Kenneth Starr’s memoir, “Contempt: A Memoir of the Clinton Investigation,” reflects on the Whitewater investigation that resulted in the deposition of both former President Bill Clinton and then-first lady Hillary Clinton.
The Whitewater scandal was a real estate controversy involving the Clintons over their failed investment into a land development venture known as Whitewater back in 1978.
After a series of investigations into the matter, led most famously by independent counsel Kenneth Starr, the Clintons were never formally charged with a crime, as The Daily Caller reported.
Several of their Whitewater associates, however, fared quite differently.
Hillary Clinton’s deposition, wrote Starr, nearly led to perjury charges, with the number of times the former first lady answered questions with some variation of “I do not recall” straining her credibility.
“In the space of three hours, she claimed, by our count, over 100 times that she ‘did not recall’ or ‘did not remember,’” said Starr. “This suggested outright mendacity. To be sure, human memory is notoriously fallible, but her strained performance struck us as preposterous.”
His overall assessment was blunt: “What was clear was that Mrs. Clinton couldn’t be bothered to make it appear as if she were telling the truth.”
Starr admitted that, following her deposition, he considered filing perjury charges against her.
He ultimately decided not to do so, saying it was too hard to prove that she lied based primarily on the number of times she claimed that she “didn’t know.”
Of former President Clinton, Starr said it was clear that he was not interested in helping the investigation.
But he also noted the former commander-in-chief’s friendly manner: “Clinton bobbed and weaved, but was always pleasant as he avoided answering.”
“I was upset over Mrs. Clinton’s performance, and was even considering bringing the matter before the Washington grand jury for possible indictment on perjury,” Starr explained.
Starr’s conclusion, even 20 years later, was that neither the president nor the first lady was truthful, as The Daily Caller pointed out in a piece about the new book.
The two “knowingly embarked on a continuing course of action that was contemptuous of our revered system of justice,” he said.
See Starr discuss his book in the video below:
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