As the long-awaited Starr report arrived on Capitol Hill yesterday, President Clinton began a fight back to stave off an impeachment threat by seeking support from leading Democrats.
In an emotional White House morning meeting with them he expressed deep contrition for his affair with Ms Monica Lewinsky and his later denial of it.
Later yesterday, Mr Clinton gave his most public display of contrition when he told Florida Democrats that he had let them, his family and the country down. "But I'm trying to make it right and I'm determined never to let anything like that happen again." The supporters applauded loudly when he said this.
But as Mr Clinton was making his appeal to Democrats for their support, the first contacts were taking place in Washington between Congress and the office of the independent counsel, Mr Kenneth Starr, about the report. The report will set out evidence that Mr Starr believes warrants the impeachment of the President by the House of Representatives.
It was clear in Orlando, Florida, that the President had taken the advice of the leading Democrats whom he met privately that morning at the White House. Mr David Bonior, the minority whip, said after the meeting that he had advised the President to make his contrition clear to the American people, over and over again if necessary.
Mr Bonior described the meeting as "emotional" . "What we saw was a father, a husband, the leader of our country, who was contrite. He was very sorry for his actions," said Mr Bonior.
The meeting had been hastily summoned by the President to shore up crumbling Democratic support as senior figures in the Senate and elsewhere lined up to criticise his behaviour. Some are beginning to ask the President not to attend fund-raisers in an effort to distance themselves from him.
Mr Clinton's advisers have been pressing Mrs Hillary Clinton to make a statement of forgiveness. A spokeswoman for Mrs Clinton said she had no plans to do so.
On Capitol Hill, the Republican Speaker, Mr Newt Gingrich, met Democrats to discuss how to handle the report from Mr Starr. The report and accompanying material in 36 boxes was sealed on arrival yesterday.
Mr Gingrich emphasised that the report would have to be handled in a bipartisan way between majority Republicans and minority Democrats. Mr Gingrich made it clear that the report should become available to the public at some stage.
The Minority leader, Mr Dick Gephardt, struck a grave note when he warned that, "Next to declaring war, this may be the most important thing we can do."
In the Senate, one of the most senior senators, Democrat Robert Byrd, warned that with the impeachment process they were drawing "nearer to a yawning abyss".