Less than a week before impeachment hearings are set to start, President Clinton settled the case that prompted it all - agreeing Friday to pay Paula Jones $850,000 to drop the sexual-harassment lawsuit that has dogged him for four years.
The Jones settlement does not include an apology from Clinton, which is what Jones said she wanted when she sued him in May 1994. Nor does the settlement contain an admission of guilt by the president.News of the settlement capped an extraordinary day of developments in the scandals surrounding the president. Independent counsel Kenneth Starr moved on two other fronts against Clinton: Starr obtained a new indictment against presidential friend Webster Hubbell and sent new evidence to the House Judiciary Committee regarding allegations made by former White House volunteer Kathleen Willey. (See story on this page.)
In settling the Jones lawsuit, Clinton resolved the case that has led to the impeachment effort against him - that in keeping his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky a secret from Jones' lawyers, Clinton committed perjury and obstructed justice.
"The president remains certain that the plaintiff's claims are baseless . . . the president has decided he is not prepared to spend one more hour on this matter," Clinton lawyer Robert Bennett said Friday. "It is clear that the American people want their president and Congress to focus on the problems that they were elected to solve. This is a step in that direction."
Settling the Jones lawsuit does not eliminate the charges against the president. But some Republican lawmakers have said that without the lawsuit in the picture, lying in a proceeding that stemmed from the suit may not be considered as grievous.
Jones had alleged that then-Gov. Clinton asked her to perform a sex act in a Little Rock hotel room when she was working as an Arkansas state clerk in May 1991. For years, Clinton has denied her charges.
Lewinsky first surfaced as a potential witness in the Jones lawsuit. Jones' lawyers said they raised questions about Lewinsky in order to establish a pattern of behavior.
Then Starr began investigating whether Clinton had tried to influence Lewinsky to lie about her relationship with him.
In a deposition in the Jones case, Clinton denied a sexual relationship with Lewinsky. Later, before Starr's grand jury, the president insisted he told the truth in his deposition but did acknowledge an inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky.
In his impeachment referral to the House, Starr accused Clinton of lying to that grand jury. It is that charge that many lawmakers consider the most serious against the president.
A federal judge in Little Rock dismissed Jones' suit on April 1, saying that even if the allegations were true, Jones had not shown that her job had been harmed.
Jones appealed, and lawyers for both sides made oral arguments before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month.
As that court prepared to issue a ruling, both the Jones and Clinton camps have been negotiating a settlement. Jones had initially demanded $1 million and a presidential apology. Clinton's lawyers made it clear that there would be no apology.
Bennett had offered $500,000 and then $700,000. But Jones rejected those amounts. Last week, Bennett rejected a $950,000 request from Jones' lawyers.
For Jones, the settlement represents an end to four years of battles not only with Clinton lawyers but with her own legal teams. Her legal bills far exceed the settlement amount.