Law suits will not tarnish Bill, says Hillary

First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton said attacks on President Bill Clinton, such as Paula Jones' lawsuit, would not tarnish his legacy. She also urged people to "take a deep breath and think hard" about suing for political reasons.

"I'm confident that my husband's place in history and his contribution to this country is going to far outweigh any of the attacks that have been made on him," Mrs Clinton said.

She compared the Jones case to Whitewater, which she expected would "probably stagger on, because there's no incentive for it to end".

"Using the legal system as a political weapon is something that ... you could find periodically in American history, but certainly not with the intensity that you've seen it in the last few years," she said.

The first lady's comments were the latest in a series of radio interviews this week in which she was asked to react to her husband's deposition last weekend in Mrs Jones' sexual harassment suit.

- AP, Washington