At that, the president smirks and lurches out of his chair to retrieve a paper from the conference table. Republicans were expected to air other snatches of the taped testimony in Jones' sexual harassment lawsuit when GOP investigator David Schippers makes his closing arguments later Thursday. Offering a dramatic, multimedia performance, Lowell threw bulging file folders of testimony onto the witness table and turned twice more to the stacked TVs. Tape of Clinton as he made his sworn deposition has been kept secret from everyone except members of the Judiciary Committee, prosecutors and those originally involved in the Jones lawsuit.
Republicans see the tape as a devastating piece of evidence.
The White House braced for some embarrassing moments. According to some of the few who have seen it, Clinton's hesitant, occasionally stammering answers in the deposition contrast sharply with his performance before a federal grand jury last August. The latter testimony, nationally televised a month later, began with the president staring straight into the camera reading a prepared statement. There is a silence of about 14 seconds before Clinton responds, according to prosecutor Kenneth Starr's impeachment report.