Impeachment Trial

WASHINGTON -- With the calling of trial witnesses increasingly likely, House prosecutors pleaded yesterday with the Senate to question what one of them called just a "pitiful three" witnesses to help prove their case that President Clinton should be removed from office.The prosecution's pared-down list included Monica Lewinsky, Clinton confidant Vernon Jordan and senior White House aide Sidney Blumenthal, as well as a last-ditch invitation to the president to testify at his own impeachment trial.

"That said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, on the 21st day of February, 1868, unmindful of the high duties of his office, his oath of office and of the requirement of the Constitution that he should take care that the laws be faithfully executed, did unlawfully and in violation of the Constitution and laws of the U.S., frame an order in writing for the removal Edwin M. Stanton as Secretary of War ..."So read the first article of impeachment that led to the 1868 impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson, the first, and until this year the only, such trial of a president in U.S. history.

WASHINGTON -- Under pressure from both the White House and House prosecutors, senators seeking a quick end to President Clinton's impeachment trial appeared stalled last night by a high-stakes dispute over witnesses.The senators emerged last night after 4 1/2 hours from a closed-door debate on a motion to dismiss the trial saying there were no negotiations. "It was pure speeches," said Sen. Pete V. Domenici, a New Mexico Republican.It appeared that a bipartisan deal on an exit plan might not be possible until after the Senate votes tonight or tomorrow on whether to take the first step of allowing witnesses to be deposed.

WASHINGTON -- On the eve of the first presidential impeachment trial in 131 years, Senate leaders scrambled last night to try to agree on such basic details as how long the trial will last and whether witnesses will be called.A bipartisan team of Senate negotiators met with House prosecutors to try to produce a blueprint for a trial that would end with a vote on the two articles of impeachment against President Clinton. But the meeting broke up with no apparent agreement.Last night, White House officials made an unexpected visit to the Capitol to negotiate ground rules for the proceedings, but left after an hour without comment, the Associated Press reported.

WASHINGTON -- Senators of both parties called on President Clinton yesterday to delay or cancel his State of the Union address so that he does not appear before Congress while his impeachment trial is under way.Even with momentum apparently building in the Senate for some kind of expedited proceeding, lawmakers agreed that there is little likelihood that impeachment action will be completed by Jan. 19, when Clinton is scheduled to make his annual address in...

THE ONE sure outcome of the impeachment trial is that the rule of law has been diminished as much by Republicans as by Democrats. And, to the chagrin of many of his constituents, House Judiciary Chairman Henry Hyde has become its chief detractor.According to a recent Chicago Tribune poll of Mr. Hyde's conservative Illinois district, 35 percent of the respondents said their opinion of the congressman had dropped because of his handling of the impeachment proceedings.In his opening statement to the Senate, Mr. Hyde cited the case of Sir Thomas More, a former lord chancellor who was executed in 1535 for refusing to swear an oath that the king of England was supreme over the pope.

WASHINGTON -- When Queen Caroline, consort of King George IV, was accused of adultery, one of her critics made a sardonic salute to some of her defenders: "God save the queen, and may all your wives be like her." A similar toast to Democrats opposed even to a Senate trial for President Clinton: And may all your presidents be like him.Partisan debate about the propriety of a Senate trial proceeds amid bipartisan consensus that there must never be another such president. His fate largely rests with people Democrats praise for their tepid partisanship, people known as "moderate Republicans" and known for inconsistency.

I am so proud to be a Republican these days because they are doing what is right for this country regardless of their political futures. How dare the Democrats accuse them of acting partisan? The Democrats are the ones who have acted totally partisan from the beginning in their defense of this embarrassment of a president.During the voting on the impeachment articles, six times as many Republicans as Democrats crossed the aisle and voted with their conscience and sworn oath. Now we need 12 Senate Democrats to truly listen to the overabundance of evidence and vote their common sense.

Train of prosecutors stays on the track, at least at the start At 9: 35 a.m. yesterday, before articles of impeachment were formally presented to the Senate, the 13 House Republicans who are to prosecute the president gathered in the office of House Majority Leader Dick Armey. Through the opened doorway, the men could be spied talking and laughing. At 9: 58, wearing a stony expression, the silver-maned House Judiciary Committee chairman, Rep. Henry J. Hyde, emerged, a senior aide at his side, to lead the line of Republican prosecutors.

WASHINGTON -- If President Clinton is tried on impeachment charges, the Senate will quickly learn what is already common knowledge across the street at the Supreme Court: Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist will take charge, and in a commanding way.Although keeping control over 100 senators would require different instincts and talents than those Rehnquist uses in running a nine-judge court, those close to him say they have no doubt he will adapt energetically to...