White House Is Given 30 Hours to Present Case

WASHINGTON —  On the eve of a historic showdown in Congress, President Clinton and the House Judiciary Committee reached a compromise Sunday that will allow White House lawyers a marathon 30-hour opportunity to present their case on why the president should not be impeached for alleged misconduct in the Monica S. Lewinsky matter.

The agreement, finalized after both sides had been bitterly accusing each other of politicizing one of the Constitution’s most fundamental provisions, means that Clinton’s lawyers can address the committee and call witnesses during 15-hour hearings, from morning to midnight, on both Tuesday and Wednesday.

That timetable now sets the stage for the committee members to begin formal debate on whether Clinton lied and obstructed justice in hiding his affair with the former White House intern, with a vote on articles of impeachment coming perhaps as early as Friday.

In another surprise development Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who until now has been cautious about Clinton’s fate, announced in his strongest language to date that, if the full House approves impeachment, he will immediately hold a trial in the Senate, perhaps as early as the first week in January.

The vote set for next week on the floor of the House, where a simple majority is needed, is considered too close to call.

In the Senate, where a two-thirds vote is needed to convict the president and remove him from office, Lott’s comments could be seen as a sharp message to many of those undecided House members that they should not vote in favor of impeachment unless they sincerely believe that Clinton’s behavior meets the benchmark of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” as worded in the Constitution.

There had been speculation in Washington that some undecided House members might vote for impeachment in the expectation that the Senate would sidestep the issue and dispose of it without plunging into a full-scale trial. Lott’s comments seemed to foreclose any such political expedient.

For several days, the White House and the GOP-led Judiciary Committee have been wrangling over how and when the president’s lawyers would be allowed to put on their case and address the panel.

Initially, the Clinton administration sought as much as four days to press his defense and announced a partial witness list composed of two law professors and a historian.

The committee, led by Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.), immediately fired back that the White House was not sticking to the rules and procedures of the committee, which mandate that witness lists be provided and approved in advance, and that testimony not duplicate prior statements to the panel.

Last week, Democrats on the panel called a wide array of experts and scholars on what constitutes an impeachable offense.

Now, Hyde and other Republicans are angry that the White House is offering more of the same in what the GOP sees as an attempt to get the impeachment matter put off until next year, when the House will have more Democrats and passage might be more difficult.

In a strongly worded letter Sunday, Thomas E. Mooney, chief of staff and general counsel for Hyde, directed the White House to give the committee its full witness list by noon today. The White House later said it would comply.

“The counsel for the president and any approved witnesses that he suggests will be subject to questioning by all of the members and counsel for the majority and minority,” Mooney advised White House Counsel Charles F.C. Ruff and Gregory B. Craig, special counsel to the president. “The presentation by the White House must be completed on Wednesday night so that the committee can stay on its course to resolve this matter by the end of the year.”

The letter also complained that the White House has repeatedly tried to circumvent the impeachment process.

“You have failed to comply with committee procedures and demonstrated contempt for the committee’s process,” Mooney wrote. “I am concerned that your recent maneuvers may be little more than an attempt to delay the committee and turn attention away from the facts before it.”

Mooney also noted that the committee “had already heard from more than 30 witnesses who testified on the constitutional standards for impeachment and the significance of perjury.”

To ensure that the White House brings in witnesses that cover new ground, Mooney directed it to provide in advance not just the names of all the new witnesses, but also “precise summaries of what [they] would propose to show.”

Hyde can veto witnesses, but it is unlikely he will refuse the White House its say this late in the process, committee sources said.

The White House and Democrats on the committee said they expect the Clinton lawyers to take advantage of the entire 30 hours to present their defense. But they also argued that the White House is being squeezed at the last minute, despite the fact that the committee has had the report from independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr for months.

“The independent counsel has spent four years and $40 million, and the committee is spending four months investigating the president,” said Jim Kennedy, a spokesman for the White House counsel’s office.

“We asked for four days and now that has been cut in half.”

Democrats on the committee had similar complaints.

“Committee Republicans and staff sat around for week after week after we received the Starr referral and did absolutely nothing,” said Jim Jordan, a spokesman for the Democrats on the panel.

“And yet now they’re forcing us into round-the-clock sessions to hammer articles of impeachment through this Congress. Obviously today’s decision won’t do anything to bolster public confidence.”

On the same show, Lott was asked about the possibility of a trial in the Senate.

“I think the Senate will have a trial,” he said.

He indicated that the trial should be held “very briskly,” beginning possibly as early as Jan. 6 or 7.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Impeachment Schedule

(all times Eastern)

Sept. 9: Independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr delivers his report to Congress, claiming there is “credible” evidence that President Clinton committed impeachable offenses.

Sept. 11: The House of Representatives votes, 363 to 63, to release the entire Starr report. Studded with sexually graphic details, Starr’s report alleges that Clinton committed 11 impeachable acts stemming from his efforts to hide his affair with Monica S. Lewinsky. The allegations include perjury, obstruction of justice and witness tampering.

Sept. 12: Clinton’s lawyers issue a 42-page legal counterattack charging that Starr’s report is “part of a hit-and-run smear campaign” wrongly focused on “salacious” details.

Sept. 18: The House Judiciary Committee votes to release to the public Clinton’s Aug. 17 videotaped grand jury testimony and 2,800 pages of other documents received from Starr.

Sept. 19: The Judiciary Committee prepares 2,800 pages of accompanying information for release, deleting about 120 references, many of them sexual or referring to uninvolved third persons.

Sept. 21: Clinton’s videotaped testimony is released and broadcast simultaneously on U.S. television networks.

Nov. 3: Republicans suffer a setback in U.S. elections, losing five seats in the House to the Democrats. The result is seen as a reflection of popular discontent with the impeachment process and a boost for Clinton.

Nov. 13: Clinton agrees to pay $850,000 to settle the Paula Corbin Jones sexual harassment lawsuit. The settlement does not include an apology from Clinton, a gesture that Jones had originally demanded.

Nov. 19: Impeachment hearings open, with Starr the key witness.

Today: The White House has until noon to provide a list of witnesses and to divulge “precisely” what it expects to say to the committee.

Tuesday: 9 a.m. to midnight, the first session for the White House to put on its case.

Wednesday: 9 a.m. to midnight, the White House continues to put on its case in second and final session. Probably about 1 p.m., the White House lawyers will have to begin their legal arguments to fit in all of the committee questions.

Thursday: In the morning, Abbe Lowell, counsel for the Democrats on the committee, will make his presentation on why impeachment should not be approved. In the afternoon, David Schippers, counsel for the committee Republicans, will argue for impeachment. That night, the committee members will begin weighing proposed articles of impeachment.

Friday: Debate continues, and votes likely will begin.

Saturday: If needed, the committee will continue in session to complete the voting and send the matter to the full House.

The week of Dec. 13: If passed in committee, any articles of impeachment would be debated and voted on by the full House.

Early January: A trial in the Senate would begin, perhaps as early as the first week in January, if the House approves articles of impeachment, according to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.).