FORUM CLUB TO HOST KEN STARR
WEST PALM BEACH — Twenty years after Ken Starr’s investigation of then-President Bill Clinton led to Clinton’s impeachment, Starr will appear at a Forum Club of the Palm Beaches lunch on Monday to discuss that drama and undoubtedly field questions about special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of President Donald Trump.
Starr’s appearance at the Kravis Center was nearly sold out on Friday, but Forum Club Executive Director Sarah Elwell said those interested in attending could contact kjoyce@ forumclubpb.com to inquire about a “handful” of remaining tickets.
Starr is scheduled to speak and later sign copies of his book “Contempt: A Memoir of the Clinton Investigation.”
Starr was appointed by a three-judge panel in 1994 to the now-defunct position of independent counsel to investigate Bill and Hillary Clinton’s Whitewater real estate dealings and other matters. Starr’s staff included Brett Kavanaugh, who was confirmed for a U.S. Supreme Court seat this month on a narrow Senate vote.
Starr’s wide-ranging investigation eventually came to include a sexual harassment lawsuit against Bill Clinton by a former Arkansas state government employee, Paula Jones. In answering questions under oath about the Jones case, Clinton denied having “sexual relations” with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Clinton later admitted in a nationally televised address to having a relationship with Lewinsky that was “wrong” and to giving a “false impression” about it to the public.
The Republican-controlled U.S. House voted to impeach Clinton on one count of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice in December 1998. But the U.S. Senate, which also was controlled by the GOP, voted against removing Clinton from office in February 1999. A two-thirds Senate vote was required to remove Clinton, but only 45 senators voted for the perjury charge and the Senate split 50-50 on the obstruction of justice charge.