Republican prosecutors are hoping that testimony they received from Ms Monica Lewinsky yesterday will strengthen their case against President Clinton when his impeachment trial resumes on Thursday.
But the White House claimed later that Ms Lewinsky had no new information to offer.
White House sources let it be known that its lawyers had not needed to ask Ms Lewinsky any questions when the prosecutors had finished their interrogation.
It was the 23rd time that Ms Lewinsky has been questioned over the past six months by the grand jury, the Office of the Independent Counsel, Mr Ken Starr, the FBI and now trial prosecutors.
The deposition, as it is called, of Ms Lewinsky took place at the luxury Mayflower hotel about a half a mile from the White House where she was staying. She was questioned for the prosecutors by Congressman Ed Bryant, a former Arkansas attorney who is said to have made a sympathetic impression on Ms Lewinsky at an informal session with her two weeks earlier.
The White House lead questioners, if they were needed, were two women from the defence team, Ms Cheryl Mills and Ms Nicole Seligman. Both sides were allocated four hours each but the session ended after six hours including a lunch break.
A Republican and Democratic senator were also present to supervise the questioning and hear any objections.
Soon after the questioning began in the Presidential suite of the hotel, President Clinton landed by Marine One helicopter on the White House lawn. He was returning from a weekend at the Presidential retreat at Camp David to present his proposals for the $1.77 trillion Budget for 2000.
Ms Lewinsky's testimony was videotaped. After the senators have viewed her testimony in private and that of the other two witnesses, Mr Vernon Jordan and Mr Sidney Blumenthal, a decision will be taken on whether to present extracts when the full trial resumes on Thursday.
Shortly before Ms Lewinsky's deposition began, President Clinton's private attorney, Mr David Kendall, made a brief appearance at the White House to announce that he was filing a court motion accusing Mr Starr of leaking information about a possible criminal indictment of the President.
This was a reference to the report in Sunday's New York Times that Mr Starr had concluded that the President could be indicted before he leaves office in January 2002. The timing of the report aroused anger at the White House and among Democrats at a time when the impeachment trial in the Senate is reaching a critical phase.
Mr Starr's spokesman, Mr Charles Bakaly, has denied that his office was the source of the report which cited "associates" of Mr Starr. Mr Bakaly also said that no decision would be taken on indictment of Mr Clinton until the impeachment trial is over.
Mr Starr said later that he was "troubled" by the report and ordered an investigation to see if the leaks came from his office.
The Senate trial is due to end by February 12th with votes on the two articles of impeachment charging Mr Clinton with perjury and obstruction of justice. A two-thirds majority of the 100 senators would be required to secure a conviction and this is regarded as highly unlikely. Some Republicans, who have a majority of 55, are saying that the charge of perjury may not even get all the Republican votes but that the obstruction of justice is taken more seriously.
While yesterday's questioning of Ms Lewinsky will remain confidential until a decision is taken on whether to release some or all of it, the prosecutors had already indicated the areas they wanted to explore with her.
Mr Bryant intended to question Ms Lewinsky in depth on the obstruction of justice charge. He wanted to clarify details of the handing over of gifts which Ms Lewinsky had received from Mr Clinton.
The prosecution case is that the President sent his private secretary, Ms Betty Currie, to retrieve the gifts after he learned that lawyers for Ms Paula Jones had tried to subpoena them.
Ms Currie has testified that it was Ms Lewinsky who called her to come and collect the gifts. But Ms Lewinsky has said that it was Ms Currie who called her to say she was coming to collect them.
Mr Bryant also wanted to hear more from Ms Lewinsky on how Mr Clinton encouraged her to file the false affidavit in the Jones case in which she denied having sex with him. She has said that he suggested cover stories to explain her many visits to the White House.
The third area where the prosecutors hope Ms Lewinsky's new testimony will help them concerns the efforts by the President's influential friend, Mr Vernon Jordan, to get her a job after her name appeared on the witness list in the Paula Jones civil action.