World

Clinton-Lewinsky investigator Starr dies

By AAP Newswire

Sep 14, 2022

US prosecutor Ken Starr, who has died at the age of 76. — Ken Starr holds a copy of his blockbuster report that led to the 1998 impeachment of Bill Clinton. -AP

Ken Starr, the prosecutor whose investigation led to the impeachment of then-US president Bill Clinton in 1998, has died at the age of 76.

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Starr died on Tuesday in Houston following complications from surgery, his family said in a statement.

He came to national prominence in the US as the special prosecutor who investigated the sex-and-perjury scandal that led to Clinton's impeachment.

The investigation into Clinton's affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky produced a book-length official document for congress that became a bestseller when commercially sold as The Starr Report.

Offering startling glimpses of sexual trysts intermingled with the densest legalese, the report found Clinton's attempt to cover up the affair offered grounds for impeachment.

The scandal centred on Clinton's attempt to cover up his relationship with Lewinsky, and the impeachment charges stemmed from his false denial of the relationship in his 1998 grand jury testimony and in a deposition in a sexual harassment case filed against him by Paula Jones of Arkansas where Clinton had been governor.

On December 19, 1998, the US House of Representatives voted to impeach Clinton - only the second president to face this charge of wrongdoing. A subsequent Senate trial failed to remove him from office.

Starr is survived by his wife Alice Starr, to whom he was married for 52 years, his three children and nine grandchildren, the family statement added.

He will be buried at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.