Legislators grappled behind the scenes with how to proceed with President Clinton's impeachment trial as prosecutors opened a second day of arguing for his removal.
The 13 House of Representatives-appointed trial "managers" resumed their legal case by focusing on the severity of the charges of perjury and obstruction of justice against Mr Clinton stemming from efforts to hide an affair with Ms Monica Lewinsky.
The ornate Senate chamber had turned into the battleground for the fight of Mr Clinton's political life on Thursday as all three US government branches mobilised for the first such trial since 1868.
Chief Justice William Rehnquist - who swore Mr Clinton in as president in 1993 and 1997 - presided over the trial, which resumed at 1 p.m. (6 p.m. Irish time).
As arguments were heard in the Senate, a second front in the impeachment battle had opened up in Congress members' offices and conference rooms, site of a dispute over whether to call the scandal's key players - perhaps even Mr Clinton himself - to testify.
Inviting Mr Clinton is "an idea that appears to be percolating . . . it's obviously on a lot of people's minds," said Mr John Czwartacki, a spokesman for Republican Senate Majority Leader Mr Trent Lott.
Some senators think that "if he testified, there'd be a need for only one witness," Mr Czwartacki said, without giving any further details.
The White House yesterday denounced the call for witnesses as an "obsessive desire" of Republican prosecutors that "demonstrates an admission of a fundamental weakness in the case".
Speaking on a flight to New York with Mr Clinton, the White House spokesman, Mr Joe Lockhart, said prosecutors "don't believe their case is strong enough. So they're trying to expand it.
"Everything that has been presented has been presented before," he said. "There is nothing new."
Senator Lott had a ready response to that charge, saying in a statement: "If they wish something new, they have only to grant the House managers' desire to call live witnesses."
Mr Henry Hyde, the lead Republican manager, first raised the issue of calling Mr Clinton as a witness on Wednesday, telling reporters: "We can request the Senate to invite the President to come over . . . we may do that."
That brought an angry response from Mr Lockhart, who said it proved the case against Mr Clinton "is really about politics".
The White House has maintained that Mr Clinton will not appear at the trial in person, and under impeachment rules first written in the 18th century and subsequently refined, it is unclear whether the Senate could compel him to do so.
In Thursday's oral arguments the prosecutor, Mr James Sensenbrenner, charged that Mr Clinton had "put himself above the law, not once, not twice, but repeatedly".
Before the opening arguments in the second presidential impeachment trial in US history were even finished, the White House blasted what it termed an "unsubstantiated and circumstantial" case.
Chief Justice Rehnquist yesterday ordered participants in the trial to stop referring to senators as Mr Clinton's "jurors." Mr Rehnquist ruled in response to Democratic Senator Tom Harkin's objection to the term's use.
"The objection is well taken. . . the Senate is not simply a jury, it is a court in this case," said Mr Rehnquist. Mr Harkin had stunned his colleagues and observers by interrupting a presentation by a Republican Representative, Mr Bob Barr - a staunch Clinton foe - with his objection. --(AFP)
In New York, President Clinton basked in praise from bankers and businessmen and suggested with a smile that reports of his political demise were greatly exaggerated.
At a New York conference far from his Senate impeachment trial Mr Clinton enjoyed tributes from nine speakers who complimented his stewardship of the economy and his devotion to the poor. "In my little corner of southern Manhattan, the Dow Jones Industrial Average during the course of President Clinton's tenure tripled," said the New York Stock Exchange chairman, Mr Richard Grasso, prompting cheers, applause and laughter.
"You done good, William Jefferson Clinton," said Ms Susan Taylor, editor in chief of Essence Magazine. "So be gentle with yourself Mr President. Only God is perfect."
Mr Clinton showed a wide range of emotions as he listened to the praise, turning teary-eyed at the tributes and laughing loudly at the jokes.
"I'm grateful for the wonderful reception, he told the bankers, business people and politicians gathered at the Wall Street Project Conference organised by the civil rights leader, the Rev Jesse Jackson. "I was very moved and I thank you."
"That sort of thing you normally hear - or you normally don't hear because they're the sort of thing people save for your funeral," Mr Clinton said, adding with a laugh: "And I don't think we're there yet."