Kenneth Winston Starr, an American lawyer who served as a United States circuit judge and 39th solicitor general of the United States has died. He was born on July 21, 1946 and died Tuesday, September 13, 2022. He was 76 years.
He died of complications from a surgery, according to a statement from his family.
Starr, best known for leading Whitewater, the expansive investigation which began in 1994 as a probe of real estate investments by then-President Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton, was nominated by former President Ronald Reagan for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C., circuit, and he served as U.S. solicitor general under then-President George H.W. Bush.
However, the investigation branched out to encompass numerous other areas — including the notorious Monica Lewinsky sex scandal, a scandal which involved Clinton’s extramarital affair with Lewinsky, which was purported to have started when she was a 24-year-old White House intern.
Despite denying the sexual allegations, Clinton was impeached by the House on perjury and obstruction of justice charges that stemmed from the scandal. However, he [Clinton], was later acquitted of all charges by the Senate.
Starr also served as a federal appellate judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1983 to 1989 and as the U.S. solicitor general from 1989 to 1993 during the presidency of George H. W. Bush.
In 2020, Starr was a member of former President Donald Trump’s defense team for Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate. Trump was acquitted.