Bill Clinton was once caught trying to sneak out of the White House - apparently to visit a mistress - by hiding under a raincoat in the back of his personal lawyer's car.

The former president was stopped by a Secret Service officer at the gate who inspected lawyer Bruce Lindsey's vehicle and was shocked to see Clinton inside.

Lindsey pleaded to be allowed to pass but the uniformed officer held firm and radioed for backup. The officer said: 'You better get me some help here.

'I just caught Bruce Lindsey trying to drive out with the President with a raincoat over his head'.

The incident was recounted by former Secret Service officer Gary Byrne - who guarded the Clintons - in his new book, Secrets of the Secret Service: The History and Uncertain Future of the US Secret Service, which is out next month.

Scroll down for video

President Bill Clinton was once caught by a Secret Service officer trying to sneak out of the White House to presumably visit a mistress by hiding under a raincoat in the back of his personal lawyer Bruce Lindsey's car. Pictured: Clinton in Washington DC in 1999

Lindsey had pleaded to be allowed to pass but the officer radioed for backup. The officer said: 'You better get me some help here. I just caught Bruce Lindsey trying to drive out with the President with a raincoat over his head'. Pictured: Clinton and Lindsey in 1998

Byrne does not reveal the nature of Clinton's excursion but says that he would routinely sneak out to visit his 'well known and less well known mistresses' in Washington DC.

Such trips were known as 'Off The Record' or OTR, a privilege normally reserved for somber occasions such as visits to the families of dead servicemen.

But Clinton supposedly began to use them for his secret assignations which left the Secret Service outraged.

The undated episode with the raincoat left the senior agents 'past fury', he writes.

The book says: 'They were dejected, disappointed, bewildered and shocked. They tried to remain diplomatic but they had to be adamant with Bruce Lindsey that this would never happen again'.

Clinton's attempts to 'sneak off' became something to look out for after the raincoat incident, which led Clinton to using OTR trips to his own ends.

Byrne writes that Clinton 'abused' this freedom and on one occasion it nearly cost a Secret Service agent his life.

On a normal trip, the President was part of a motorcade which blazed through red lights with sirens going to ensure he could not be attacked.

Any trip required cooperation from the Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department, which blocked off roads to prevent a terrorist attack and to keep people away.

Clinton's mistresses are said to have included a blonde woman who has been to his house so many times that his Secret Service detail have given her the nickname 'Energizer'. The buxom woman is supposedly driven to his upstate New York home in an SUV after his wife Hillary leaves in an elaborate maneuver to ensure they never meet. Pictured: The Clintons in 1997

But Clinton asked for everything to be changed 'at the last minute' when he wanted to make his trips out of the White House with less security and less attention.

The Secret Service 'capitulated' but Clinton wanted trips that were even more secret than that, meaning the agency did not have enough time to plan for proper security.

According to Byrne, the new arrangements 'eliminated layers of protection all together' meaning that the remaining security layers were disjointed.

All of this put the service personnel and the public at 'extreme risk', Byrne claims.

Previous extracts from the upcoming book, Secrets of The Secret Service, have revealed that the Clintons forced the agency to undermine itself by 'systematically destroying' the rules that were put in place for their protection.

Agents were forced to collude with the Clintons in the 'Chinagate' campaign finance scandal in 1996 by ignoring the contents of brown paper bags brought into the White House by Chinese officials.

Byrne says that the problem was compounded by Secret Service leadership mistakenly thinking that the Clintons were 'invincible'.

He writes: 'The view from the front lines, however, was that something, somehow, was bound to ensnare them. It was simply a matter of the right scandal'.

Clinton's mistresses are said to have included a blonde woman who has been to his house so many times that his Secret Service detail have given her the nickname 'Energizer'.

Former Secret Service officer Gary Byrne did not reveal the nature of Clinton's excursion on the day of the raincoat incident but says that he would routinely sneak out to visit his 'well known and less well known mistresses'. Pictured: Clinton with Monica Lewinsky in 1998

The buxom woman is supposedly driven to his upstate New York home in an SUV after his wife Hillary leaves in an elaborate maneuver to ensure they never meet.

Clinton is also said to have given orders to his Secret Service detail to not ask his mistress any questions and just 'let her go in', according to another author, Ronald Kessler.

Whilst in office Clinton survived impeachment proceedings when he admitted having an affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Clinton also paid out $850,000 to settle a sexual harassment cause brought by Paula Jones, a former Arkansas state employee.

Lindsey, from Little Rock, Arkansas, was a permanent fixture of Clinton's inner circle, especially in times of turmoil.

Byrne's book paints a picture of an agency in crisis which could be a danger to President Trump

The advisor to the president found himself in the spotlight during the Monica Lewinsky scandal when he was subpoenaed to testify in front of a grand jury over allegations that he attempted to silence women who claimed to have sexual encounters with Clinton.

The Georgetown alum is still close with Clinton, serving as counselor to the chair on the Clinton Foundation Board of Directors, and from 2005 to 2017 he served as the chairman of the board.

Lindsey handles potential Clinton scandals, as a leaked email from last October shows he was made aware that foundation staffers in 'protected' classes would slap the organization with lawsuits if they learned they were making less than their colleagues in comparable positions.

These 'protected' classes referred to women and minority groups.

Last October it was also revealed that Lindsey received an email from the foundation's director of foreign policy in 2012 that informed the board that Qatar, an Islamist state in the Persian gulf, would be handing Bill Clinton $1 million check for his birthday.

Both of the correspondences were released by Wikileaks and came from the hacking of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's emails during the height of the 2016 presidential election.

Secrets of the Secret Service: The History and Uncertain Future of the U.S. Secret Service will be released January 2, 2018