THE MUELLER THREAD: HOW KEN STARR'S LEAKS COULD HELP TRUMP

[Judi Lynn]

By Sean Braswell

THE DAILY DOSE
MAR 05 2019

Back in August, the National Archives released a long-secret report from 1999 about the only independent investigation to result in the impeachment of a president — so far. Prepared at the order of a federal court, the report came in response to complaints that Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel investigating President Bill Clinton, had violated the law by leaking grand jury materials to members of the press. The report’s release coincided with the Supreme Court confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, who was among the lawyers under Starr investigating Clinton. And while the report, which does not mention Kavanaugh, ended up having no influence on his confirmation, it did help confirm something else: just how leaky the independent counsel’s ship was during the Starr investigation.

Why should the porousness of the Starr team matter now, especially with Kavanaugh safely ensconced on the Supreme Court for life? Well, House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, recently threatened to call Robert Mueller to Capitol Hill and subpoena his investigative findings if Attorney General William Barr does not make public the special counsel’s highly anticipated report. Could Schiff actually accomplish this end run around the attorney general and force Mueller to testify? In short, no. Why? You can thank Starr.

To protect the rights of victims and defendants, federal investigators are supposed to avoid disclosing details about ongoing investigations, especially any information obtained during grand jury proceedings. Exhibit A for the hazards of publicly commenting on an ongoing investigation are then FBI Director James Comey’s comments about the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, which might have influenced the outcome of the 2016 election.

Exhibit B, though, would have to be the media strategy of the office of independent counsel Ken Starr. A former D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals judge and solicitor general, Starr was widely respected and regarded as a moderate, mild-mannered conservative. When his dreams of a Supreme Court seat went up in smoke with Clinton’s election in 1992, Starr went into private practice, only to emerge a year later to accept the role of independent counsel in the Whitewater investigation. Starr was authorized to investigate whether “any individuals or entities” had committed a federal crime “related in any way” to the Whitewater land development in Arkansas, and over the next five years, Starr’s investigation kept expanding in new directions, from the suicide of White House lawyer Vince Foster to firings in the White House travel office to, eventually, Monica Lewinsky.

More:
https://www.ozy.com/opinion/the-mueller-thread-how-ken-starrs-leaks-could-help-trump/93005

[empedocles]

1. Nice find. Thank you.