters for censure of the President is being barred\neven from consideration. It is unfair to the people who live in this\ncity, who have a 23rd amendment constitutional right to vote for\nPresident but have been denied a vote on removal of the President.\n\n We are converting a solemn constitutional process into a petty\npolitical proceeding. The framers raised the bar as high as possible\nallowing impeachment not even for crimes, but only for high crimes. The\nRepublicans have lowered the bar as low as they can to reach tawdry\nprivate consensual sex.\n\n The framers sought to make partisan impeachment a contradiction in\nterms; the majority is making it a reality. The people acting\nofficially on November 3rd repudiated impeachment. Yet, the Majority\nhas denied a vote on the public preference for censure. Defying its own\nannounced standard that no impeachment could occur without\nbipartisanship, the Majority is heading for an incredible partisan,\nparty line vote to impeach the President.\n\n This impeachment is unfair to the people of the District of Columbia.\nThe Majority has relegated them to the functional equivalent of partial\ncitizens--good enough to vote for president, but not good enough to\ndecide whether to remove him.\n\n This impeachment is raw with unfairness. Only a repudiation of all\narticles can save us now.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://norton.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/norton-says-clinton-impeachment-offers-good-context-for-today-s-trump"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.03698018938303, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}