The impeachment trial of President Clinton will go ahead in the Senate next Thursday following an agreement between Republicans and Democrats that any decision to call witnesses will be taken later.
While snow fell thickly outside the Capitol, the Senate voted unanimously on the rules to allow the trial to go forward. Following the vote, the Senate sergeant-at-arms went to the White House to deliver the summons for the President or his lawyers to respond to the articles of impeachment by next Monday.
The witness issue had threatened to split the 100 senators along partisan lines but a compromise plan put forward by Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy and Republican Senator Phil Gramm led to a breakthrough.
The unlikely alliance of the liberal Democrat from Massachusetts and the conservative Republican from Texas helped to sway other senators at an extraordinary meeting behind closed doors yesterday in the old Senate chamber.
Under the Kennedy-Gramm plan, a committee of two Republicans and two Democrats will vet potential witnesses and try and ensure that "salacious material" will be excluded from testimony. One senator said that the aim is "to keep all talk of sex off the Senate floor". The full Senate will have to vote to call a witness or introduce new evidence not in the report of the Independent Counsel, Mr Ken Starr, which means that the Republicans who are in a majority should be able to control the witness list. This is seen as a tactical victory for the Republicans as the Democrats had opposed the calling of any witnesses.
The Senate majority leader, Mr Trent Lott, said that the trial could now move ahead next Thursday. The Republican prosecutors and President Clinton's defence team will be given several days each to set out their respective cases.
It is unclear how long the trial will take especially if witnesses are called as is expected. Republican Senator John Chafee of Rhode Island said that even with witnesses the trial could be over by mid-February. Senator Gramm said it will "be over sooner than most people think".
Republican Senator Connie Mack of Florida said that no witnesses would be called before January 26th. This is incidentally the first day of the visit of Pope John Paul to St Louis during which he will meet President Clinton.
Yesterday the President flew to Detroit to get a preview of the motor show and to laud the performance of the US economy. The continued growth over 93 months is said to be a record.
"America is working again. It's working - not just the economy. The crime rate is the lowest in 25 years. A lot of our social problems are receding. It's working again," Mr Clinton told a luncheon of the Detroit Economic Club.
At the White House, Mr Greg Craig of the President's legal team said they would present "a vigorous, successful and complete defence". The team was hopeful that the matter "can be resolved expeditiously and fairly".
Mr Henry Hyde, the leader of the Republican prosecutors or "managers" issued a statement yesterday renewing his plea for witnesses.
"As in any court proceeding, witnesses are necessary during a trial so that evidence may be thoroughly weighed and tested before conviction," Mr Hyde said.
The Republican list of witnesses is said to include Ms Monica Lewinsky, President Clinton's personal secretary, Ms Betty Currie, and his friend, Mr Vernon Jordan, who helped get Ms Lewinsky a job in New York.
The impeachment trial of President Clinton will go ahead in the Senate next Thursday following an agreement between Republicans and Democrats that any decision to call witnesses will be taken later.
While snow fell thickly outside the Capitol, the Senate voted unanimously on the rules to allow the trial go forward. Following the vote the Senate sergeant-at-arms went to the White House to deliver the summons for the president, or his lawyers, to respond to the articles of impeachment by next Monday.
The witness issue had threatened to split the 100 senators along partisan lines but a compromise plan put forward by Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy and Republican Senator Phil Gramm led to a breakthrough. The unlikely alliance of the liberal Democrat from Massachusetts and the conservative Republican from Texas helped to sway other senators at an extraordinary meeting behind closed doors yesterday in the old Senate chamber.
Under the Kennedy-Gramm plan, a committee of two Republicans and two Democrats will vet potential witnesses and try and to ensure that "salacious material" will be excluded from testimony. One senator said that the aim is "to keep all talk of sex off the Senate floor".
The full Senate will have to vote to call a witness or introduce new evidence not in the report of the independent counsel Mr Kenneth Starr, which means that the Republicans, who are in a majority, should be able to control the witness list. This is seen as a tactical victory for the Republicans as the Democrats had opposed the calling of any witnesses.
The Senate majority leader, Mr Trent Lott, said that the trial could now move ahead next Thursday. The Republican prosecutors and President Clinton's defence team will be given several days each to set out their respective cases.
It is unclear how long the trial will take, especially if witnesses are called as is expected. Senator John Chafee, of a Rhode Island a Republican, said that even with witnesses the trial could be over by mid-February. Senator Gramm said it will "be over sooner than most people think".
Senator Connie Mack, a Republican from Florida, said that no witnesses would be called before January 26th. This is incidentally the first day of the visit of Pope John Paul to St Louis, during which he will meet President Clinton.
The president yesterday flew to Detroit to get a preview of the motor show and to laud the performance of the US economy. The continued growth over 93 months is said to be a record.
"America is working again. It's working - not just the economy. The crime rate is the lowest in 25 years. A lot of our social problems are receding. It's working again," Mr Clinton told a luncheon of the Detroit Economic Club.
First reactions at the White House were cautious as until the president's lawyers had time to study studied the compromise plan. On Thursday, Earlier, the White House spokesman, Mr Joe Lockhart, had strongly criticised the Republican insistence on calling witnesses and had predicted that this would mean a trial could go on "for ever".
Mr Henry Hyde, the leader of the Republican prosecutors or "managers", issued a statement yesterday renewing his plea for witnesses. "As in any court proceeding, witnesses are necessary during a trial so that evidence may be thoroughly weighed and tested before conviction," Mr Hyde said.
The Republican list of witnesses is said to include Ms Monica Lewinsky, President Clinton's personal secretary, Ms Betty Currie, and his friend, Mr Vernon Jordan, who helped get Ms Lewinsky a job in New York.
A friend whose testimony cast doubt on a former White House volunteer's allegation of an unwanted sexual advance by President Bill Clinton has been charged with obstructing justice and accused of making up her story.
A grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, working with the independent prosecutor Mr Kenneth Starr, has charged Ms Julie Steele of Richmond on three counts of obstruction of justice and one count of making false statements.
Mr Clinton's lawyers had used Ms Steele's testimony in an effort to cast doubt on the credibility of Kathleen Willey, a former White House volunteer who alleges the president made an unwanted sexual advance towards her in the Oval Office in 1993.
Mr Clinton denied the accusation, which became a focus of Ms Jones's sexual harassment lawsuit. In his testimony in the Jones lawsuit, the president said Mrs Willey "was not telling the truth" and that her credibility had been "pretty well shattered".
Ms Steele filed an affidavit in the Jones lawsuit alleging that Mrs Willey never told her about the alleged advance as she had claimed.
But Mr Starr alleged yesterday that the affidavit and Ms Steele's subsequent testimony before two federal grand juries were false.