Harvard seems to be rising to the defense of President Clinton.

On Tuesday, Gregory B. Craig '67, newly-hired special counsel for the President, opened the White House's formal defense before the House Judiciary Committee.

Former Massachusetts Governor William F. Weld '66 and Eaton Professor of the Science of Government Samuel H. Beer also testified against impeaching the President.

"Just as no fancy language can obscure the simple fact that what the President did was morally wrong, no amount of rhetoric can change the legal reality that there are no grounds for impeachment," Craig said before the Judiciary Committee Tuesday.

Clinton's lawyers have assembled a series of witnesses who admit that Clinton's behavior was reprehensible but say his private misconduct is not a grave threat to the nation.

"This is a political operation, not a judicial one," said Beer in an interview with The Crimson yesterday. "This is a political forum; it doesn't have the protection of a court."

Beer said he thinks the House of Representatives is not the forum for a discussion of whether Clinton committed perjury because his actions do not fit the constitutional criterion of a high crime or misdemeanor.

"The only place to decide if a person committed perjury is in a court of law," Beer said.

Beer classified treason, but not perjury, as an impeachable crime.

"Above all, that which attacks some institution of the government qualifies as a high crime," Beer said.

Beer is the third Harvard professor to testify before the committee. Last week, Frankfurter Professor of Law Alan M. Dershowitz and Public Service Professor of Jurisprudence A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. testified as legal experts. Both agreed with Beer that there are not sufficient grounds to impeach the President.

Weld justified his defense of Clinton on the same grounds.

"I am pretty well convinced that adultery, fornication or even a false denial--false, I'm assuming perjury here--false denial of adultery or fornication--they do not constitute high crimes and misdemeanors within the meaning of the impeachment clause of the U.S. Constitution," he said in his testimony.

The New York Times reported yesterday that Weld, a Republican, was making calls to Republican friends in Congress to persuade them to vote against impeachment.

Charles N. Steele '60, who served as the head of federal relations for Weld while he was governor, and works in the same position for current Massachusetts Governor A. Paul Cellucci, said he is not surprised that Weld is crossing party lines and testifying against impeachment.