In his Feb. 27 WorldNetDaily column, Les Kinsolving wrote of Bill Clinton: “He was indicted, tried and found guilty of both perjury and obstruction of justice.”
Wrong. To refresh Kinsolving’s memory: Clinton was never indicted, let alone tried and found guilty, on criminal charges of perjury or obstruction of justice. The House of Representatives voted to impeach Clinton (the political equivalent of an indictment) on charges of providing “perjurious, false and misleading testimony” — not the same thing as criminal perjury — and obstruction of justice. A political trial was conducted in the Senate, with a two-thirds majority needed to convict.
Kinsolving overstates the case by claiming that Clinton “came within a handful of votes of being removed from office by the U.S. Senate.” In fact, the “perjurious, false and misleading testimony” count received only 45 of the 67 votes required for conviction; the obstruction of justice charges received 50 of 67.
Kinsolving then huffed, “For these crimes he was merely fined, rather than imprisoned.” Again, Clinton was never convicted of a “crime” in a criminal court; in the civil case Paula Jones filed against Clinton, the judge ruled that Clinton gave “intentionally false” testimony about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky — again, not perjury.
Consider this a reminder that his goofy questions at the White House aren’t the only thing to “fear” from Kinsolving; he mangles facts, too.