The former White House aide with whom President Bill Clinton allegedly had an affair has been spared from making a new sworn deposition.

Former White House spokesman, George Stephanopoulos, says the trail could spell the end for Clinton (5'31")

Monica Lewinsky, 24, had been scheduled to be questioned on Friday by attorneys for Paula Jones, who is suing Mr Clinton on charges that he sexually harassed her in 1991.

Ms Lewinsky's lawyer, William Ginsburg, had earlier said that the deposition, essentially a sworn testimony to prepare for a civil lawsuit, was likely to be put off after consultations with US District Judge Susan Webber Wright.

The case could result in Mr Clinton facing impeachment proceedings

"We will have a hearing tonight with the judge ... and she will determine then when the hearing is going to go forward," he said.

In the event, the hearing with Mrs Jones's lawyers was postponed indefinitely.

Ms Lewinsky was expected to cite the constitutional Fifth Amendment which protects a witness from self-incrimination.

Mr Clinton is accused of having an affair with Ms Lewinsky when she was a White House intern in 1995-96, then asking her to lie about it to Mrs Jones's attorneys.

The President has repeated his absolute denial that he asked her to lie. During a White House news conference, he said: "I would never ask anybody to do anything other than tell the truth."

But the prosecution lawyers claim that a White House worker taped Ms Lewinsky admitting to the alleged affair and describing the attempts to cover it up.

Vernon Jordan has defended the President

The independent prosecutor leading the enquiry, Kenneth Starr, says he has been given 17 of the secretly-recorded tapes.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, Mr Starr denied that his inquiry amounts to a political witch-hunt.

"Our job is to gather facts and to evaluate those facts and to get at the truth," he said.

"I have a very strong belief in facts and in truth and that the facts will come out and the truth will come out eventually."

Gore Vidal, writer and Whitehouse watcher believes that there has been a conspiracy but AGAINST Mr Clinton (3'08")

President Clinton's lawyers say they are furious at the secretive tactics used to gain evidence and they have condemned what they call grossly distorted leaks about his private life.

There has also been further denial from the President's friend Vernon Jordan, the man who is rumoured to have instructed the young woman to lie about the alleged affair.

"Miss Lewinsky told me in no uncertain terms that she did not have a sexual relationship with the President," Mr Jordan said.

If proven, the latest developments, which could lead to formal charges of perjury and obstruction of justice against Mr Clinton, may also raise the possibility of impeachment proceedings.

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