Sex in the Oval Office

Starr’s final report did not merely provide evidence that Clinton had had an affair with Lewinsky—it described their encounters in lurid, almost pornographic detail. The document quoted extensively from the former intern’s testimony, with graphic descriptions of oral sex, touching and kissing, and the use of a cigar in a sex act. It described the pair’s flirty relationship: Before their first kiss, Lewinsky said, she pulled up her jacket to reveal her thong; she addressed him as “Handsome,” and he called her “Sweetie,” “Baby,” and “Dear.” Famously, the report revealed that semen found on a blue dress belonging to Lewinsky matched Clinton’s DNA. These salacious details shocked many Americans, and amplified criticism that Starr was a partisan moral scold trying to destroy the president. In his defense, Starr said the descriptions bolstered Lewinsky’s credibility as a witness and helped build the clearest possible case that the president’s original denial was false. The sexual details, he said, were “indispensable.”