ATLANTA, Sept. 22 -- Former President Jimmy Carter predicts the U.S. House will probably vote to impeach President Bill Clinton, but adds that the Senate will not have enough votes to remove Clinton from office. In his first public comments on the Clinton sex scandal, Carter told students at Emory University tonight: 'I have deplored and been deeply embarrassed by what has occurred.'
Carter says he has only read brief excerpts of the Starr Report and saw small portions of Clinton's grand jury testimony televised on Monday, but he questions Clinton's honesty. He says, 'My own opinion is that the President has not been truthful in the deposition given in the Paula Jones case or in the interrogation by the grand jury.' Carter says 'a lot of damage has been done' to the presidency 'by this embarrassing circumstance.' He adds, 'My own belief, not based on any inside information, is that the House Judiciary Committee will recommend to the entire House of Representatives that impeachment hearings be held. 'Because of the highly partisan alignment within the House of Representatives and because the Republicans have a majority, I think it's likely -- perhaps more than a 50-50 chance -- that the House will vote impeachment.' He also says, 'My prediction is that the Senate will not marshal a two-thirds vote to remove President Clinton from office.' Carter said no 'fatal or permanent damage' has been done to the presidency because of the Clinton sex scandal: 'Even though he will be damaged and his moral reputation and perhaps in his influence with the Congress and maybe with the American people, our nation will survive. It will be just as strong as it ever was.' ---
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