Prosecutors believe President Clinton may have tried to send a secret message to Ms Monica Lewinsky on the day she testified about her love affair with him, a US newspaper reported yesterday.
Mr Clinton was wearing a distinctive gold-and-navy necktie during a televised Rose Garden ceremony on August 6th, a tie Ms Lewinsky gave him with the message, "when I see you wearing this tie I'll know that I am close to your heart", the New York Times said.
But as it turned out, Ms Lewinsky did not know Mr Clinton was wearing the tie until hours after her grand jury appearance when she saw him on television, the Times said.
When they grilled Mr Clinton on Monday for four hours at the White House about his relationship with Ms Lewinsky, prosecutors working with Independent Counsel, Mr Kenneth Starr, asked the President about his August 6th choice of ties, the Times said.
Mr Clinton was asked why he chose to wear that particular tie on that particular day, the newspaper said. The President was said to have smiled at the question and expressed some bafflement.
When shown a photograph of the Rose Garden ceremony which depicted Mr Clinton wearing the necktie, the President was said to have indicated it was possible Ms Lewinsky had given it to him but that he certainly was not attempting to communicate anything by wearing it, the Times said.
The prosecutors were trying to determine whether Mr Clinton was sending a message of solidarity to Ms Lewinsky on the day she went before Mr Starr's grand jury to testify she had had an adulterous affair in the White House.
Ms Lewinsky, who was a 21-year-old intern at the White House when the affair took place, told prosecutors she gave Mr Clinton the tie on his 50th birthday in August 1996.
Ms Lewinsky said she told the President she gave him the tie because they would not be able to see each other every day but it would be a symbol.
The Times said Ms Lewinsky, who frequently watches television to see what Mr Clinton is wearing, saw that he had worn the tie she had given him on three occasions in recent months: on the day he left for his trip to China, the day he returned from China and several days later in Atlanta.
On Monday when Mr Clinton confessed on television to having had an affair with Ms Lewinsky, he was wearing a patterned blue tie, apparently not one of the six ties that Ms Lewinsky has said she gave the President.