by
Win
McNamee/Getty
Images)
Ken
Starr
spent
the
90s
and
millions
of
taxpayer
dollars
investigating
a
real
estate
deal
that
turned
up
nothing
before
pivoting
to
criminalizing
an
affair
between
consenting
adults.
To
be
clear,
Bill
Clinton’s
relationship
with
Monica
Lewinsky
raised
the
sort
of
serious
power
imbalance
issues
that
HR
departments
exist
to
prevent,
but
the
Starr
investigation
wasn’t
designed
to
spark
a
nuanced
conversation
about
sexual
harassment,
it
was
an
effort
to
translate
quasi-puritanical
moral
panic
into
cheap
political
points.
Apparently,
the
moral
scold
of
the
Clinton
era
didn’t
have
the
same
hang
ups
when
a
convicted
child
sex
offender
came
calling.
Emails
included
in
the
DOJs
latest
Esptein
files
dump
show
Starr
—
while
serving
as
president
of
Baylor
University
—
personally
corresponded
with
and
hosted
Jeffrey
Epstein
on
the
Baylor
campus.
In
2012.
Four
years
after
Epstein
had
already
pleaded
guilty
to
soliciting
and
procuring
a
minor
for
prostitution.
I’m
shocked…
SHOCKED…
that
the
man
who
worked
with
Brett
Kavanaugh
to
prosecute
Bill
Clinton
would
exhibit
such
moral
flexibility.
Lest
anyone
tries
to
convince
themselves
that
Starr
might
not
have
known
about
Epstein’s
2008
child
prostitution
plea
—
or
the
much
more
horrific
contemporaneous
allegations
that
were
buried
by
Epstein’s
Non-Prosecution
Agreement
—
remember
that
Ken
Starr
represented
Epstein
in
that
deal.
He
didn’t
just
know
about
the
facts
of
the
charge
Epstein
would
plea
to,
but
everything
about
the
case.
All
the
allegations
that
the
career
prosecutor
on
the
case
kept
begging
her
supervisors,
especially
future
Trump
Labor
Secretary
Alex
Acosta,
to
consider:
Julie
K.
Brown,
the
journalist
who
did
the
most
to
bring
Epstein’s
crimes
to
light,
reported
in
Perversion
of
Justice,
that
Starr
was
the
“most
powerful
force”
behind
Epstein’s
2008
plea
deal,
leading
a
“scorched-earth”
legal
campaign
to
keep
Epstein
out
of
federal
prison.
Epstein
ultimately
took
a
year
of
county
jail
with
12-hour
daily
work
release.
Zealously
representing
a
criminal
defendant
does
not
require
being
their
buddy.
But
Starr
was
calling
Epstein
his
friend
and
brother
years
after
the
fact.
While
at
Baylor,
Starr
arranged
for
Epstein
to
come
to
Waco
and
rolled
out
the
red
carpet.
Starr
signed
off
his
emails
to
Epstein
with
“hugs”
and
“love,”
because
nothing
says
“appropriate
professional
boundaries”
quite
like
sending
mash
notes
to
a
registered
sex
offender.
Starr
expressed
interest
in
visiting
Epstein
in
New
York
and
Florida
and
the
two
chatted
about
current
events
like
old
college
buddies
catching
up.
In
2016,
after
Starr
was
ousted
from
Baylor
over
the
sexual
assault
cover-up
—
oh,
right!
Remember
how
Starr’s
tenure
as
Baylor’s
president
ended
after
it
came
out
that
his
office
looked
the
other
way
amidst
a
series
of
sexual
assault
claims?
Claims
that
the
university
didn’t
address
because
the
football
team
was
nationally
relevant?
According
to
the
Baylor
Lariat,
Starr
apparently
complained
to
Epstein
about
a
Texas
Monthly
article
detailing
the
scandal,
calling
it
an
“attack”
on
the
“turbo-charged
leadership”
of
football
coach
Art
Briles.
This
continued
correspondence
wasn’t
legal
work.
Lawyers
don’t
have
to
keep
up
with
former
clients
socially.
And
when
your
work
revealed
that
those
clients
credibly
ran
a
child
sex
ring,
you
definitely
don’t
have
to
keep
them
on
the
Christmas
card
list.
Starr’s
access
to
more
evidence
about
Epstein’s
2008
plea
makes
his
correspondence
more
disturbing
than
the
emails
involving
other
lawyers,
but
the
same
depressing
question
dominates
over
all
of
Epstein’s
stable
of
lawyer
pen
pals:
didn’t
anyone
ever
bother
to
ask
why
a
guy
with
a
child
prostitution
conviction
wanted
to
be
their
best
friend?
Epstein
was
a
groomer
and
part
of
that
process
involved
cultivating
relationships
with
the
rich
and
powerful.
He
built
a
shield
of
legitimacy
by
association
and
all
of
his
lawyer
buddies
became
bricks
in
that
wall.
Epstein
brought
credentialed,
respectable
people
into
his
orbit
so
people
could
point
to
his
dinner
companions
and
ask
themselves
“well,
would
all
these
important
people
hang
out
with
a
predator?”
The
answer,
obviously,
was
yes
—
but
most
folks
naively
thought
it
wasn’t.
And
look,
people
can
deserve
second-chances.
But
lawyers
are
professionally
expected
to
exercise
some
healthy
skepticism.
Someone
who
served
their
time
for
a
drunken
bar
fight
10
years
ago
probably
isn’t
using
their
relationship
with
a
lawyer
as
part
of
ongoing
exploitation.
Someone
guilty
of
sexually
exploiting
children
should
raise
some
red
flags.
It’s
not
so
much
that
these
lawyers
responded
to
Epstein’s
emails,
it’s
that
they
seemed
to
do
so
with
reckless
credulity.
For
Starr
—
who
knew
back
in
2008
that
the
government
had
reason
to
accuse
Epstein
of
running
a
“cult-like”
organization
—
it
requires
gobsmacking
levels
of
obliviousness
not
to
take
a
second
to
ask
if
maybe
you’ve
become
the
mark
once
you’re
sending
a
sex
offender
“hugs”
and
“love.”
Or
maybe
it
was
just
cynicism.
As
we
noted
when
Starr
died
in
2022,
this
was
a
guy
who
dragged
the
country
through
scandal
for
naked
political
gain.
A
guy
who
abdicated
his
role
in
protecting
Baylor
students
to
maintain
a
winning
football
program.
Why
would
anyone
expect
any
sort
of
moral
pause
when
it
came
to
a
charming
rich
man
with
a
lot
of
friends
who
just
happened
to
traffic
children?
Ken
Starr
made
a
career
out
of
arguing
that
character
counts
and
that
private
conduct
reflects
upon
public
fitness.
It’s
a
shame
he
never
took
his
own
advice.
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter or
Bluesky
if
you’re
interested
in
law,
politics,
and
a
healthy
dose
of
college
sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
as
a
Managing
Director
at
RPN
Executive
Search.