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Prosecutors hone in on legal grounds for case against Clinton, Harkin objects to being called a "juror"
Updated January 15, 1999
6:00 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (Court TV) — Picking up where they left off Thursday, House prosecutors continued to hammer home the details of President Clinton's alleged misconduct and the legal ground for his impeachment.
The four House prosecutors who spoke for five hours on Friday painstakingly reviewed the chronology of alleged misconduct against the president — charges with which the public has long been familiar.
They detailed Monica Lewinsky's affidavit in the Paula Jones case, her suprisingly successful job search after an interview she said went poorly, Betty Currie's retrieval of the president's gifts and excerpts of testimony and more testimony.
The prosecutors also produced more charts highlighting alleged contradictions in sworn statements from the president and the other participants in the drama. Lewinsky said the president touched her breasts many times, Clinton said he didn't and many more examples.
The only unexpected note came four hours into the opening statements, when Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, objected to Rep. Bob Barr's use of the word "jurors" to describe the Senate.
"All crimes except impeachment are to be tried by a jury," Harkin said, reading from Article III of the Constitution. Quoting also from Alexander Hamilton's writing in the Federalist Paper 65, Harkin said the Senate has far more discretion than an ordinary jury since it acts both as court and jury.
"Jurors do not overrule the judge," Harkin pointed out. "Not so here."
"The Chairman is of the view that the Senator's objection is well-taken," said Chief Justice William Rehnquist, acceding to Harkin's objection shortly before Rep. Bob Barr completed his presentation and the Senate adjourned at 5:10 p.m.
After the objection, Barr was careful to address the senators as "triers of fact" both on the Senate floor and in interviews after the proceedings.
Harkin told Court TV he objected to being called a juror because it misrepresents the role of the senators in an impeachment trial.
He added that it illustrates the "fundamental misunderstanding that the House has about our role."
Court TV's selection of highlights from the Senate Impeachment Trial.
In his presentation to the senators, Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, matched the president's penchant for hair-splitting definitions as he led the Senate through court decisions that he said have established the precise meaning of not just the charge of perjury, but even the phrase misleading conduct.
Although the prosecutors acknowledged that some of their chronology is based on circumstantial evidence, they argued that taken as a whole, the inferences drawn from the president's behavior can only lead to the conclusion that the president knowingly misled Paula Jones' lawyers and the grand jury.
"Remember, events and words that may seem innocent or even exculpatory in a vacuum, may well take on a sinister, or even criminal connotation when viewed as a whole," said Rep. George Gekas, R-Penn.
Warning that the defense would attempt to pick at the factual details of the allegations, the prosecutors urged the Senate to view the episodes as a whole, an elaborate web of premeditated deception that constituted perjury, witness tampering, and obstruction of justice.
Even perjury about sex, they insisted, challenges the very foundation of justice and law in this society when it is committed by the leader of that society.
The prosecutors pointed out that under federal sentencing guidelines, the crimes of perjury and obstruction of justice receive a stiffer sentence than bribery. The Constitution lists treason, bribery, or "other High Crimes and Misdemeanors" as grounds for impeachment.
"We ask you to strike down these insidious cancers that eat at our system of government and laws," said Barr as he ended the day's session.
"Strike it down with the Constitution so it might not fester as a gaping wound; poisoning future generations of children; poisoning our court system; and perhaps even poisoning future generations of political leaders," he concluded.
As the Senate adjourned Clinton had just returned from a trip to New York, and was playing ball with his dog Buddy on the White House lawn. He appeared in New York to promote Wall Street investment in poor and minority communities.
The Senate has still not decided whether it will call witnesses, including the president himself. After the session ended, Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, said he did not favor asking Clinton to appear.
"He would simply repeat the kind of tortured evasions he's said before," Bennett told CNN. The prosecutors encouraged the Senate to call witnesses in the case if they had any doubts as to the credibility of the testimony presented.
"If you believe the testimony of Monica Lewinsky, you cannot believe the President or accept the arguments of his lawyers," Rep. Bill McCollum told the Senate. "The record is so clear on this that if you have any significant doubt about Monica Lewinsky's credibility ... you should have us bring her in here."
After the Senate adjourned, White House legal counsel Greg Craig was quick to denounce the prosecutors' insistence on this point, pointing out that the Senate agreed to defer its decision until after opening statements.
Craig said the demand for witnesses showed that the House prosecution didn't have a case based on the substantial amount of testimony and information already compiled.
Opinions on the advisability of calling witnesses are divided largely along partisan lines among those Senators that are speaking out on the issue. In addition to the president, Republicans have suggested calling Monica Lewinsky, Betty Currie, and Vernon Jordan.
"Republicans like myself are looking at the elements of felonies," said Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore. "Democrats are looking at whether this rises to the level of impeachment. These are two different questions. It's like two trains passing in the night."
However hot a topic the trial may be the Capitol, it drew less public attention on its second day. The Senate gallery, packed on Thursday, was only three-quarters full and the major television networks aimed their cameras elsewhere.
Only the Republican house managers can be seen on the television feeds, but senators assured reporters after the adjournment that despite an apparent waning of public interest, they and their colleagues seemed to be paying close attention.
The House prosecutors will complete their opening statements on Saturday, starting at 10 a.m. According to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, Saturday's session is expected to conclude by about 3:30 p.m.
The White House will begin to present its defense on Tuesday. The trial will not be postponed for the president's State of the Union address, which is scheduled to be delivered on Tuesday evening just after the Senate session ends. Republicans have suggested that Clinton put off his speech while Democrats opined that the trial should be delayed instead.
Court TV's Aldina Vazao Kennedy, Catherine Heins, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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