The White House is braced for the release today of the videotape of President Clinton's grand jury testimony and Ms Monica Lewinsky's graphic descriptions of their 10 sexual encounters near the Oval Office.
American public reaction to this new material, which is being made instantly available on TV networks and the Internet with warnings it is not suitable for children, may decide his political survival. Opinion polls already show increasing numbers want Mr Clinton to leave office.
A Newsweek poll shows that 46 per cent say the President should consider resignation, up from 39 per cent a week ago. Some 41 per cent say Congress should begin impeachment proceedings. About one hour after the videotape of his August 17th testimony begins airing on cable TV networks, Mr Clinton will address the UN General Assembly in New York. White House aides fear the UN speech will be drowned out in the blanket coverage of his testimony, the salacious details of his encounters with Ms Lewinsky and "sexual banter" on the telephone.
Lawyers familiar with Mr Clinton's four-hour testimony are leaking accounts of his ordeal at the hands of independent counsel Mr Ken Starr and his legal team.
The President became angry at times with the repeated probing for details of his sexual encounters with Ms Lewinsky and snapped back at the interrogator.
But viewers today will also see a President expressing deep embarrassment and regret as well as concern for Ms Lewinsky. At one stage he says: "It breaks my heart that she was involved in this."
After seven minutes into the testimony, the President is asked: "Were you ever physically intimate with Monica Lewinsky?"
He then gives a prepared statement about their relationship to which he sticks doggedly as he is pressed for more details.
In the statement Mr Clinton says that when he was alone with Ms Lewinsky on certain occasions in 1996 and once in early 1997 "I engaged in conduct that was wrong. These encounters did not consist of sexual intercourse. They did not constitute `sexual relations' as I understood that term to be defined at my January 17th 1998 deposition but they did involve inappropriate intimate contact."
The President then says that "these inappropriate encounters ended, at my insistence, in early 1997. I also had occasional telephone conversations with Ms Lewinsky that included inappropriate sexual banter."
Mr Clinton then says: "Because of privacy considerations affecting my family, myself and others, and in an effort to preserve the dignity of the office I hold, this is all I will say about the specifics of these particular matters."
While Mr Clinton shook hands with Mr Starr at the end of his testimony, his anger came out in his television address to the nation several hours later in which he attacked Mr Starr for intruding on his private life.
This anger with Mr Starr extending back to the Whitewater investigation is said to be partly responsible for Mr Clinton's affair, according to an article in the New York Times yesterday. The President "told associates he was so angry about the intrusiveness of Mr Starr's inquiries that he sought comfort in a relationship with Ms Lewinsky," according to the article.
Political observers expect the House of Representatives to authorise a formal impeachment investigation before it rises on October 9th. If the House votes for impeachment, the Senate would then try the President but a two-thirds majority would be required to dismiss him from office.
This has never happened before. President Nixon resigned after the House Judiciary Committee voted for articles of impeachment. President Clinton said earlier this year he would never resign but side-stepped a question about resignation last week.
RTE 1 and tv3 will show the four hours of the Clinton video from 1.50 p.m. Over 2,600 pages of transcripts will also be released today. If it becomes available on the Internet, it will be carried on The Irish Times web site. The address is http://www.irish-times.com The Irish Times site will also carry some of the video material.