The White House legal team is putting the final touches to its defence of President Clinton, which will open tomorrow in the Senate. Republican prosecutors have made a strong case for his dismissal from office on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.
The prosecution case presented by 13 Republican "managers" from the House of Representatives ended on Saturday with both sides still arguing over the calling of witnesses. Republicans have also suggested that President Clinton himself should be invited to appear, while acknowledging that he is unlikely to accept.
But Republicans could succeed by a majority vote in calling witnesses such as the former White House intern Ms Monica Lewinsky, Ms Betty Currie, the President's private secretary, and Mr Vernon Jordan, his confidant and private adviser.
There will be a vote on the calling of witnesses probably next week after the defence case has finished and the senators have been allowed to pose written questions. The White House has warned that calling witnesses will result in prolonging the trial for months. Republicans argue that even with witnesses, the trial could end by mid-February.
Democratic Senator Chris Dodd said that "if you get into the witness issue . . . we could be talking May or June before you finish this trial" because of the need for the President's lawyers to review evidence compiled by the House prosecutors and to conduct depositions.
Former senator George Mitchell said yesterday that Republican suggestions for President Clinton to testify were based on "pure politics". Mr Mitchell, who is helping the White House defence team in an unofficial capacity, told NBC's Meet the Press that for the Senate to remove Mr Clinton was like using "a nuclear weapon". He urged the Senate to consider censuring the President.
As the prosecution case concluded, the White House legal spokesman, Mr Greg Craig, said that it ended as it began, "an unsubstantiated, circumstantial case that does not meet the constitutional standard to remove the President from office."
Mr Craig said: "The simple truth is that the House Republican prosecutors failed to demonstrate that the will and interests of the American people would be served by nullifying the results of a national election."
The Democrats will put down a motion next week calling for the trial to end before reaching a vote on the two articles of impeachment. Republicans are expected to defeat this motion, which requires a simple majority.
President Clinton himself has not been following the trial on television according to his spokesman. He has been finalising his State of the Union address scheduled for tomorrow night before the joint Houses of Congress.
The President paid tribute to his wife, Hillary, at a Democratic function at the weekend. He told dinner guests that "I don't even know how to talk about what I believe Hillary has meant to the success of our endeavours and she has done it under circumstances [which] I think are probably more difficult than anyone who has ever done it before."
As Mrs Clinton reportedly wiped her eyes, he added: "I love her for it, but our country should love her for it as well."