The subpoena duly arrived. I knew that perjury traps would be set for me. I knew that I would be asked about my grand-jury testimony. And I knew that if I deviated from it, I would open myself to perjury charges. So I memorised it.

I stood in the Senate hearing room, raised my right hand, and was sworn in. "The president never instructed you before your testimony before the grand jury not to relay his false account of his relationship with Monica Lewinsky?" asked Rogan.

"We didn't speak about anything."

Once the hearing had come to an end, that, I thought, would be the end of my part in proceedings. Then I got a call from my personal attorney, Bill McDaniel.

"There's an affidavit from a British journalist claiming you committed perjury," he told me. What lunatic twist was this? I couldn't imagine who or what he was talking about. "Who is this person?"

hitchens IS an arsehole!

his excuses for fucking over a friend- "I warned you that this might be trivial"