Ken Starr was on a bicycle trip in Croatia when his former associate testified last week before a U.S. Senate committee, and he is unsure what to think of the sexual misconduct allegations against his friend, Brett Kavanaugh.
Starr is the man who famously investigated President Bill Clinton in the 1990s for his involvement in the “Whitewater” scandal, as well as Clinton’s relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Kavanaugh spent more than three years under Starr, and was a member of the team that worked the Clinton case.
The former Baylor president, who resides in Waco, was in Fort Worth on Monday to speak at the World Affairs Council meeting at the Fort Worth Club.
Starr is on a book promotion tour for his memoir “Contempt,” his account of the investigation and prosecution of Clinton. Starr’s timing could not be better, given the nature of what is going on in Washington, D.C., with Kavanaugh, and his Supreme Court confirmation at stake.
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“I am a process guy, so I recoil at the idea of what happened,” Starr said Monday in an interview. “So what do you do about that? I don’t have a great answer to that, other than this was profoundly wrong and unfair to the process. What’s the ‘this’? Sitting on this anonymous allegation and I know now it’s very easy to make an allegation in this arena. Very easy.”
Starr said he has not watched the Senate hearings of Kavanaugh. He is accused of sexually assaulting Christine Blasey Ford when they were in high school.
During the Clinton investigation, Starr passionately defended his pursuit of the truth. He did so during the Baylor rape scandal as well. Does he believe a full investigation of Kavanaugh is in order?
“I’m not privy to the facts; I’m not dodging the question, I was literally out of the country,” Starr said.
A cynic might say he’s dodging the question.
“A cynic might but I was literally out of the country and I got back (Sunday),” he said. “The testimony was last week. We were in remote parts.”
The question is: Does a man who pursued the truth at exceptional cost to his professional and personal life and who passionately believes the Supreme Court can be non-partisan believe an investigation is a necessity in this case?
“Here is my fundamental threshold concern: There was a breakdown in process when this allegation came to (Democratic Calif. U.S. Senator) Dianne Feinstein in July,” Starr said. “For whatever reason, she sat on it and allowed it to be anonymous. Then the name was leaked. There are all of these (discoveries) in the 11th hour; where did this come from?
“Six full FBI investigations before (into Kavanaugh), and now this is a big deal? Not just the United States Court of Appeals, but why wasn’t this brought forward earlier?”
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