James E. Rogan - Catching Our Flag: Behind the Scenes of a Presidential Impeachment

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR

CATCHING OUR FLAG

This first-hand narrative provides a fascinating inside tale of politics, power, expediency, and intimidation. Other books on this subject invariably rely on fading recollections (or wholesale fantasies). Congressman James Rogan was more than a witness; he was a leading figure in the most important trial in our countrys political and legal history. It is a story only he can tell.

NEWT GINGRICH, from the foreword

Jim Rogan has written an incredibly fascinating account of what went on behind closed doors during the impeachment and trial of President Clinton. Jim won the respect of all concerned, including lawyers for the President, because of his fairness in the midst of a bitterly partisan environment. I count him as a friend, and I know history will salute him for producing this authoritative book documenting one of the most important and controversial episodes in American political history.

Congressman MIKE PENCE

Bill Clinton is a hard guy to figure out. And the ways of Congress are mysterious. Put them togetheras during the impeachment processand you have the Churchillian formulation: a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. But Jim Rogan unravels it for us and gives us an inside view of Congress that few can equal. He was there front and center during the most difficult moment in Congressional history since 1867the impeachment of a President.

DICK MORRIS

Congressman Jim Rogan put principle above politics and deployed all his skills as an ace prosecutor in an attempt to bring President Clinton to justice for perjury. Now, in Catching Our Flag, he has produced a nonfiction Washington thriller that, for sheer drama, rivals the classic novel, Advice and Consent.

G. GORDON LIDDY

The left-wing histories of why Bill Clinton was impeached are all constructed out of papier-mache. Jim Rogans inside account rips the skin off their cover-story while exposing the timid traitors of the false right wing. They will all try to debase this books disclosures. If you want the truth about Clintons impeachment, you must read Rogans book.

MICHAEL SAVAGE

This book gives Americans the opportunity to experience one of our nations greatest constitutional crises through the eyes of a key witness. Based on Congressman Rogans contemporaneous notes, the reader will experience the backstage events as they unfolded: from the wobbly beginnings in the House through the Senate debacle caused by the political cynicism and craven cowardice of its leadership. James Rogan wasand isthe most courageous, dedicated and honorable public official I have ever known.

DAVID P. SCHIPPERS, Chief Investigative Counsel
of the House Judiciary Committee during the Clinton impeachment

Behind the Scenes of a Presidential Impeachment

FROM THE PRIVATE DIARIES OF

CONGRESSMAN JAMES E. ROGAN

House Impeachment Manager

Catching Our Flag
WND Books

Published by WorldNetDaily
Washington, D.C.

Copyright 2011
James E. Rogan

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, scanning, or otherwise, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

Written by James E. Rogan
Jacket design by Mark Karis
Interior design by Neuwirth & Associates, Inc.

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ISBN 13 Digit: 978-1-935071-32-7

Library of Congress information available

Printed in the United States of America

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For those patriots who caught our falling flag
19981999

The question before the House is not a question of sex. Sexual misconduct and adultery are private acts and are none of Congress business. Its not even a question of lying about sex. The matter before the House is a question of lying under oath. This is a public act, not a private act. This is called perjury. The matter before the House is a question of the willful, premeditated, deliberate corruption of the nations system of justice. Perjury and obstruction of justice cannot be reconciled with the office of the President of the United States.

The President is our flag-bearer. He stands out in front of our people, and the flag is falling. Catch the falling flag as we keep our appointment with history.

Henry J. Hyde
House Judiciary Committee Chairman
Clinton Impeachment Closing Argument, 1998

Within hours after my approving the appointment of Congressman Jim Rogan to the House Judiciary Committee in January 1998, the Monica Lewinsky scandal became public. Thus began a thirteen-month ordeal that shocked America and crippled the administration of President Bill Clinton.

Jim Rogan was a key player in the Clinton impeachment saga. One of President Clintons lawyers said later that the White House referred to Jim, a former Los Angeles County gang murder prosecutor and state court judge, as The Domino. The Clinton team felt if they could persuade Jim to vote against impeachment, enough Members who respected his judgment might follow his lead and end the Administrations bleeding.

After Jims decision to vote for Clintons impeachment, his colleagues called upon him to help lead the debate in the House of Representatives. Following the adoption of two Articles of Impeachment, the House selected Jim as one of the Managers to prosecute Clinton in the United States Senate. A riveted nation watched the first ever impeachment trial of a popularly elected American president. During the trial, Jim won acclaim from both sides for his fair, dignified, and effective presentation of the evidence.

Because of Jims role, President Clinton and the national Democrats named Jim as their number-one target for retribution in the next congressional election cycle. Jim battled back in what became (and remains to date) the toughest and most expensive House race ever. Jim paid the price of political defeat for insisting that elected officials uphold the rule of law. In losing his race for reelection, Jim earned the respect of millions of Americans for his courage.

From his first day on the House Judiciary Committee, Jim (a lifelong student of history and government) foresaw this historic event before it unfolded. He knew that if the scandal ever led to impeachment proceedings, future accounts would suffer from faulty memories or faulty motives. To combat this threat of factual error, Jim kept copious notes and diaries during every significant meeting relating to impeachment. It was his purpose to record the comments, strategies, arguments, and biases of insiders as they uttered them. He did this so there would be a complete and accurate chronicle, leaving for historians the best evidence of what really happened behind the scenes in Congress during the unfolding drama. This historically important archive is unmatched in its thoroughness and integrity.

After all these years, Jim has opened his private diaries for history by penning the ultimate insiders story on what led a very reluctant House of Representatives to impeach a then-very-popular American president. He wrote it with his eye on truth, not spin. This first-hand narrative provides a fascinating inside tale of politics, power, expediency, and intimidation. Other books on this subject invariably rely on fading recollections (or wholesale fantasies). Congressman James Rogan was more than a witness; he was a leading figure in the most important trial in our countrys political and legal history.