(25 Jan 1998) English/Nat
The U-S Republican Party is reaction with caution to the latest sex scandal surrounding President Bill Clinton.
Republican Party leaders said on Sunday they would wait for further evidence before taking any action.
As White House staffers continue to downplay the allegations that Clinton had an affair with intern, Monica Lewinsky, the President and his wife Hillary attended church in Washington D-C.
It was the couple's first public appearance together since the latest sex scandal broke.
A public appearance for embattled President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton.
It was the couple's first public appearance together since the latest sex scandal broke less than a week ago.
As the Clintons continue to keep a low profile, everything was left up to the president's staff on Sunday to again deny allegations that Clinton had an affair with former White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I do think thought that we're living in a situation of a media frenzy where rumour, innuendo and gossip happen to be more dominant than fact-finding."
SUPER CAPTION: Rahm Emanuel, White House advisor
Even the Republicans are treading carefully - but their motives are quite different.
As allegations, and speculation, continue to make newspaper headlines in the U-S, Republicans are letting the scandal unfold.
They have decided, for the moment, not to attack the president.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Consequences are so serious for the country and for the people involved that it's my position that I want to wait until the evidence is substantial and credible, that a crime has been committed of an impeachable nature. That is not the state of play right now."
SUPER CAPTION: Rep. Henry Hyde, Republican - Illinois
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott was also cautious.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"Certainly the allegations are serious and they're troubling to me and the country but I don't know whether they're true or false. I don't know the facts."
SUPER CAPTION: Trent Lott, Senate Majority leader
Every newspaper has the story as lead and the front-page photo - that of Clinton embracing Lewinsky as he's welcomed back to the White House after his reelection in 1996.
There was no other topic on the Sunday morning talk shows.
But Republican leaders say much more evidence is needed before any impeachment process can even be considered.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I am pleased that this issue is in the bosom of the independent counsel, Mr Starr, who has the resources and the personnel, access pot the Grand Jury, immunity power, deposition power. Let the professionals develop whether these charges are credible and substantive. If they are the law requires him to report that fact, those facts, to the Congress that's time enough for us to to evaluate what he presents to us and determine what to do about it. But until then everything is guesswork and speculation, the presumption of innocence must be maintained for the president as for anybody under this kind of fire."
SUPER CAPTION: Rep. Henry Hyde, Republican - Illinois
Under a cloud of suspicion, Clinton will go before the country on Tuesday with a State of the Union address offering the first balanced budget in 30 years along with big spending increases for schools, child care, medical research and the environment.
The big question, though, is how much of Clinton's message will penetrate the fog of uncertainty about his presidency.
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