WASHINGTON – House prosecutors opened their impeachment case against President Clinton yesterday, comparing his alleged lies about Monica Lewinsky to a “cancer” threatening the nation’s legal system.
At the end of the six-hour session, Republican leaders suggested Clinton might be invited to testify.
“I think he should be invited, or at least I don’t have a problem with him being invited,” GOP Whip Don Nickles (R-Okla.) told reporters.
Sources said Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) has been talking to 10 other senators about Clinton testimony, but no agreement has been reached.
Starting a trial the likes of which America hasn’t seen since 1868, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner and other House members prosecuting the case pleaded with the Senate not to let Clinton off the hook.
“Failure to bring President Clinton to account for his serial lying under oath … will cause a cancer to be present in our society for generations,” said Sensenbrenner, a Republican from Wisconsin.
“The truth is the truth, and a lie is a lie.”
Senators, who must weigh whether the perjury and obstruction-of-justice impeachment articles against Clinton merit tossing him out of the White House, listened silently during the six-hour presentation – but some struggled to stay awake.
Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) said he’s taking flu medication that makes it “tougher than hell to stay awake.”
Joked Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.): “It’s hard not to snore; to sit there quietly and listen is tough.”
Despite the importance of the event, rules requiring senators to remain in their seats except for bathroom trips forced lawmakers – who often chat with one another as they venture to the floor to give a speech or cast a vote – to sit tight.
At the end of the day, senators of both parties gave the prosecutors high marks but refused to say whether they’ve been persuaded.
“They did a good job. I think they presented a powerful case. But I think you always say to yourself, ‘There’s another side to this. Let’s hear it,'” said Sen. John Chafee (R-R.I.).
Before the trial began, sergeant-at-arms James Ziglar warned that disturbing the trial would be met with the “pain of imprisonment.”
Most of the day was turned over to the presentations by the House prosecutors, who led senators through the nitty-gritty facts of the case.
With the delivery of a country lawyer, Rep. Ed Bryant, a Tennessee Republican, made a brief plea for calling witnesses – and said he was surprised that Clinton doesn’t want witnesses to try to defend himself.
History of another sort was made yesterday when – for the first time ever – television sets were wheeled onto the Senate floor.
Rep. James Rogan (R-Calif.), a former judge with a clear-eyed demeanor and fluid delivery, showed several video clips of Clinton allegedly lying under oath.
Lawmakers watched the clips on four giant Sony TVs – including one of Chief Justice William Rehnquist swearing Clinton into office. Rehnquist is presiding over the impeachment trial.
House prosecutors offered no new blockbuster revelations but recast evidence gathered last year by Sexgate prober Kenneth Starr.
An undercurrent to yesterday’s proceedings was the brewing fight over witnesses.
Democrats reacted angrily to reports that Republicans hatched plans to haul witnesses to the Senate and also criticized contact between GOP senators and House prosecutors.
Top Democrat Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said he was “very disappointed” that GOP senators met with prosecutors, telling The Post: “I’m very worried about it. I think it goes against what we agreed to.”
But Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said the meeting “doesn’t trouble me,” and Daschle acknowledged that he was invited to attend the meeting through Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.).
White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said Clinton has no plans to take the stand.
“Any witness opens up this process to lengthy delays,” said Lockhart, who repeated his complaint that the trial is political.
“I don’t think the founders intended a party that is in the majority in the Congress could remove a president at their whim.”
The battle over which witnesses, if any, to bring before the Senate is likely to re-emerge later this month, when a vote is planned on motions from House prosecutors who want live testimony from Lewinsky, Clinton secretary Betty Currie and possibly First Pal Vernon Jordan and top White House aides.
While some senators may support witnesses, the idea of asking Clinton to testify was mostly dismissed by both parties.
Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.) said, “I don’t think we should call him to come. It should be his choice.”
Clinton is only the second president in history to be impeached by the House. By law, the senate needs 67 of 100 votes in order to convict him and remove him from office.
The trial, expected to last three weeks if there aren’t any witnesses, continues today at 1 p.m., with prosecutors concentrating on what the law says about lying under oath and obstruction of justice.
Clinton’s lawyers plan to start their three days of defense on Tuesday – the day the president delivers his State of the Union Address.