Ken Starr, the prosecutor on the Clinton Whitewater investigation, has died at 76

September 13th, 2022

Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr holds a copy of his report while testifying on Capitol Hill Thursday Nov. 19, 1998, before the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment hearing. Starr, whose criminal investigation of Bill Clinton led to the president’s impeachment, died Sept. 13, 2022. He was 76. (AP Photo/Doug Mills, File)

Ken Starr, the one-time federal prosecutor who led the Whitewater investigation into Bill and Hillary Clinton during the 1990s, died Tuesday, his family said. He was 76.

Starr was appointed to a federal judgeship during the Reagan administration, and later served as solicitor general under President George H.W. Bush.

In 1994, a three-judge panel appointed Starr to lead an investigation into real estate investments made by the Clintons during the years that Bill Clinton was building his political career in Arkansas.

As independent counsel, Starr was granted expansive investigative powers. The scope of the investigation grew far beyond the original inquiry into the Whitewater real estate deal — eventually encompassing Clinton’s relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Starr’s report, delivered to Congress in 1998, ultimately led to Clinton’s impeachment.

Later, Starr served as president and chancellor of Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He resigned in 2016 after an investigation revealed that the school had mishandled allegations of sexual assault involving the football team.

Starr died Tuesday at a Houston hospital of complications from surgery, his family said in a statement.

“We are deeply saddened with the loss of our dear and loving Father and Grandfather, whom we admired for his prodigious work ethic, but who always put his family first,” his son, Randall Starr, said in the statement.

This is a developing story and will be updated.