U.S. Senate Votes To Continue Impeachment Trial, Call Witnesses

In a largely partisan vote, the United States Senate has voted not to dismiss the charges in the Impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton. By 56 votes to 44, with only one Democrat, Wisconsin's Senator Russ Feingold, voting with the Republicans, the Senate opted to continue the trial and to subpoena witnesses.

Agreement has not yet been reached, but it is expected that the Republicans will depose three witnesses: Monica Lewinsky, Vernon Jordan and Sidney Blumenthal.

The depositions of the three witnesses would begin as early as Thursday and would be videotaped. Each deposition would last six hours, equally divided between the White House and House prosecutors with two senators sitting in as mediators.

The videotaped sessions and transcripts would be distributed Monday to senators, who would then vote Tuesday on whether to permit live testimony. The timetable would allow for that testimony and then closing statements from the House managers and White House lawyers.

What is not certain at this stage is the attitude of the White House. There are approximately 56,000 pages of still-secret evidence the House Judiciary Committee gathered during the impeachment proceedings and the White House may argue it should be given time to examine these documents.

• Read Alexander Hamilton's Federalist Paper No.65 that deals with Impeachment

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------