With Eye on Trial’s End, Clinton Reschedules Trip

Former White House intern Monica S. Lewinsky returned to the nation’s capital Saturday in advance of her Monday deposition in President Clinton’s impeachment trial, while Clinton rearranged a mid-February trip to Central America so that he will be in town when the case is slated to end.

Sporting a black topcoat and baseball cap, Lewinsky was greeted at the downtown Mayflower Hotel by several dozen tourists and anti-Clinton demonstrators, who were kept behind red velvet ropes.

Lewinsky is scheduled to be questioned Monday for as long as eight hours by lawyers for both sides in the proceeding. At least two senators, one from each party, will be sitting in, and serving as referees, if needed.

Meanwhile, the White House announced that the president has rescheduled his long-planned Feb. 10-15 trip to Central America, after the Senate on Thursday set a goal of voting on the two articles of impeachment by Feb. 12.

Instead, the president and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton will make a day trip to Mexico on Feb. 15 to meet with President Ernesto Zedillo. They then will tour Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala on March 8-11 to assess the area’s recovery from Hurricane Mitch and to participate in a summit of Central American leaders, the White House said.

Also on Saturday, authorities detained a homeless man outside the executive mansion for questioning. Officers were alerted around midday to look for a man spotted “acting suspiciously” in the White House tour line. Shortly afterward, U.S. Park Police detained the man near the Ellipse, a grassy area outside the White House’s south gate.

“This is a person we have come into contact with before,” Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin said. He described the man’s detention and questioning as routine.

The president and first lady boarded a helicopter at midday to fly to Camp David for the weekend.