President Clinton, forced to respond to Whitewater, vigorously defended his wife, rejected comparisons to Watergate and blasted Republican attacks as "blatantly partisan."
"We're not covering up or anything - we are opening up," Clinton told reporters.
"If I did something wrong, it will come out in the special counsel. That's what the Republicans said they wanted. That's what most of your media outlets said you wanted."
Just hours after the president hammered congressional critics, special counsel Robert Fiske urged senators not to conduct a hearing into Whitewater - saying it would "pose a severe risk" to his probe.
Fiske's fears include grants of immunity, which caused overturned convictions in the Iran-contra case.
But House Republican Whip Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., a supporter of hearings, said, "As long as a committee does not offer immunity it does not in any way endanger a case."
House Speaker Thomas Foley, D-Wash., said he and leaders of both parties would meet to discuss hearings.
Clinton noted no one has "accused me of abuse of authority in office. That's what Watergate was about."
Pressed by reporters, Clinton for the first time faced a lingering question in the case - whether he had improper advance word that the Justice Department had launched an investigation of Whitewater.
Six White House aides, and four current and former Treasury Department officials, are to testify Thursday at least about three conversations they had last fall on the topic.
Clinton said he knew about two of them.
He said he learned in October that the case had been referred to the Justice Department, but could not remember when or from whom.
Meanwhile, Lloyd Cutler, a long-time Washington Democrat, was reported to be Clinton's choice to replace outgoing White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum, at the center of the latest charges.
