“To judge from what the President said, any hint of lawlessness can be redeemed if undertaken unselfishly for patriotic reasons. It's an argument that would have warmed Nazi hearts at Nuremberg.”

“The release last week of the report of the independent counsel marks a frustrat­ing anticlimax to what clearly is a continuing crisis of American gov­ernment”

“The President is absolutely, totally convinced in his mind that that isn’t what happened. I know him, I know what his feeling is on this. I have heard what he said, and I accept it.”