President Clinton has said that he wants to spend as little time as possible thinking about his impeachment trial, which gets under way in the Senate today.
In his first public comment on the trial since the House of Representatives approved two articles of impeachment last month, the President said that it was now up to the Senate to deal with the impeachment process.
"The important thing for me is to spend as little time thinking about that as possible," he said, repeating several times that he wanted to concentrate on doing "the business of the American people."
Mr Clinton was responding to questions from reporters at the start of a meeting with labour leaders. At the same time his lawyers were filing a 130-page brief setting out his defence to the charges of perjury and obstruction of justice.
The White House press corps had complained on Tuesday that the President was inaccessible since the impeachment process had begun.
Asked if the charges amounted to high crimes and misdemeanours which would warrant his dismissal from office, the President said that almost 900 constitutional experts had stated that these were not impeachable offences. "My own opinion is not important here. My opinion is I should be doing my job for the country."
The White House spokesman, Mr Joe Lockhart, confirmed that former Senator George Mitchell is advising the President and his lawyers. "His advice on how to proceed . . . has proved invaluable to the legal team and to the political team here."
But Mr Lockhart said the former chairman of the Northern Ireland peace talks was not part of the legal team defending Mr Clinton.
Meanwhile, President Clinton has sent a cheque for $850,000 to lawyers for Ms Paula Jones in settlement of her claim against him of sexual harassment. In the settlement agreed two months ago, Ms Jones dropped her claim without getting the apology she had initially demanded.
Mr Clinton's impeachment and trial have arisen from his misleading testimony to Ms Jones's lawyers just one year ago.
Some $375,000 of the settlement, according to the New York Times, is coming from the personal funds of President and Mrs Clinton, held in a blind trust while they are in the White House. Most of the assets of over $1 million in the trust are said to have been earned by Mrs Clinton in book royalties.
The remainder of the settlement amount, $475,000, has been paid from a civil liability insurance policy held by Mr Clinton since before he became President. Lawyers for Ms Jones are claiming legal fees from her well in excess of the settlement made by Mr Clinton.
The White House brief submitted yesterday argues that removing President Clinton on the basis of the impeachment articles would "substantially alter the delicate constitutional balance" of power between the branches of government and "move us closer to a quasi-parliamentary system in which the President is elected to office by the choice of the people but continues in office only at the pleasure of the Congress."
The impeachment articles "fall far short of what the American people demand be shown and proven before their democratic choice is reversed."
The White House brief, personally approved by the President, said "there is strong agreement among constitutional and legal scholars and historians that the substance of the articles does not amount to impeachable offences."
The brief tells the 100 senators who will act as the jury that they have "an obligation to turn away an unwise and unwarranted" impeachment by the House of Representatives.