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JANUARY 21 1998 JIM LEHRER: Mr. President, welcome.

President Clinton PRESIDENT CLINTON: Thank you Jim.

JIM LEHRER: The news of this day is that Kenneth Starr, independent counsel, is investigating allegations that you suborn perjury by encouraging a 24-year-old woman, former White House intern, to lie under oath in a civil deposition about her having had an affair with you. Mr. President, is that true?

"There is no improper relationship"

That is not true. That is not true. I did not ask anyone to tell anything other than the truth. There is no improper relationship and I intend to cooperate with this inquiry, but that is not true.

JIM LEHRER: No improper relationship, define what you mean by that.

President Clinton and Jim Lehrer PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well I think you know what it means. It means that there is not a sexual relationship, an improper sexual relationship or any other kind of improper relationship.

JIM LEHRER: You had no sexual relationship with this young woman?

PRESIDENT CLINTON: There is not a sexual relationship. That is accurate. We are doing our best to cooperate here, but we don't know much yet, and that's all I can say now. What I'm trying to do is to contain my natural impulses and get back to work. It's important that we cooperate. I will cooperate, but I want to focus on the work at hand.

JIM LEHRER: Just for the record, make sure I understand what your answer means and there is no ambiguity about it --

PRESIDENT CLINTON: There is no ambiguity.

President Clinton and Jim Lehrer JIM LEHRER: You had no conversations with this young woman, Monica Lewinsky, about her testimony, possible testimony, before -- in giving a deposition?

PRESIDENT CLINTON: I did not urge anyone to saying anything that was untrue. I did not urge anyone to say anything that was untrue. That's my statement to you.

JIM LEHRER: Did you talk to -- excuse me.

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Beyond that, I think it's very important that we let the investigation take its course. But I want you to know that that is my clear position. I didn't ask anyone to go in there and say something that's not true.

Jim Lehrer JIM LEHRER: What about your having -- another one of the allegations is that you may have asked or the allegation has been investigated is that you asked your friend, Vernon Jordan, to do that.

PRESIDENT CLINTON: I absolutely did not do that. I can tell you I did not do that. I did not do that. He is in no way involved in trying to get anybody to say anything that is not true at my request. I didn't do that. Now, I don't know what else to tell you. I don't even know, all I know is what I have read here. But I'm going to cooperate. I didn't ask anybody not to tell the truth. There is no improper relationship. The allegations I have read are not true. I do not know what the basis of them is other than just what you know. We'll just have to wait and see, and I will be vigorous at it but I have got to get back to the work of the country. I was up past midnight with Prime Minister Netanyahu last night , I've got Mr. Arafat coming in. We have got action all over the world and the state of the union to do. I'll do my best to cooperate with this just as I have through every other issue over the past several years, but I have got to get back to work.

JIM LEHRER: Would you acknowledge though Mr President, this is very serious business, this charge against you that has been made?

President Clinton PRESIDENT CLINTON: And I will cooperate win the inquiry of it.

JIM LEHRER: What's going on? If it's not true, that means that somebody made this up. Is that --

PRESIDENT CLINTON: Look, you know as much about this as I do right now. We'll just have to look into it and cooperate, and we'll see. But meanwhile, I've got to go on with the work of the country. I got hired to help the rest of the American people. U AUGUST 17 1998 Good evening.

Starr Investigation This afternoon in this room, from this chair, I testified before the Office of Independent Counsel and the grand jury.

I answered their questions truthfully, including questions about my private life, questions no American citizen would ever want to answer.

Still, I must take complete responsibility for all my actions, both public and private. And that is why I am speaking to you tonight.

As you know, in a deposition in January, I was asked questions about my relationship with Monica Lewinsky. While my answers were legally accurate, I did not volunteer information.

Indeed, I did have a relationship with Ms. Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact, it was wrong. It constituted a critical lapse in judgment and a personal failure on my part for which I am solely and completely responsible.

But I told the grand jury today and I say to you now that at no time did I ask anyone to lie, to hide or destroy evidence or to take any other unlawful action.

I know that my public comments and my silence about this matter gave a false impression. I misled people, including even my wife. I deeply regret that.

Pres. Clinton I can only tell you I was motivated by many factors. First, by a desire to protect myself from the embarrassment of my own conduct.

I was also very concerned about protecting my family. The fact that these questions were being asked in a politically inspired lawsuit, which has since been dismissed, was a consideration, too.

In addition, I had real and serious concerns about an independent counsel investigation that began with private business dealings 20 years ago, dealings, I might add, about which an independent federal agency found no evidence of any wrongdoing by me or my wife over two years ago.

The independent counsel investigation moved on to my staff and friends, then into my private life. And now the investigation itself is under investigation.

This has gone on too long, cost too much and hurt too many innocent people.

Now, this matter is between me, the two people I love most -- my wife and our daughter -- and our God. I must put it right, and I am prepared to do whatever it takes to do so.

Nothing is more important to me personally. But it is private, and I intend to reclaim my family life for my family. It's nobody's business but ours.

Pres. Clinton Even presidents have private lives. It is time to stop the pursuit of personal destruction and the prying into private lives and get on with our national life.

Our country has been distracted by this matter for too long, and I take my responsibility for my part in all of this. That is all I can do.

Now it is time -- in fact, it is past time -- to move on.

We have important work to do -- real opportunities to seize, real problems to solve, real security matters to face.

And so tonight, I ask you to turn away from the spectacle of the past seven months, to repair the fabric of our national discourse, and to return our attention to all the challenges and all the promise of the next American century.

Thank you for watching. And good night.