Impeachment

WASHINGTON -- Striking a conciliatory tone and pleading for fairness, a top White House lawyer opened a grueling defense of President Clinton yesterday with a concession that the president's testimony regarding Monica Lewinsky might be deemed "unlawful" by a criminal court.But the lawyer, appealing directly to wavering moderate House Republicans, said that no matter how reprehensible the president's actions may have been, they did not justify what would be only the second presidential impeachment in U.S. history.

WASHINGTON -- One message from the House for President Clinton on Saturday was that he was blessed with the stalwart loyalty of his fellow Democrats.Only five Democrats broke ranks and voted for any of the articles of impeachment. Afterward, in a striking display, two bus loads of Democratic lawmakers rallied behind the president on the South Lawn of the White House.But many Democrats did not rally around their president out of heartfelt fealty. Instead, in opposing impeachment and standing, literally, with Clinton, many were registering their disapproval of how Republicans have handled the inquiry -- as well as their belief that impeachment is not warranted.

WASHINGTON -- With Republicans of all political stripes voicing their opposition to impeachment, House Judiciary Committee Republicans may be increasingly isolated as they continue their uphill fight to remove President Clinton from office.Impeachment hearings are only a week away, but cracks in the Republican ranks are beginning to show. GOP Sen. Arlen Specter, a prominent voice on judicial matters, called yesterday on the House to drop its impeachment probe, saying it could prove "devastating to the country."

A document dealing with such matters as furtive White House meetings and a dress from the Gap was the most talked-about publication in America this weekend.But another, more venerable, volume was getting substantial attention: The Federalist Papers, the collection of articles published by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison in 1787 and 1788 to make their case for the adoption of the Constitution.The Federalist articles, in addition to their many other contributions, amplified the bare description in the Constitution that the president, vice president and other officials could be "removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

WASHINGTON -- In politics, the first rule is what goes around comes around. So the operative question in the wake of the impeachment trial is how much the Republicans will suffer for their mistake in trying to drive President Clinton from office."

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Constance A. Morella, a genial Montgomery County Republican who is highly popular in her district, has nonetheless become a marked woman.She hit the trifecta this week. All three major news magazines -- Time, Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report -- highlighted Morella as a key member of the most scrutinized political club in the land today: the moderate House Republican who is publicly undecided about impeachment.And so Morella is suddenly absorbing a blizzard of attention, mainly from those who, unlike her, have had no trouble making up their minds about impeachment.

WASHINGTON -- A Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee said yesterday that he would introduce a resolution to censure President Clinton when the committee meets to vote on whether to send articles of impeachment to the full House.With a Judiciary Committee vote scheduled for the week of Dec. 7, the proposal by Rep. William D. Delahunt of Massachusetts could give Republicans a way out of their morass. Opinion polls clearly show that the public opposes impeachment, and censure would allow Republicans to formally criticize Clinton while stopping short of bringing charges.

WASHINGTON -- Several moderate House Republicans declared their support yesterday for impeaching President Clinton for perjury, increasing the likelihood that the House will vote this month to impeach a president for only the second time in the nation's history.Two of them, Marge Roukema of New Jersey and Greg Ganske of Iowa, suggested that recent predictions that 20 or more Republicans would defect to vote against impeachment would prove unfounded.Another, Rep. Tom Campbell of California, said he is convinced that the president committed perjury, which the Republican called an impeachable offense.

WASHINGTON -- Concerned that Tuesday's Democratic victories are being viewed as a repudiation of the Clinton impeachment drive, the Republican chairman in charge of the effort summoned his chief investigators to a strategy session in his Chicago office yesterday and conferred privately with colleagues.House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Henry J. Hyde of Illinois, who predicted before the election that anything less than an overwhelming GOP victory would undercut the impeachment effort, acknowledged that Democratic gains have stolen his "momentum" but resolved that Congress has "a job to do."

WASHINGTON -- As the House hurtles toward a final decision on impeaching President Clinton, a disbelieving nation could be in for a shock."The American people may wake up next Friday morning," said Rep. Charles Schumer of New York, "to discover that the House of Representatives has indeed impeached the president."Most Americans don't expect it to happen, according to a poll conducted last week. But a profoundly divided House may well vote this week to recommend Clinton's removal from office, just one month after an election that seemed to have made impeachment impossible.