The White House is unhappy with the Republican plan for witnesses to testify at the impeachment trial of President Clinton and is accusing them of "making up the rules as they go along".
Subpoenas were prepared yesterday to call Ms Monica Lewinsky, Mr Vernon Jordan and Mr Sidney Blumenthal to testify next week in depositions which will be videotaped.
The three will be questioned by Republican prosecutors and the White House lawyers for up to four hours each. A senator from each party will preside over each session. The witnesses can have their own lawyers present. Ms Lewinsky will give her deposition on Monday.
The rest of the 100 senators will be able to view the videotapes privately from Tuesday.
When the Senate trial resumes on Thursday, motions can be submitted to have the testimony of the three witnesses or parts of it played on the Senate floor. Any testimony presented in this way would be televised to viewers around the country. Any of the witnesses can be called to testify live at the trial if the Senate votes for that.
The White House spokesman, Mr Joe Lockhart, said yesterday that the Republicans are "making up the rules literally on the back of an envelope right now. If you watched the Senate floor yesterday, you were watching changes in front of you." He said some "certainty" was needed so that if the conclusion "does not suit the majority, they won't rip up that envelope and write a new one."
Mr Lockhart was referring to the new arrangement for ending the trial which the Republicans forced through the Senate on Thursday over Democratic objections.
The Democrats were opposed to videotaping and wanted only written transcripts of the deposition of the three witnesses to be made available.
The Democrats also wanted a definite commitment to have the trial ended by February 12th. The Republican resolution sets that date as a goal but one that can be changed if new material is revealed.
However, the Democrats have been given a veto over any attempt by the Republicans to call extra witnesses.
The Democrats are also unhappy that they were not able to exclude the possibility that a separate vote can be taken listing offences committed by Mr Clinton. The Republicans are working on such a resolution, which would require only a simple majority.
The votes on the impeachment articles accusing Mr Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice must be passed by two-thirds of the Senate or else Mr Clinton is acquitted. It is virtually certain that this size of majority is not possible.