Word: lotte
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...Trent Lott has been squeamish about witnesses from the start. Though a former House member himself, Lott didn't trust the House managers to muster the requisite dignity and restraint. And he knew that once witnesses were called, he would have little choice but to allow the President's lawyers time for discovery. If witnesses requested immunity, or refused to appear without a subpoena, the crocuses would be up before the defense rested...
Hardest to convince was the "damn the torpedoes" faction, conservatives who want to barbecue Clinton as long as possible or who hope something might turn up to draw 12 Democrats into the hanging party. Lott had to convince this crowd that a full-blown trial wouldn't pull Democrats in but would drive moderate Republicans out; it takes only 51 votes to adjourn. "You should never damn the torpedoes," said a G.O.P. leadership adviser, "because torpedoes explode...
...deal aimed at shortening a trial to work, Lott knew he had to have the White House's tacit agreement not to call witnesses. He also needed assurances from Lieberman and Daschle that Clinton would not make a mockery of Lott's work by celebrating the Senate's turn to censure as a vindication of his behavior. In the wake of the House's partisan vote to impeach--and the polls showing the public siding overwhelmingly with Clinton--the early talk in the White House was more about combat than compromise. As a senior White House official put it, "There...
...meeting of the President's senior political advisers and lawyers last week, bravado gave way to pragmatism, and a decision was made to go along with the Lott plan. Better to end it quickly, the thinking went, while the White House could be sure that Republicans lacked the 67 votes to convict. Chief of staff John Podesta told Daschle that the White House was on board, but both sides agreed that it was important to play down any White House role in the deal for fear Republicans might reject it. "Right now, this is the Lott plan," said a senior...
...time Chief Justice William Rehnquist administers the oath given to Senators before an impeachment trial, G.O.P. conservatives may have torpedoed Lott's plan. But as the majority leader is quick to point out, in the absence of an agreed-upon schedule, there is nothing to prevent a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans from putting together the simple majority of 51 votes needed to short-circuit a trial altogether and move immediately toward censure. His plan, Lott argues, at least gives House prosecutors a chance to make the case for conviction and then allows Senators to vote on whether...