WASHINGTON: Bill Clinton got the last word Wednesday in the pretrial
tit-for-tat with the House when the White House filed its defense
brief with the Senate. So what exactly is the last word? "Foul!" "This is the
entry point for what will be the White House's main theme for the trial: fairness," says
TIME White House correspondent Jay Branegan. "And they have some good
arguments." Among them: that perjury in the Paula Jones deposition didn't
pass the House as an article of impeachment, but has mysteriously reappeared
in
Henry Hyde's filings to the Senate as part of the obstruction of
justice charge.
Tuesday evening, White House spokesman Joe Lockhart called it "new bundling and
interpretations of the charges against the President at this late date." But as Branegan points
out, the White House walks a fine line when it lashes out at the
process. "This brief has to avoid the legal hairsplitting that no one seems
to like," he says. "Clinton has to mollify the Senate by showing that he
understands the seriousness of this -- that he respects the jury, at least,
if not the prosecutors." And that he respects the truth. After a year of
legal contortions, it could be a tough case to make.