The US Senate was last night debating behind closed doors a Democratic motion to end the impeachment trial of President Clinton. A vote is expected today or tomorrow.
But the Republican majority is likely to reject the motion. The Republicans are expected to table a motion today for the calling of witnesses including Ms Monica Lewinsky. The White House has warned that the calling of witnesses could prolong the trial for weeks, if not months.
The latest CNN/USA Today poll shows that 67 per cent of Americans want the trial to end now. Democratic Senator Robert Byrd introduced a motion for "dismissal" yesterday after Republicans rejected a behind-the-scenes compromise offered by the Democrats.
This would have cut out the motions for dismissal and the hearing of witnesses and allowed the 100 senators to go directly to voting on the two articles accusing the President of perjury and obstruction of justice.
A two-thirds majority, or 67 votes, would be required to convict the President on one or both of these articles, and there seems little chance that this will happen. At least 12 Democrats would have to defect and vote for conviction even if all 55 Republicans did so.
Following the rejection of the Democratic compromise plan, the Senate began debating the dismissal motion behind closed doors. A Democratic motion by Senator Tom Harkin to have it in public was defeated.
The motion will require a simple majority of 51 votes to succeed, but this is unlikely to happen because the Republicans are determined to oppose the motion.
The vote on witnesses is more uncertain, as there are indications that some moderate Republicans are wavering on this issue. It would take only six Republicans to side with Democrats for the Senate to oppose calling witnesses.
Republican Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon said, "There are a number of my colleagues who will not likely vote for witnesses. I think there is reason to wonder whether or not the votes are there."
Voting on dismissal and witnesses will not take place until today or even tomorrow. Meanwhile, the Senate Republicans have sent a list of 10 questions they want President Clinton to answer, beginning with yes or no. The White House has said that the President is not obliged to answer them.
Republicans were also reviewing the list of witnesses they want to call. They have narrowed it down to five, or possibly three, headed by Ms Lewinsky, who flew to Washington at the weekend to be questioned in private by Republican prosecutors.
One of her lawyers, Mr Jacob Stein, said yesterday: "She answered every question they asked," and now wants to avoid being used in "what cannot be anything but an unseemly circus."