White House braces up for debut of Clinton videotape

The tape of Clinton’s January 17 sworn deposition in the Paula Jones case has been kept secret from everyone except members of the house judiciary committee, prosecutors and those originally involved in the Jones lawsuit.

Republicans on the committee plan to play excepts from the tape at today’s televised impeachment hearing. They see it as a devastating piece of evidence. The White House is bracing for some embarrassing moments.

But releasing the tape might not be without risk for Republicans who want to sway wavering members towardimpeachment.

The videotape of Clinton’s August 17 grand jury testimony backfired on House Republicans who released it in September. Showing Clinton admitting to an inappropriate intimate relationship with Lewinsky, the tape slowed the momentum toward impeachment.

Meanwhile, Republicans in the Congress released four proposed articles of impeachment against Clinton, even as Democrats introduced a competing resolution that would censure Clinton for his actions in the Monica Lewinsky matter.

The resolutions on Wednesday capped a second lengthy day of testimony before the House of Representatives judiciary committee by Clinton representatives, who continued to argue that Clinton’s affair with the former intern and his efforts to keep it secret did not warrant his removal from office.

The Republican resolution contained two articles charging Clinton with perjury, once during his January 17 deposition in the Paula Jones sexual harassment case and again on August 17 in grand jury testimony during the Lewinskyinvestigation.

The third article, charging obstruction of justice, lists seven attempts by Clinton to “delay, impede, cover up and conceal” evidence related to the Jones case.

The final article alleges abuse of power in Clinton’s assertions of executive privilege to keep aides from testifying and in making false statements to members of the cabinet, aides and the American people in denying his relationship with Lewinsky.