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President vows to focus on the people's business, Lewinsky declines interview with prosecutors
Updated January 13, 1999
9:40 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (Court TV) — As his lawyers filed an exhaustive, 130-page brief in his defense Wednesday, President Clinton said he intended to think as little as possible on the Senate impeachment trial, which is set to begin Thursday afternoon.
On Capitol Hill, House managers were trying to sort out the witnesses, if they are indeed needed. Monica Lewinsky attorney Plato Cacheris reportedly denied a request from the House Judiciary Committee for an interview and Judiciary Committee Republicans said they had sought permission earlier in the week to talk with the woman at the center of the sex-and-cover-up scandal. Her attorneys "declined to make her available," said a committee spokesman, Paul J. McNulty.
Legal sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed that a similar request was made to at least one other potential witness, Kathleen Willey, according to The Associated Press.
Throughout the day the president busied himself with a variety of affairs, ranging from monitoring Brazil's economic crisis to praising Michael Jordan as the basketball star announced his retirement. At a White House ceremony this afternoon, Clinton unveiled a $2 billion plan to help disabled people retain their health insurance, receive rehabilitation services, and return to work.
However, his lawyers and the lawyers for the House of Representatives have been focusing on the impeachment trial, which will begin with opening arguments from the prosecution Thursday morning.
The brief Clinton's attorneys filed this morning offers a point-by-point rebuttal of the pro-impeachment arguments that the House of Representatives laid out in its own hundred-plus page brief, filed on Monday.
Citing the opinions of 400 historians and scholars, the president's brief claims that the charges stemming from the president's affair with intern Monica Lewinsky are not sufficient cause to override the choice of the voters who twice put President Clinton in the White House.
"They even fall short of what a prudent prosecutor would require before presenting a case to a judge or jury," states the brief in its introduction. "Should the will of the people be overruled ... because two people have a different recollection of the details of a wrongful relationship?"
"In the final analysis," the brief continues, "the House is asking the Senate to remove the President because he had a wrongful relationship and sought to keep the existence of that relationship private . . from beginning to end the House process was both partisan and unfair."
The 130-page brief offered a preview of the case that Clinton's attorneys will present in defending him against perjury and obstruction of justice charges in the Senate impeachment trial. Although Clinton had an inappropriate affair with the intern, the brief says, he did not ask her to lie about that relationship, nor hide gifts, nor was she promised a job to buy her silence.
Meanwhile, House officials are suggesting the impeachment case will be prosecuted like a conspiracy, alleging that the president schemed to keep Monica Lewinsky from revealing their extramarital affair and ultimately plotted to ruin her reputation.
Prosecutors also will focus on the president's oft-reported conversation with Mrs. Betty Currie after his deposition in the Paula Jones case, trying to show that Clinton was trying to coach a prospective witness.
The efforts will move from written pages to the Senate chamber Thursday when the House opens its presentation. There, television cameras will show Americans their first live presidential impeachment trial and record the proceedings for history.
Court TV's Catherine Heins and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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