The White House opened its defence of President Clinton at his Senate impeachment trial yesterday, trying to punch holes in the case against him and arguing the charges do not warrant his removal from office.
The White House counsel, Mr Charles Ruff, pressed his case before 100 senators entrusted with deciding whether Mr Clinton should be removed from office on perjury and obstruction of justice charges stemming from his affair with Ms Monica Lewinsky.
"William Jefferson Clinton is not guilty of the charges that have been proffered against him, "Mr Ruff said. "He did not commit perjury. He did not obstruct justice. He must not be removed from office."
Even if the evidence supported the charges, Mr Ruff argued, it would not be enough to meet the constitutional standard of "high crimes and misdemeanours" needed for removal from office.
Mr Ruff was to speak for two or three hours before the Senate adjourns only to get together later last night for the President's State of the Union address. Mr Clinton will address the nation from the House where he was impeached last month on a near party-line vote.
Mr Ruff's opening comments were aimed at countering the case outlined over three days last week by 13 House prosecutors.
Mr Ruff, who uses a wheelchair, disputed the prosecution's interpretation of some events and the standards it used to measure the offences.
He questioned the fairness of the House Judiciary Committee's inquiry and the insistence of prosecutors that they needed witnesses to make their case.
"I suggest that what you have before you is not the product of the Judiciary Committee's well-considered, judicious assessment of their constitutional role," Mr Ruff told senators. "No, what you have before you is the product of nothing more than a rush to judgment."
Mr Clinton's defence team will have two more days to conclude its arguments. The White House will bring in several Democrats from the Judiciary Committee and former Arkansas senator Dale Bumpers to make presentations.
But the star for the defence was expected to be Mr Clinton in his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress early this morning.
A two-thirds Senate vote is needed to convict Mr Clinton and remove him from office on either article of impeachment. Few expect the Senate to muster the votes necessary to convict him, and even Democrats acknowledged it was probably inevitable the Senate would agree to call witnesses in the first presidential impeachment trial since 1868. The issue of witnesses has polarised the Senate and threatened to shatter the bipartisan spirit senators had proudly presented earlier this month when they reached agreement on a broad outline for the trial.
That outline deferred a decision on witnesses until Monday, when senators can agree by a majority vote to call witnesses for private depositions. A second vote after the depositions would then be required on whether to call them to testify in the Senate.
Senate Democrats and the White House feel witnesses would simply prolong the trial. Witnesses already have told all anyone needs to know about the case during appearances before a federal grand jury last year, they say.
The Senate Republican Leader, Mr Trent Lott, said yesterday it was too early to make decisions on the witness issue.
"I think it's premature to say that it's predetermined or inevitable. Let's see what happens. I haven't made a final decision on witnesses myself. I want to see what the White House has to say."