Bill Clinton has few words on Starr’s death: ‘his family loved him’
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Former President Clinton on Sunday offered a brief reaction to the death of Ken Starr, the independent counsel whose Whitewater investigation ultimately led to Clinton’s impeachment.
“Well, I read the obituary, and I realized that his family loved him, and I think that’s something to be grateful for, and when your life is over, that’s all there is to say,” Clinton said during an appearance on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS.”
“But I was taught not to talk about the people that I have nothing to say,” he continued.
Starr died on Tuesday at the age of 76 in Houston from surgery complications. He reportedly had been in the hospital for months leading up to his death.
“We are deeply saddened with the loss of our dear and loving father and grandfather, whom we admired for his prodigious work ethic, but who always put his family first,” Starr’s son, Randall Starr, said in the obituary.
Starr in the first Bush administration served as the U.S. solicitor general, arguing dozens of cases before the Supreme Court. He previously served as a federal appeals judge and a senior post in the Justice Department.
But Starr gained fame for leading the Whitewater investigation during Clinton’s presidency.
The investigation began with a probe of the Clintons’ real estate investments but eventually expanded to include the former president’s affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
Lewinsky on Tuesday responded to Starr’s death on Twitter.
“As I’m sure many can understand, my thoughts about Ken Starr bring up complicated feelings… but of more importance, is that I imagine it’s a painful loss for those who love him,” Lewinsky wrote shortly after the news of Starr’s death broke.
The Starr Report, which he gave to Congress in September 1998, asserted that Clinton lied to the public and Congress about the relationship. Clinton was later impeached, though was ultimately acquitted in the Senate.
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