Daily briefing

What happened yesterday?

In an attempt to break the deadlock in President Clinton's impeachment trial, the Senate approved a series of measures designed to bring it to an end by February 12. Once again, compromise eluded the Senate and partisan loyalty governed yesterday's votes.

The procedural plan passed yesterday will lead the Senate to take videotaped depositions from the three key witnesses, including Monica Lewinsky, the former White House intern at the centre of the affair. The plan enables Mr Clinton's accusers to show Ms Lewinsky's videotaped deposition to the Senate. The Senate will reconvene next Thursday to consider whether any of these witnesses will testify in person, after the Republican majority outvoted the Democrats, who wanted to prevent Ms Lewinsky from testifying directly to the Senate.

A Democrat motion to dismiss the case outright was also defeated, but with 44 of the 45 Democrats following the pro-Clinton party line, the president still has comfortably more than the 34 senators required to block his conviction on the two articles of impeachment.

The Senate also agreed that the only way the trial could continue beyond February 12 would be if both the Republican Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and the Democrat Minority Leader Thomas Daschle agreed to accept further evidence.

Quotes of the day

"Clearly the bipartisanship in the Senate is dead and we've returned to an atmosphere of partisanship and partisan votes." White House press secretary Joe Lockhart.

''I'm not ranting and raving and questioning any of their motives or blasting them for this and that. They would nitpick a gnat to death.'' Senate Republican leader, Trent Lott, on the Democrats.

''The good ship GOP has hit an iceberg and it's sinking. Each day we continue this trial is really an impeachment of the Republicans.'' Democrat Senator Edward Kennedy.

"'We don't want the spectacle of Monica Lewinsky or anyone else brought into the forum that is anticipated in this resolution. What little dignity that Monica Lewinsky has left, we hope we can protect.'' Senate Democrat leader Thomas Daschle.

"It's getting more confusing.'' Democrat Senator John Breaux.

What the US media say

"With 44 Democrats ready to drop the case against Clinton now, the 67 votes needed to convict him are demonstrably beyond reach."
The LA Times

"Don't trust Bill Clinton when he casts himself as the saviour of anything - save his own hide."
The New York Post

"You have to hand it to them. They lost five seats. They lost two House speakers. Their 'family values' champions were exposed as hypocrites. Yet the Republicans grimly pressed on. If they took these heavy losses out of respect for the Constitution - not because blood lust had taken them beyond the point of no return - they deserve our applause."
The Charleston Daily Mail

"Americans are afflicted with the notion that we should be embarrassed by the Clinton Impeachment Follies. We think that sophisticated Europe is going tut-tut at our seeming constitutional instability and tsk-tsk at our obsession with what former Senator Dale Bumpers (Democrat, Arkansas) brushed off as a mere 'sex scandal'. Cut the blushing. Eurocorruption is busting out all over. Never have so many taken so much so blatantly."
William Safire, The Houston Chronicle

What happens next?

The videotaped depositions from the three trial witnesses will begin on Monday, starting with Monica Lewinsky. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Senate will take videotaped evidence from presidential confidante Vernon Jordan and White House aide Sidney Blumenthal.

Next Thursday, the Senate will reconvene to consider whether any further testimony, given directly to the Senate, needs to be heard.

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