Clinton tried to keep affair secret, but doubted Lewinsky would do the same

In his video evidence, President Clinton described how his relationship with Ms Lewinsky began and said that it covered two periods…

In his video evidence, President Clinton described how his relationship with Ms Lewinsky began and said that it covered two periods - the period when she worked in the White House up to April 1996, then the period when she came back to visit from February 1997 to December 1997.

Mr Clinton said: "Based on our records, between February and December, it appears to me that I could have seen her approximately nine times, though I don't believe I saw her quite that many times."

He said there were no records for the time when she was employed at the White House.

"I remember having my first real conversation with her during the government shutdown in November '95." At that time, most employees were prohibited from coming to work, and interns were assigned to all offices. "She worked in the Chief of Staff's office, and one night she brought me some pizza, we had some remarks."

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He remembered two occasions she brought papers down to him, stayed, and they were alone, and there may have been a couple more occasions. He confirmed that Ms Lewinsky saw him at the White House on December 27th, 1997.

Asked if he had spoken to her about her subpoena in the Paula Jones case, which she had received that day, he said: "I remember talking with her about her testimony, or the prospect that she might have to give testimony."

He gave her some Christmas and going-away gifts. Asked if he requested the meeting, he said: "I don't remember that, but it's quite possible that I invited her to come by." Usually she requested the meetings, he said. Mr Clinton had difficulty remembering the exact gifts he had given Ms Lewinsky on their December 28th, 1997, meeting, which the prosecutor said included a blanket, a pin-badge, a box of chocolates and a bear-head carving.

He said that by the time of the meeting, he already knew that Ms Lewinsky had been subpoenaed to give evidence in the Jones case, but he did not raise the issue.

Instead, she had introduced the subject, telling him that she did not want to testify in court, said the President. He added: "That's how it came up. She raised the issue with me in the context of her desire to avoid testifying, which I could entirely understand. A whole lot of innocent people were being traumatised and dragged through the mud by these Jones lawyers with their dragnet tactics."

Mr Clinton said that Ms Lewinsky did not know Ms Jones and had had no experience of sexual harassment, and that therefore neither she nor he could see how she could give relevant testimony.

He said that he had rigorously avoided allowing anyone to find out about what he and Ms Lewinsky had done, but was not confident that she had done the same.

"At that time, I was unaware that she had told anybody else about it, but if I had known that, it wouldn't have surprised me. I never said anything about it. I did what people do when they do the wrong thing - I tried to do it when nobody else was looking."

Mr Clinton said the final sexual encounter was in 1997 when "regrettably" they were together for about 20 minutes. He said Ms Lewinsky was upset when she was subpoenaed by the Paula Jones's lawyers, and told him she did not want to testify.

The President then spoke of the gifts that he had exchanged with the trainee, and told the Starr lawyers that he urged her to declare them if pressed by the Jones' legal team.

Mr Clinton said: "I certainly never encouraged her not to comply lawfully with the subpoena." There was no existing improper relationship at that time, he said.

"I had, for nearly a year, done my best to be a friend to Miss Lewinsky, to be a counsellor to her, to give her good advice to help her. . . She had, for her part, most of the time, accepted the changed circumstances."

He said a man giving a woman a gift, or a woman giving a man a gift, did not necessarily connote an improper relationship.

Asked about cards she continued to send him, he said: "Some of them were somewhat intimate, most of the notes and cards were affectionate, but she had clearly accepted the fact that there could be no contact between us that was in any way inappropriate."

He added: "Most of these messages were not what you would call over the top." Mr Clinton confirmed that he had advised Ms Lewinsky that she should be careful about what she wrote in notes she sent to him.

He said that, following his decision to end intimate relationships with the intern, her notes had not become any less frequent or less affectionate.

The President denied sending his personal secretary, Ms Betty Currie, to retrieve a box of presents from Ms Lewinsky when news of their relationship started to become public. He contended that there was nothing wrong or incriminating about the gifts.

When pressed on whether he was alone with Ms Lewinsky in the Oval Office complex, he said: "It's almost humorous. I would have to be an exhibitionist not to try to exclude everyone else."

He was also questioned over his conversations with his secretary, and whether he tried to influence her testimony to the Starr lawyers.

The President then called for a break, saying they had been going for more than an hour.