The Lewinsky Tapes Part 21 - Phone Calls on Bill Clinton

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• published: 12 Jun 2014
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December 9, 1997 The Senate trial began on January 7, 1999, with Chief Justice of the United States William Rehnquist presiding. The first day consisted of formal presentation of the charges against Clinton, and of Justice Rehnquist swearing in all arguants in the trial. Thirteen House Republicans from the Judiciary Committee served as "managers," the equivalent of prosecutors: Chairman Henry Hyde of Illinois Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin Bill McCollum of Florida George Gekas of Pennsylvania Charles Canady of Florida Steve Buyer of Indiana Ed Bryant of Tennessee Steve Chabot of Ohio Bob Barr of Georgia Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas Chris Cannon of Utah James E. Rogan of California Lindsey Graham of South Carolina Clinton was defended by Cheryl Mills. Clinton's counsel staff included Charles Ruff, David E. Kendall, Dale Bumpers, Bruce Lindsey, Nicole Seligman, Lanny A. Breuer and Gregory B. Craig.[19] A resolution on rules and procedure for the trial was adopted unanimously on the following day; however, Senators tabled the question of whether to call witnesses in the trial. The trial remained in recess while briefs were filed by the House (Jan. 11) and Clinton (Jan. 13). The Managers presented their case over three days, from January 14 to 16, with discussion of the facts and background of the case; detailed cases for both articles of impeachment (including excerpts from videotaped grand jury testimony that Clinton had made the previous August; matters of interpretation and application of the laws governing perjury and obstruction of justice; and argument that the evidence and precedents justified removal of the President from office by virtue of "willful, premeditated, deliberate corruption of the nation's system of justice through perjury and obstruction of justice."[20] The defense presentation took place from January 19--21. Clinton's defense counsel argued that Clinton's grand jury testimony had too many inconsistencies to be a clear case of perjury, that the investigation and impeachment had been tainted by partisan political bias, that the President's approval rating of more than 70 percent indicated that his ability to govern had not been impaired by the scandal, and that the Managers had ultimately presented "an unsubstantiated, circumstantial case that does not meet the constitutional standard to remove the President from office."[20] January 22 and 23 were devoted to questions from members of the Senate to the House Managers and Clinton's defense counsel. Under the rules, all questions (over 150) were to be written down and given to Rehnquist to read to the party being questioned. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_of_Bill_Clinton