Clinton and Ray Make a Deal

Outgoing President Bill Clinton and Independent Counsel Robert Ray have finalized a last-minute deal in which Clinton would admit to wrongdoing in the Monica Lewinsky affair in exchange for Ray's shutting down the seven-year investigation of the Clinton White House, two well-informed sources outside of Ray's office said this morning.

The deal could be announced as early as this afternoon, but the officials were unclear about the exact timing as Washington is already in the midst of a nonstop 36-hour celebration of the inauguration of George W. Bush.

The exact terms of the bargain are not fully known yet, two officials told TIME.com, but it appears that Clinton could acknowledge that he lied under oath in exchange for Ray's bringing the controversial probe to a close. Ray is the third in a long line of independent counsels charged with investigating the Whitewater land deal, various misadventures of the Clinton White House and, beginning in 1997, the President's relationship with Lewinsky.

The advantages for both sides became apparent only in the last two weeks of Clinton's term. Ray, who had empaneled a new grand jury as late as last August, came to realize he would be unlikely to find a jury that would convict a former president of obstruction of justice or perjury in the matter of an extramarital affair. For his part, Clinton preferred to leave office without the threat of further investigation or prosecution hanging over his head.