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Starr Says Trump Hasn’t Done Anything Impeachable

November 4, 2018 at 8:14 am EST By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former independent counsel Ken Starr said that he has not seen President Trump commit any offense that is “even close” to being impeachable, The Hill reports.

Said Starr: “Not even close. I know of no evidence … that would suggest that Trump has committed high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Filed Under: White House Tagged With: Kenneth Starr

Ken Starr Thinks a President Can Be Indicted

September 12, 2018 at 11:57 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former independent counsel Ken Starr told MSNBC that he thinks the president can be indicted, but that current Justice Department policy will not allow it.

Said Starr: “I think the president can be indicted, but that is not the position of the Justice Department traditionally, going back to the Nixon-Ford era and continuing through President Clinton’s tenure.”

Filed Under: White House Tagged With: Kenneth Starr

Ken Starr Reflects on ‘Prom Night’

September 3, 2018 at 10:51 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

NPR runs an excerpt from Ken Starr’s Contempt: A Memoir of the Clinton Investigation.

“Our team dubbed the operation ‘Prom Night.’ Fresh from the gym, wearing purple sweats, Monica arrived. After Monica and Linda had chatted for a short time in the lobby, by predesign Steve Irons and several other FBI agents swept in. Identifying themselves, they did not place Monica under arrest, but simply invited her and Tripp to accompany them.”

“Our team of prosecutors awaited the women’s arrival in two adjoining hotel rooms on the tenth floor. I was standing by in my office. When they arrived upstairs, Monica turned on Tripp in a fury. She realized she’d been set up.”

Filed Under: Political Books Tagged With: Kenneth Starr

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Kavanaugh Urged Starr Not to Indict Clinton

August 11, 2018 at 8:49 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“On Christmas Eve 1998, five days after the House impeached President Bill Clinton, Brett Kavanaugh urged his boss — Kenneth W. Starr, the independent counsel — not to pursue a criminal indictment of Mr. Clinton until after he left office,” the New York Times reports.

“Judge Kavanaugh, now President Trump’s nominee to fill the Supreme Court seat left vacant by the retirement of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, delivered the advice in a private memorandum made public on Friday by the National Archives in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.”

Filed Under: Clinton Legacy Tagged With: Brett Kavanaugh, Kenneth Starr

Quote of the Day

August 5, 2017 at 8:25 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

“I do think it is a, certainly a serious matter when a special counsel is accused—and I was accused of that—of exceeding his or her authority. That’s a serious matter because we do not want investigators and prosecutors out on a fishing expedition.”

— Former independent counsel Kenneth Starr, interviewed on CNN.

Filed Under: White House Tagged With: Kenneth Starr

Ken Starr Warns Against Firing Mueller

June 16, 2017 at 9:50 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Former independent counsel Kenneth Starr writes in the Washington Post:

Subject to the possibility of being fired for ‘good cause,’ Mueller should be allowed to do his work unhindered and unimpeded. Absent the most extreme circumstances, the president would be singularly ill-advised to threaten, much less order, Mueller’s firing. Under legally binding regulations, the special counsel’s fate rests exclusively with Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein. He alone is empowered to make that fateful decision. As a matter of honor, and in light of his sworn testimony before Congress, Rosenstein would inevitably resign if confronted with a White House directive to dismiss the special counsel. Wisdom counsels strongly against unleashing a 21st-century version of the Saturday Night Massacre of Watergate-era infamy.

Filed Under: White House Tagged With: Kenneth Starr

Extra Bonus Quote of the Day

June 1, 2016 at 1:58 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 101 Comments

“The captain goes down with the ship.”

— Ken Starr, in an interview with ESPN, on resigning as chancellor of Baylor University in the wake of a sexual assault scandal.

Filed Under: Scandal Tagged With: Kenneth Starr

Baylor Demotes Ken Starr

May 26, 2016 at 1:22 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 34 Comments

Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel who delivered a report that served as the basis for President Bill Clinton’s impeachment in 1998, was demoted by Baylor University, where he had served as president and chancellor, after an investigation found “fundamental failure” by the university in its handling of accusations of sexual assault against football players, the New York Times reports.

Filed Under: Clinton Legacy Tagged With: Kenneth Starr

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About Political Wire

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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