WASHINGTON, Jan 11: President Bill Clinton formally denied the impeachment counts against him on Monday and said the Senate trial on his affair with Monica Lewinsky should be dismissed.Clinton's lawyers issued the official response to the charges of perjury and obstruction of justice voted by the House and sent to the Senate for the first impeachment trial in 131 years.The 13-page document argued that the allegations, even if proved true, failed to rise to the level of ``high crimes and misdemeanors'' and said: ``Accordingly, the articles of Impeachment should be dismissed.''The lawyers had a Monday deadline for filing any motions, but White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said they would not move formally to have the case dismissed until after the opening arguments were heard.``We made the judgment that the Senate should go forward in the way they're going forward and we shouldn't try to pre-empt this process before both sides got a chance to make their case,'' he said.Clinton's Democrats havediscouraged him from seeking an immediate dismissal as it would appear as an obstructionist move. But Lockhart said Clinton's lawyers were ready to defend the President to the fullest and many expect them seek a full acquittal.Meanwhile, lawmakers continued to hammer out the game plan for the trial and had yet to resolve the key question of whether witnesses such as Lewinsky should be called to the stand.The White House fears live testimony will drag out the trial - which the Senate had hoped to wrap up by the end of the month - and could dredge up more damaging evidence against Clinton.
