This is the most anticipated government report in 2 decades

Barnes & Noble is offering it free online. It was a best seller on Amazon even before its release.

Not since the days that President Bill Clinton, former White House intern Monica Lewinsky and independent counsel Ken Starr dominated the headlines has there been this much public interest in a government report regarding alleged misconduct by a sitting president.

Here's a look back at three other government reports on US presidents which people clamored for:

Report: The Starr report

What it was: A four-year, $40 million investigation of the Whitewater real estate deal and Clinton's affair with Lewinsky.

What happened: Starr's probe of Whitewater, and the Clinton-Lewinsky affair it eventually uncovered, was one of the defining events of the 1990s. Starr's report, released on Sept. 11, 1998, was more than 400 pages and it recounted -- in sometimes salacious detail -- Clinton's sexual relationship with Lewinsky. It paved the way for Clinton's eventual impeachment later that year by the House of Representatives. Clinton was acquitted in the Senate and remained in office. The Starr report became an instant bestseller. It was also the first highly-anticipated report of its kind to come out during the internet era. An estimated 20 million Americans accessed the report online, a huge number for the late '90s.

Report: Iran-Contra

What it was: An investigation of a secret and rogue operation, under the direction of the National Security Council's Oliver North, that used the proceeds from weapon sales to Iran to fund the anti-communist Contras in Nicaragua -- despite a congressional ban on such funding.

What happened: Independent counsel Lawrence Walsh spent nearly seven years and more than $47.4 million investigating Iran-Contra. His more than 500-page report was given to a special panel of three federal judges on Aug. 4, 1993. It concluded there was no evidence that President Ronald Reagan knew about the scheme, but he may have "knowingly participated or at least acquiesced" in the cover-up. But the report wasn't publicly released until January 1994, after some government officials named in the report went to court to try to block its release.

Report: Watergate

What it was: The investigation of President Richard Nixon's cover-up of the Watergate burglary.

What happened: Special prosecutor Leon Jaworski's March 1974 report on Nixon and Watergate was practically puny compared to the reports that came after it. It was just 55 pages. It contained no moral judgments and made clear that action against the President rested with Congress. Of course, Nixon resigned before Congress could impeach him. Americans wanted to see Jaworski's report, too, but they had to wait awhile. His report was delivered to the House of Representatives and was kept under seal for more than four decades. It was finally released in October 2018, after a lawsuit was filed that year.

CNN legal analyst Joan Biskupic contributed to this report.

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