Ken Starr, the independent counsel who investigated former President Bill Clinton and his extramarital affair with Monica Lewinsky, believes it is “too late” for an anonymous sexual misconduct accusation leveled at Brett Kavanaugh to derail the U.S. Supreme Court nominee’s confirmation.
“As someone who is interested in process and fairness, obviously, any allegation of this kind of nature is an unfortunate, serious allegation,” Starr said Sunday during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper.
“But to be honest, I was outraged about the timing as well as the process that the letter from something long ago was in the hands — and you covered it very well — of the Democrats in July and yet there was nothing done about this,” Starr continued. “I just think it’s too late for there to be any serious consideration at this stage. The matter has adjourned, you had the opportunity to come forward, and you failed to do that year after year after year.”
Kavanaugh is accused by an unnamed woman of trying to force himself on her at a party while the pair were in high school in the 1980s. The woman recounted the incident to the New Yorker on Friday, a day after Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told federal authorities about the allegation. However, the woman originally sent a letter to Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., in July regarding her concerns with Kavanaugh’s prospective appointment to the court. Kavanaugh has “categorically and unequivocally” denied the claim.
The Senate judiciary panel had been scheduled to vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination last week, but the vote was delayed until Thursday.
Kavanaugh worked with Starr for three years as he probed Clinton in the 1990s. Starr’s report, released in 1998, outlined a case for the former president to be impeached by Congress for perjuring himself during the course of the investigation.
Starr said Sunday he hoped that special counsel Robert Mueller’s federal Russia inquiry does not result in similar attempts to remove President Trump from office.”I hope not,” Starr said. “Impeachment is hell. The country should not be taken through that.”
