GOP prepares trial arguments

"I'll leave the invective to Mr. Lockhart," retorted Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), the point person in the case against the president.

With the trial to resume at 1 p.m. EST tomorrow, Lockhart also told reporters Clinton intends to stay busy on other matters while the proceedings unfold in the Senate.

The president will deliver his State of the Union speech before a joint session of Congress on Jan. 19, for example, and travel to Buffalo, N.Y., and Montgomery County, Pa., outside Philadelphia, the following day to tout his domestic agenda. According to a tentative schedule released in the Senate, Clinton's attorneys would be presenting defense both days.

Clinton stands accused of perjury and obstruction of justice in the two articles of impeachment that cleared the House last year. His Senate trial is only the second such presidential proceeding in American history, 131 years after Andrew Johnson was acquitted in 1868.

In a measure of concern for decorum, senators are being asked to observe unusual guidelines for the trial, including a request for all 100 to be in attendance "at all times," and to restrict their reading materials to papers pertaining to the trial. There had been some confusion over what to call Chief Justice William Rehnquist. It was decided "in accordance with precedent" he would be addressed as Mr. Chief Justice.

House officials have until noon today to turn over the written record in Clinton's impeachment case. Democratic sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they would carefully scrutinize the submission to make sure it did not include material that is irrelevant to the two articles of impeachment passed by the House.

Presidential allies are prepared to object if they believe the House has included material that was not part of the two articles, these sources said.

They added that Abbe Lowell, the lead lawyer for House Judiciary Committee Democrats during proceedings in the House, had met with Senate Democratic aides recently and would be reviewing the material.

The White House worked against today's deadline for submission of its own trial brief. One outside adviser, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was being drafted to suggest that House Republicans drew conclusions from the evidence that went far beyond prosecutor Kenneth Starr's own analysis of the evidence.

The adviser said the brief, which must still be approved by the president, is expected to highlight contradictory testimony and try to make a strong case that the key witnesses in the case - Monica Lewinsky, Betty Currie and Vernon Jordan - all made statements that support Clinton's denials of wrongdoing.

For instance, House prosecutors and Starr both concluded, from Lewinsky's testimony, that Currie's retrieval of presidential gifts was an act of obstruction by the president. But White House lawyers will argue that Currie testified Clinton never asked her to pick up the gifts and that Lewinsky testified Clinton never told her directly he was retrieving the gifts and that she just assumed the Oval Office secretary was acting on orders from the president.

The adviser said the White House brief also is unlikely to attack Lewinsky's credibility, instead dismissing contradictions between her testimony and the president's as differing recollections.

"The brief will argue Clinton admitted to an intimate relationship with Lewinsky and that in any relationship there is room for differing recollections," the adviser said.

Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee will present the case for Clinton's removal from office. Pending last minute changes, Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois will make brief opening comments, followed by Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, who will speak for about an hour.

Other Republicans, including Reps. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, James Rogan of California and Ed Bryant of Tennessee, will detail the evidence, after which Rep. Bill McCollum of Florida is expected to deliver a summary.

Reps. Bob Barr of Georgia, Chris Cannon of Utah, George Gekas of Pennsylvania, and Steve Chabot of Ohio will discuss the laws governing perjury and obstruction of justice.

Reps. Charles Canady of Florida, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Steven Buyer of Indiana will address the issues of impeachable offenses, and either Hyde or Rogan, a former prosecutor, will make closing arguments.

The Senate schedule sets aside 24 hours for the House to make its case - three eight-hour days, for example - to be followed by 24 hours for the White House to present its defense. Afterward, the Senate will have 16 hours to pose questions to the two sides.

Under a tentative calendar, that takes up the time through Saturday, Jan. 23.

At that point, the White House or a Senate Democratic ally is expected to seek dismissal of the charges, and the House is expected to counter with a request for witnesses, with no firm expectation of how long that takes.

Few, if any, senators are predicting that Clinton will be stripped of the presidency - a step that requires a two-thirds vote.

And Lockhart was biting during the day in comments made about a lengthy trial brief submitted by House prosecutors on Monday.

"It reads like a cheap mystery," he said at one point.

"It is at times a hallmark of what's a weak factual and constitutional case that the allegations continue to shift, and that the rhetoric continues to be overblown," he said in a second appearance before reporters.

Later, he added, "I mean, I think there is overblown rhetoric in there about sinister plots, and I think that it detracts from the argument they are trying to make," he added.

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