President Clinton was accused of "misuse" of his authority in 10 ways as he tried to conceal his relationship with the former White House intern, Ms Monica Lewinsky.
The charges were laid out by the Independent Counsel, Mr Kenneth Starr, in two hours of testimony to the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives. The televised hearing took place in a packed room on Capitol Hill used by the committee which drew up impeachment charges against President Nixon in 1974.
Mr Starr's 58-page statement was delayed while the Democratic members of the committee argued that President Clinton's lawyer, Mr David Kendall, should be given more time than the allotted 30 minutes to cross-question Mr Starr. After some bitter comments from Democrats claiming that President Nixon's lawyers were allowed unlimited time to defend him from impeachment charges, the motion to give Mr Kendall 90 minutes was defeated 21 to 16, reflecting the Republican majority.
Mr Starr, who entered the room smiling, was grim-faced as the senior Democratic member, Mr John Conyers, strongly condemned his investigation, using terms like "sex police" and "obsession" and throwing doubt on Mr Starr's motives. Mr Starr's actions showed "a sense of desperation in the face of a failed impeachment inquiry," Mr Conyers said.
Mr Starr in his deposition acknowledged for the first time that he had not found enough evidence to accuse Mr Clinton of criminal conduct in the failed Whitewater property development in the 1970s, which has been under investigation for almost five years.
Mr Starr also revealed that he was exonerating the President from involvement in two other matters he had investigated dealing with the sacking of the White House travel office staff and the misuse of FBI files by members of the presidential staff.
Mr Starr spent most of his deposition setting out a wide-ranging indictment of Mr Clinton's conduct in covering up his affair with Ms Lewinsky. He listed 10 ways that the President had allegedly misused his authority.
Mr Starr said the evidence suggested that the President made a series of "premeditated false statements under oath" when testifying last January in the Paula Jones civil case of sexual harassment.
The evidence also suggested that the President "engaged in a pattern of behaviour . . . to thwart the judicial process". This included "reaching an agreement with Ms Lewinsky that each would make false statements under oath."
The President "provided job assistance" to Ms Lewinsky and engaged in an apparent scheme "to conceal gifts that had been subpoenaed from Ms Lewinsky." He also "coached a potential witness, his own secretary Ms Betty Currie, with a false account of relevant events," Mr Starr alleged.
The Independent Counsel also said that Mr Clinton "made false statements to his Cabinet and used his Cabinet as unwitting surrogates to publicly support the President's false story".
The evidence suggested that the President, "acting in a premeditated and calculated fashion, deceived the American people on January 26th and on other occasions when he denied a relationship with Ms Lewinsky".
Mr Starr said the President, having promised to co-operate with the investigation, "refused six invitations to testify to the grand jury." He and his staff "asserted three different governmental privileges to conceal relevant information from the grand jury" which were later found to be "baseless". This contrasted with the actions of Presidents Carter and Reagan in similar circumstances.
Mr Starr said Mr Clinton "made false statements under oath to the grand jury on August 17th" in spite of his "presidential oath to faithfully execute the laws."
The evidence also suggests "the President deceived the American people in his speech on August 17th by stating that his testimony had been legally accurate," Mr Starr said.
Mr Starr rejected earlier widespread criticism at the "salacious" material in his report to the committee alleging that President Clinton had committed impeachable offences. He said the inclusion of the graphic details of the President's liaison with Ms Lewinsky was necessary to give the members "the full story". He also pointed out that the full report had been released following a bi-partisan decision of Congress and had not been his responsibility.
Jonathan Watts adds from Tokyo:
The scandal followed Mr Clinton across the Pacific Ocean yesterday when he was harangued on Japanese television for his infidelity. In a filmed town-hall meeting a Japanese woman asked the President how he had said sorry to his wife and daughter. "I could never forgive my husband for such an act," the woman said. "How did you apologise to Mrs Clinton and Chelsea, and did they forgive you?"
"I did it in a direct and straightforward manner and I believe they did, yes," replied a chastened-looking President. "But that's really a question you could ask them better than me," he added.