Clinton secures parting deal by new admission in Jones case

President William Jefferson Clinton today leaves the White House after eight years of a turbulent presidency with immunity from prosecution, following a deal in which he admits to "knowingly" impeding the administration of justice.

The agreement on the eve of President-elect George W. Bush's inauguration puts an end to the protracted legal pursuit of Mr Clinton.

It also relieves Mr Bush of the dilemma of whether or not to pardon his predecessor. Democrats and Republicans alike expressed satisfaction that an "honourable" outcome had avoided the appalling prospect of a former president in the dock.

The deal reached with the Independent Special Prosecutor, Mr Robert Ray, and the Arkansas Bar Association (ABA) involves a suspension of the President's right to practise law in Arkansas for five years and his payment of some $25,000 towards the ABA's costs.

In exchange, Mr Clinton made a specific admission that he "knowingly gave evasive and misleading answers that impeded the due administration of justice" in the Jones case.

The President's spokesman, Mr Jake Siewert, said Mr Clinton felt the suspension of his right to practise was unusually severe but "he made the deal because he wanted to put this behind him".

Mr Ray was appointed a year ago to take over an inquiry started in 1994 by Mr Ken Starr and which travelled well beyond its original Whitewater brief and cost some $50 million.

Mr Clinton had indicated he would not accept or seek a pardon from Mr Bush, who last week said he had no plans for a pardon because the President had not been indicted.

Mr Clinton's troubles go back to an encounter as Governor of Arkansas with Ms Paula Jones in a Little Rock hotel in 1991. Ms Jones filed a case against Mr Clinton in 1994, alleging sexual harassment.

Three years later the Supreme Court rejected Mr Clinton's bid for immunity while in office, and within a few months he received the proposed list of witnesses. It included one Ms Monica Lewinsky. To his lawyers Mr Clinton denied that he had had any sexual relationship with her.

However, Ms Linda Tripp, a friend of Ms Lewinsky, rang Mr Starr to reveal conversations with her friend and offered to record future conversations.

Ms Tripp yesterday re-entered the story by refusing to join other White House political appointees in resigning from her post in the Pentagon to allow the new administration to bring in its own people. She was then fired from her $98,000 job.