Clinton's team makes case against impeachment

As Ivy League professors made a case against President Clinton's impeachment, the president's lead attorney insisted today there is "no proof" Clinton committed perjury and that Monica Lewinsky gave "erroneous testimony."

Gregory Craig, the president's special counsel organizing his defense in Congress, told the House Judiciary Committee that while "what the President did was wrong and blameworthy, there is nothing in the record-in either the law or the facts-that would justify his impeachment and removal from office."

Craig, who promised to produce a 200-page document rebutting Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's accusations, added: "The real record shows that the sworn testimony of Ms. Lewinsky, [presidential secretary Betty] Currie and [attorney and Clinton friend Vernon] Jordan-far from incriminating the president-actually exonerates him. False denials about an improper private relationship, whether those denials are made in private or before the entire world, do not constitute an abuse of office justifying impeachment."

Craig's call on committee members to "open your mind-open your heart" appeared to fall on deaf ears. Questioning by members showed most GOP representatives on the committee were primed to vote for impeachment, at least on a perjury count, while Democratic members were still angrily opposed.

The professors from Harvard, Yale and Princeton universities further infuriated Republicans with their chorus of insistence that whatever crimes or misbehavior of which Clinton was guilty did not merit impeachment. The most caustic panelist was Sean Wilentz, a history professor from Princeton, who warned the members they could "go down in history as zealots and fanatics."

Apparently addressing ambivalent moderate Republicans who are being told impeachment is not a politically risky vote, Wilentz said any member who goes through with such a vote without believing it is merited would be guilty of "a feeble evasion of responsibility and degradation of the rule of law."

Each of the academicians, as well as former Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach-also appearing as a witness-insisted even if the charges that Clinton lied were true, he should not be impeached. They argued variously that impeachment was unwarranted, would be dangerous to the country and would drag on for more than six months into next year.

One new line of defense was raised by Bruce Ackerman, a Yale professor of law and political science-but the Republicans were lying in wait for him and sought to knock his contention down. Ackerman argued that one House cannot bind the next one, so the new Congress in January would have to repeat any votes of the "lame duck House" in order for impeachment to be constitutional. "At the end of the 105th Congress, all unfinished business dies with it," Ackerman said. "No lame duck House has ever impeached an errant judge, much less a president."

As Ackerman was testifying, Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., produced a memo from the Congressional Research Service that contradicted Ackerman.

Meanwhile, House Republican leadership sources today prepared for a potential floor vote on articles of impeachment next week-even as the elected leadership for the 106th Congress studiously avoided public comment on the subject.

House Speaker-designate Bob Livingston, R-La., is meeting today with his new leadership team, but House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, said no decision has been made-or will be made-about scheduling a floor vote until the Judiciary Committee finishes its work. Still, leadership aides currently estimate that between "12 and 20" Republicans could vote against impeachment on the floor, and perhaps "eight to 12" Democrats might vote with Republicans to impeach Clinton. Leadership aides said a floor vote could be held no earlier than next Tuesday, and is more likely to be scheduled for Wednesday. Armey spokeswoman Michele Davis said members were told before leaving town in November they will be given 48 hours' notice before a vote, and several sources said a Republican Conference meeting is likely prior to any floor action.

Meanwhile, moderate House Democrats, who may become swing voters on impeachment, are not yet being lobbied, aides said today. "We're not hearing from anyone," an aide to one Democratic moderate said. The aides said they do not expect moderate Democratic groups, such as the Blue Dog Coalition, to push members in one direction or another. "This is a personal, member- to-member decision," said an aide to one House Democrat.