US senators have gone into closed session to deliberate on their votes in the impeachment trial of President Clinton which should end on or before Friday.
The Senate voted 59 to 41 to open the debate to the press and to the public, but the motion was defeated because it did not get the necessary two-thirds majority of 67 votes. The actual votes on the two articles of impeachment accusing President Clinton of perjury and obstruction of justice will be held in public. Before retiring into closed session, the Senate agreed that senators would be allowed to enter their final statements into the Congressional record if they wished after the trial had ended.
The closed session is expected to speed up the final phase of the trial. Each of the 100 senators is given up to 15 minutes of speaking time but many may not require their full allocation if the TV cameras are not there to record their lofty thoughts on impeachment.
The Republican leader, Senator Trent Lott, made an indirect plea to his colleagues to keep speeches short. "I remind all senators that Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address in less than three minutes, and Kennedy's first inaugural was slightly over seven minutes," he said.
Moves behind the scenes to vote a censure motion against President Clinton following his expected acquittal have run into difficulties. The proposal has strong backing from Democrats but many Republicans are opposed to the idea for a variety of reasons.
They believe it is too light a sanction or that it allows Democrats to have it both ways by voting to acquit the President while deploring his conduct.
In his closing argument on Monday, the chief Republican prosecutor, Mr Henry Hyde, dismissed the censure alternative to conviction. "Do you really cleanse the office as provided in the constitution or do you use the Air Wick of a censure resolution?" he asked.
In a last-minute development, Republican senators have passed on information about an alleged secret taping system in the White House to the independent counsel, Mr Kenneth Starr. There have been unsubstantiated reports that the phone calls between President Clinton and Ms Lewinsky may have been recorded.
Senate officials said that the information was raised at a meeting of Republican senators but that there was little enthusiasm to delay the ending of the trial.
The White House spokesman, Mr Joe Lockhart, has denied that such a recording system exists.
Meanwhile, Mr Starr may face a full Justice Department investigation into allegations that his agents violated correct procedures in their first meeting with Ms Lewinsky.
During the discussions with Ms Lewinsky about a possible immunity deal, she should have been allowed to have her attorney present, some Democratic members of Congress have claimed.