A war of words has broken out between Ms Monica Lewinsky's lawyer, Mr William Ginsburg, and the independent counsel investigating President Clinton, Mr Kenneth Starr, over whether he has promised her full immunity in return for her co-operation. Yesterday was to be the deadline for a decision on immunity.
Mr Ginsburg insisted that a deal had already been made on immunity but Mr Starr indicated that Ms Lewinsky would have to be interviewed first by his office before a decision.
It has been reported that Ms Lewinsky is ready to testify that she had a sexual relationship with the President, contradicting her previous affidavit, but that she is vague on whether she was asked by the President or his lawyer friend, Mr Vernon Jordan, to deny the relationship under oath.
Meanwhile, a White House adviser to President Clinton angrily called for an inquiry into leaks of the grand jury investigation into sex and perjury charges against the President.
"Let's find out who's behind these criminal leaks and let's get to the bottom of that because someone wishes the President ill and they are lying and leaking every day," Mr Paul Begala said on ABC's Good Morning America. "We should respect the secrecy of the grand jury."
The White House adviser was responding to the latest report in the investigation into charges that Mr Clinton had a sexual relationship with former White House intern Ms Lewinsky and then urged her to lie about it. Mr Clinton has denied the charges on several occasions.
The New York Times reported that Mrs Betty Currie, the President's personal secretary, had turned over to investigators gifts from Mr Clinton that she retrieved from Ms Lewinsky, including a hat pin, a brooch and a dress.
Mrs Currie's lawyer, Mr Lawrence Wechsler, has put out several statements. The first was brief and said: "Without commenting on the allegations raised in this article, to the extent that there is any implication or suggestion that Currie was aware of any legal or ethical impropriety by anyone, that implication or suggestion is entirely inaccurate."
This was seen as a cautious response protecting his client's position. Mr Wechsler's second statement forcibly denied that Mrs Currie believed that any attempt had been made to influence her recollection of events.
President Clinton, at a press conference yesterday, referred to these reports and said he was "pleased" at the unambiguous denial by Mrs Currie's lawyer.
Mrs Currie (58) has been President Clinton's personal secretary since 1992 and is said to be revered by other White House staff. She sits just outside the Oval Office. She is a long-time Democratic Party loyalist.
She is said to be a very religious woman and to have been "anguished" by having to meet investigators dealing with the Monica Lewinsky allegations. Television pictures showed her clearly distressed when she was surrounded and jostled my media following her testimony to the grand jury last week.