Politics Now: Clinton v Paula Jones Corruption in America

Cracks are appearing in their campaign to portray his accuser as a gold-digging liar. "The press is waking up," said Evan Thomas, Newsweek's Washington bureau chief, who once called her "some sleazy woman with big hair coming out of the trailer parks".

The courage and perseverance of Miss Jones, now 30, is remarkable, given the level of vitriol directed at her by friends of Mr Clinton and the fact that photographs of her, half-naked, taken by an ex-boyfriend, have ended up in a glossy magazine.

At issue is a judicial decision as to whether Mr Clinton is immune from civil law suits while in office. He has hired one of Washington's most expensive lawyers, the $475-an-hour Robert Bennett, to tell the nine-judge panel that for a president to be diverted by a high-profile court battle would impair his "ability to discharge his constitutional responsibilities".

The betting is that the court will agree the case is too sensational for immediate hearing, but will allow witnesses to be interviewed. This would mean Mr Clinton answering questions under oath when, the affair would almost certainly get out of hand. In Washington, even the most secret documents have a tendency to be leaked. While Mr Clinton is maintaining his innocence, he has already tried for a deal.

Miss Jones insists that Mr Clinton, when Arkansas governor, eyed her up as a clerk with a state agency, and instructed a state trooper to bring her to a hotel suite. Alone together, he allegedly "nibbled" her neck, slipped his hands up her legs and then, lowering his trousers, told her: "Kiss it."

Her reply, she said, was: "Look, I'm not that kind of girl." Mr Clinton, she claimed, said that he had no intention of forcing her into any intimate action, but asked her to keep quiet about what he had done.

The Clinton camp has offered a statement by the President saying he had no memory of the encounter, but would not challenge her claim that "we met there". In addition, he would apologise for "untrue assertions" about her character, as well as confirming that she "did not engage in any improper or sexual conduct".

The belief that Mr Clinton is not altogether innocent has been bolstered by statements from two women who say Miss Jones gave them most of the details within minutes of leaving the hotel.

Miss Jones, a Nazarene minister's daughter, refused to answer questions at her apartment in Long Beach, California. "I want to keep my life private," she said. "But I'm going to have my day in court."

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