END OF AN ERA: Ken Starr, Clinton prosecutor & Trump impeachment attorney, dies at 76
Former District Court of Appeals Judge Kenneth Starr, known for his investigation into President Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky, has passed away at the age of 76. The solicitor general for President George H. W. Bush, Starr was a longtime conservative and Republican operative who defended then-President Donald Trump in his first impeachment trial and was a member of Jeffrey Epstein’s legal team in 2008.
Nominated by President Ronald Reagan to the Court of Appeals, Starr accepted the job of Solicitor General in 1989 – arguing over two dozen cases before the Supreme Court that included school prayer and abortion rights.
A year after leaving the bench, the high-profile GOP attorney was brought in as an independent counsel in the Whitewater inquiry, replacing Clinton administration Attorney General Janet Reno’s pick, Robert B. Fiske Jr. on a special panel appointed by then-Chief Justice of the Supreme Court – William H. Rehnquist, the New York Times reported.
The “Starr Report,” the investigation into former President Bill Clinton’s affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, was put into book form, and, offering details of the probe, mixed with salacious and intimate particulars, it was wildly popular. What began as an investigation into potential shady real estate deals turned into the impeachment of a sitting president for attempting to cover up an affair.
According to Reuters:
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“The scandal centered on Clinton’s attempt to cover up his relationship with Lewinsky, and the impeachment charges stemmed from his false denial of the relationship in his 1998 grand jury testimony and in a deposition in a sexual harassment case filed against him by Paula Jones of Arkansas where Clinton had been governor.”
“On Dec. 19, 1998, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to impeach Clinton – only the second president until then to face this charge of wrongdoing. A subsequent Senate trial failed to remove him from office.”
Starr denied accusations of being partisan in his prosecution of Clinton, repeatedly saying “no one, not even the United States president is above the law.” It’s a statement that many MAGA Republicans today would be advised to heed.
As legal counsel for convicted pedophile — and Donald Trump associate — Jeffrey Epstein, Starr oversaw the 2008 deal that shielded the perverted hedge fund manager from federal prosecution. In Miami Herald reporter Julie K. Brown’s book, Perversion of Justice, the author wrote:
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“Although I go into this more in my book, Ken Starr was probably the most powerful force behind Jeffrey Epstein’s secret plea deal. Without him, it probably would not have happened the way it did, and Epstein would have ended up in prison for a very long time.”
Despite dozens of underage victims, Epstein pled guilty to two lesser charges: procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute. Not only did the convicted sex offender get a light 13-month sentence – he was given work privileges, and the deal stopped a more extensive FBI investigation, The Wrap reported.
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Less than a decade after securing a sweetheart deal for one of the country’s most notorious sex traffickers and pedophiles, in 2016, Kenneth Starr was “accused of ignoring sexual assault issues on campus,” leading to him being fired from his position as President of Baylor University in Texas.
According to the Wall Street Journal:
“The sexual assault scandal that plagued Baylor during Starr’s tenure included at least 17 women who had reported sexual or domestic assault involving 19 football players since 2011. The reports included four instances of alleged gang rapes.”
Starr made the rounds on Fox News after leaving his position at the University, Trying to rehab an image linked to a pedophile, a criminal commander-in-chief, and partisan prosecution.
Ken Starr was the symbol of the Republican weaponization of the executive branch of government. He will not be missed by the many people whose lives were negatively affected by his actions.
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