By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 7, 1999

Posted at 3:55 p.m. EST – The Senate opened the first impeachment trial of a president in 131 years today as the lead House prosecutor formally read the charges against President Clinton and Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist took over as presiding officer to swear in the 100 senators as jurors.

But the trial was immediately hung up on partisan divisions over how to go forward and the Senate temporarily recessed without issuing the required summons to Clinton.

The wrangling came after ceremonial proceedings on the Senate floor began on a solemn note as senators one by one walked to the well of the chamber to sign a book acknowledging their oath to do "impartial justice."

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) had hoped to resolve the impasse over trial rules this afternoon with a rare joint meeting of the Republican and Democratic caucuses – essentially a closed-door session of the entire Senate. Democrats, however, rejected the idea, leaving both parties preparing to return to the floor with competing procedural plans at 1 p.m. EST Friday.

The confusion on Capitol Hill underscored the extraordinary nature of the constitutional confrontation now involving all three branches of government. The only other time the Senate has considered whether to remove a president came during the 1868 trial of Andrew Johnson in an era when there were barely half as many senators, no independent counsels, no DNA evidence and no C-SPAN or other television networks to record every historic moment.

Johnson was acquitted by a single vote after a 2-1/2 month trial. Many senators today were trying to figure out a way of avoiding such a lengthy proceeding, particularly given that most assume the modern-day Senate would not muster the two-thirds vote required to convict Clinton.

The two articles of impeachment read on the Senate floor by chief House prosecutor Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.) this morning accuse Clinton of committing perjury before a federal grand jury and obstructing justice to conceal his extramarital affair with former White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky.

The main dispute in the Senate today centered on whether witnesses will be called. Hyde and the other 12 House Republicans serving as prosecutors, called "managers," have insisted on putting on a full trial with live testimony from perhaps 10 to 15 witnesses. Lewinsky, Clinton friend Vernon E. Jordan, presidential secretary Betty Currie and a variety of White House aides would be among those called.

The White House and Senate Democrats have objected vigorously. During a meeting with key senators Wednesday night, White House officials offered to stipulate to the record collected by independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr in exchange for a quick trial without witnesses. That would mean that the trial would rely on the five volumes of evidence publicly released by the House, with Clinton foregoing his right to cross-examine witnesses who testified before Starr's grand jury.

The White House complained that allowing testimony would force a long trial and require defense lawyers to call their own witnesses. "They will in effect extend this process and delay this process, because bringing witnesses in and not stipulating to a record opens up a whole area of motions, discovery and depositions," White House press secretary Joe Lockhart said today. "And that takes time."

Lockhart added that beginning the trial today without rules in place would not happen even in traffic court, much less a court of impeachment, and he called the move "manifestly unfair to the president."

House prosecutors said witnesses were necessary to evaluate conflicting accounts and to humanize the case. Rep. Ed Bryant (R-Tenn.), a member of the prosecution team, said he believed the Senate would put a time limit on testimony during the trial, estimating that the evidentiary stage would last about two weeks.

"We're talking about finishing this in the Senate's time frame," Bryant said. "There's no reason we can't accomplish this by the middle of February."

When the Senate reconvenes Friday, Lott and fellow Republicans plan to offer a proposal allowing both prosecution and defense to make up to five days of opening presentations, starting next week. After both sides are finished, the Senate, having heard the evidence, could then decide whether to hear witnesses and would vote on subpoenas one by one, requiring a 51-vote majority to compel someone's testimony.

"Let's begin to hear the case and we'll make decisions as we go forward," Lott said.

The Democratic plan to be offered would call for a similar opening stage, but prohibit witnesses afterward. After presentations by both sides, the Senate would then vote on whether to dismiss the charges. However, outnumbered 55 to 45, Democrats appeared unlikely to win approval of their proposal.

Today's proceedings began with the official hearing of the charges at 10 a.m. The House prosecutors were formally received in the Senate chamber and then Hyde, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee that conducted the original impeachment inquiry, read the two articles aloud in a low, serious voice.

The Senate recessed until shortly after 1 p.m., when Rehnquist arrived to take his place as presiding officer, as dictated by the Constitution. Wearing his traditional black robe with gold braids on the sleeves, Rehnquist was sworn in by Senate President Pro Tempore Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.). Vice President Gore, who as president of the Senate would have sworn in Rehnquist, decided not to participate out of a concern for the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Rehnquist then administered the oath to the 100 senators, who stood at their desks with their right hands raised: "Do you solemnly swear that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton now pending that you will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws, so help you God?"

The senators were called to the well to sign the oath book; each was given a black Parker ballpoint pen inscribed "United States Senator" to inscribe his or her name and then keep it as a historic memento.

Under the rules, the Senate was then supposed to issue a writ of summons to the president reciting the charges and advising him of the deadline for his response. But with partisan differences deepening, the Senate could not approve such a summons because it had not ironed out a schedule and so it recessed until later in the day.