Or disagreed, because i realized that it was in my lap. as majority leader of the senate, i was going to have to try to figure out, how do we fulfill our constitutional responsibility for a trial? >> january 7, 1999 -- the first trial of a u.s. president for high crimes and misdemeanors in over a century begins. >> it was up to the senate to devise a fair procedure for trial, but nobody could agree on how. >> by late afternoon, hope for bipartisan agreement on trial guidelines began to erode. >> negotiators from both sides floated a plan for an abbreviated trial. >> i took it to the republican...