The credibility of Mr Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel who has been running what amounts to a campaign for the impeachment of President Clinton, was seriously damaged yesterday when his own ethics adviser resigned, accusing him of abuse of power and unlawful conduct.
The accusations, which were made by Mr Sam Dash, a former legal counsel to the Watergate investigation, mirror Mr Starr's own charges against the President - that Mr Clinton lied under oath, which is a criminal offence, and allegedly abused his power as President by trying to cover up his affair with Ms Monica Lewinsky.
However, in his zeal to have the President thrown out of office, Mr Starr now stands accused of similar offences following his 12-hour appearance on Thursday before the House Judiciary Committee, which is trying to decide whether Mr Clinton should face a full impeachment hearing by the Senate - a prospect which seems increasingly less likely.
In a stinging letter to Mr Starr yesterday, Mr Dash, an outside consultant and ethics adviser to the office of independent counsel and to Mr Starr himself, said his "strong advice" had been ignored and he felt no option but to resign.
In his letter, Mr Dash said: "You decided to depart from your usual professional decision-making by accepting the invitation of the House Judiciary Committee to appear before the committee and serve as an aggressive advocate for the proposition that the evidence in your referral demonstrates that the President committed impeachable offences.
"In doing this you have violated your obligations under the independent counsel statute and have unlawfully intruded on the power of impeachment which the Constitution gives solely to the House."
Mr Dash said that Mr Starr's role under the law was to gather information and then refer it to the House for consideration. His role should have stopped there, Mr Dash contended.
But, he continued, "You have no right or authority under the law, as independent counsel, to advocate for a particular position on the evidence before the Judiciary Committee or to argue that the evidence in your referral is strong enough to justify the decision by the committee to recommend impeachment . . .
"By your willingness to serve in this improper role you have seriously harmed the public confidence in the independence and objectivity of your office. Frequently, you have publicly stated that you have sought my advice in major decisions and had my approval. I cannot allow that inference to continue regarding your present abuse of your office, and have no other choice but to resign."
Mr Starr, who had praised Mr Dash during his testimony but made no mention of his resignation, reacted calmly to the news. He said he admired Mr Dash for his action, describing him as "a total man of principle". He said he felt he had a duty to argue his case.
Mr Dash was a largely unknown member of the Starr team. However, his status as ethics adviser will feed ammunition to Mr Starr's critics. Earlier in his career, Mr Dash examined Lord Widgery's Bloody Sunday inquiry for the United Nations. He commented unfavourably on his work.
Meanwhile, the committee has caused surprise by deciding to call further witnesses in the impeachment inquiry, which is supposed to be wrapped up before Christmas. The witnesses include Mr Clinton's lawyer in the Paula Jones case, Mr Bob Bennett, and Mr Daniel Gecker, the lawyer for Ms Kathleen Willey, who has alleged that Mr Clinton groped her near the Oval Office when she asked him for a job.
Mr Clinton, who is visiting Japan and Korea, said in Tokyo: "As far as I know, there has never been a case where a person's lawyer was asked to come and testify."