Clinton `witness' denies claim

Another tantalising hint of evidence that might yet incriminate President Clinton and the 21-year old White House trainee, Monica Lewinsky, was produced today by the Wall Street Journal.

The financial daily, which was initially reluctant to report allegations of an affair between Mr Clinton and Ms Lewinsky, said a White House steward had testified under oath to having seen the two alone together in the President's private study. Subsequently, the paper said, he had found tissues with lipstick and other stains on them.

As soon as the Journal's report was published on its Internet site, however, a lawyer for the steward, Bayani Nelvis, issued a forceful denial, saying the report was "absolutely false". The steward was the latest in a succession of White House employees to have testified in the case, in which all evidence is supposed to be confidential.

There has been no denial, however, of a New York Times report that Ms Lewinsky visited the White House no fewer than 37 times after leaving her job there in April 1996.