President Clinton has told the Congressional committee handling the impeachment investigation that his grand jury testimony about Ms Monica Lewinsky "was not false and misleading."
In written answers to 81 questions from the chairman of the judiciary committee, Mr Henry Hyde, the President insists that he did not lie when he testified that he never had "sexual relations" with Ms Lewinsky. He said that his denial was accurate because the definition of sexual relations referred to sexual intercourse.
Ms Lewinsky told the grand jury that she only had oral sex with Mr Clinton during 10 trysts in the White House in a study off the Oval Office.
Mr Clinton in his 34-page response said: "I have asked my attorneys to participate actively, but the fact that there is a legal defence to the various allegations cannot obscure the hard truth, as I have said repeatedly, that my conduct was wrong."
The President said that "it was also wrong to mislead people about what happened and I deeply regret that. For me this long ago ceased to be primarily a legal or political issue and became instead a painful personal one."
Mr Clinton broke off his Thanksgiving holiday weekend at Camp David to return by helicopter to the White House to sign the letter enclosing his replies.
Mr Hyde had sent a sharply worded letter to the President last Wednesday reminding him that the committee had still not been given answers to the questions which had been sent three weeks ago. Mr Hyde threatened to subpoena replies by Monday if not received by the committee which is reported to be preparing articles of impeachment against the President on the grounds of perjury, obstruction of justice and abuse of power.
Mr Hyde has also told Mr Clinton that he or his attorney could appear before the committee as a witness early in December. He told the President that he had failed "to provide any exculpatory information" or "to contest a single fact" submitted in the report of the independent counsel, Mr Ken Starr, which cited 11 possible grounds for impeachment.
In his replies which often lump together the answers to several questions, Mr Clinton frequently uses the phrase: "That testimony was not false and misleading."
Observers are not surprised at such answers, pointing out that the President was unlikely to admit that he committed perjury to a committee which is seeking evidence that he did so.
Mr Clinton denied the allegation by Ms Lewinsky that he had instructed his personal secretary, Ms Betty Currie, to recover gifts which he had given to the former White House intern. "I never told Ms Currie to take possession of gifts I had given Ms Lewinsky," he said.
President Clinton will travel between December 12th and 15th to Israel, Gaza and the West Bank to meet key figures in the Middle East peace process.