The US President, Mr Bill Clinton, last night was fighting back against the biggest threat to his presidency as he rejected repeatedly allegations that he had a sexual affair with a young White House aide and that he later urged her to deny it in a sworn affidavit.
The crisis is seen as absorbing the president's attention at a time when he is trying to prevent a breakdown in the Middle East peace process, plan a possible military riposte to Iraq's refusal to co-operate over arms control and prepare next week's State of the Union address.
White House officials were dismayed with the weakness of the president's initial reaction on Wednesday as the allegations began to spread across the media based on leaks from confidential documents in the Paula Jones case.
President Clinton is now said to be considering a press conference to give his side of the reports that he had an affair with a 21-year-old White House aide called Monica Lewinsky. She has given details of the affair in conversations with another former White House aide, Ms Linda Tripp, who taped them.
Some of the tapes have been leaked to the media and are being reproduced. There is talk on the tapes about gifts being exchanged, late night visits to the White House and how Mr Clinton went cool on the affair.
The president yesterday denied having any improper relationship with Ms Lewinsky. He was in the humiliating position of having to do this at the start of his meeting with the Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, in the Oval Office.
The matter has now been passed to the independent counsel Mr Kenneth Starr, who has been investigating the Whitewater scandal. He has subpoenaed the White House for all records and logs indicating Ms Lewinsky's movements and access to the White House after she was transferred to the Pentagon. Senior White House staff are said to have insisted on this move when they became uneasy at Ms Lewinsky's behaviour towards the president.
The most serious aspect of the present crisis for the president is the claim by Ms Lewinsky that he advised her to deny the alleged affair when she told him she would have to give testimony to the lawyers of Ms Paula Jones, who is accusing Mr Clinton of sexual harassment in Little Rock when he was governor of Arkansas.
The lawyers wanted Ms Lewinsky's testimony as they were trying to establish a pattern of behaviour by Mr Clinton towards women who were working for him. Ms Lewinsky then swore an affidavit denying that she had an affair with Mr Clinton, contradicting what she was saying on the tapes.
Mr Clinton has denied that he urged anyone not to tell the truth. Suborning perjury is a serious offence and if it were proved could lead to the president's being impeached and removed from office.