Ken Starr, former special counsel, has died

When Ken Starr broke his silence a few years ago and published a book about his investigations into US President Bill Clinton, the former special counsel gave the work the title “Contempt”: a word that can be translated as both contempt and contempt.

Even 20 years after the Lewinsky affair, which almost cost President Clinton his office in 1998/99, Starr was of the opinion that the Democrat of the same age had committed a crime in the White House. Clinton not only lied under oath and duped the populace, but also displayed “frighteningly callous contempt for women,” Starr later wrote.

But in the eyes of many Americans, it was Starr who went haywire in the epic affair. This also has to do with the history of the complex Lewinsky affair. Actually, Starr, a highly respected conservative lawyer, was commissioned in the summer of 1994 to provide clarity in a real estate affair in the state of Arkansas. The scandal went down in the history books as “Whitewater”, one of numerous small and large affairs that Bill and Hillary Clinton, the new residents of the White House, had to deal with at the time.

Continuing expansion of the Clinton investigation

Starr held the title of Independent Counsel, and quickly proved that he would indeed work independently. His team — which included current Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh — continued to broaden the scope of the criminal investigation into the Clintons, undeterred by trivialities.

The special counsel had some success in this; in Clinton’s home town of Arkansas, for example, a number of his friends stumbled across dubious deals at a local savings and loan company. However, the President and his wife, who complained loudly about an alleged “right-wing conspiracy”, got off scot-free for the time being.

The turning point came in 1998. Towards the end of his investigation, Starr managed to convict Clinton of perjury — in a separate civil trial, the president had denied having a sexual relationship with young intern Monica Lewinsky. Starr knew that wasn’t true. Because he had overheard Lewinsky chatting with a supposed friend about her lover.

Clinton tried to get out of the affair with a half-hearted apology. But Starr didn’t let up. His team, led by Brett Kavanaugh, summed up the allegations against Clinton in a highly candid report which (to the great chagrin of the deeply religious Special Counsel) was titled «The Starr Report» wore.

Based on this report, the Republican-dominated House of Representatives initiated impeachment proceedings against Clinton on December 19, 1998. Two months later, the President was acquitted by the Senate. Clinton settled the separate legal case at the end of his term in exchange for payment of a fine.

Regret about investigation against Lewinsky

Starr was no longer in office at this point. After resigning on September 11, 1998, he served as Advocate, Dean of Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu, California, and President of Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He briefly returned to Washington in 2020 as legal representative for President Donald Trump in his second impeachment. “Impeachment proceedings are hell,” he said now.

In his book Contempt, Starr wrote that he “deeply regrets” that he took over the investigation into Lewinsky — partly because the whirlwind deprived him of his chance to be nominated for a seat on the Supreme Court. “But at the same time, there was no practical alternative.” Lewinsky, whose life was turned upside down by Clinton and Starr, said on Twitter: “My thoughts about Ken Starr bring up complex feelings.”

Ken Starr, 76, died on Tuesday in a hospital in Houston (Texas) as a result of a long illness.