And The Horse He Rode In On

The People v. Kenneth Starr

James Carville

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Year: 1999
• Print ISBN: 9780684857343
• eBook ISBN: 9780684865058
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

EXCLUSIVE: CARVILLE RESPONDS TO THE STARR REPORT
... And the Horse He Rode In On gives the first full accounting of what's really behind the longest-running, most expensive dirty trick in politics: Ken Starr's investigation.

What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?:

Ken Starr’s Chronic Media Leaks

If Ken Starr had to pick his absolute favorite misuse of power as an independent counsel, I’d bet my life it’d be press leaks. I mean, the last man who leaked as much as Starr was poor old Sonny Corleone in the first Godfather movie.

And at least with respect to grand jury testimony, leaking information is illegal. Spelled out in concrete language in Rule 6E of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure is this little gem: “A grand juror, an interpreter, a stenographer, an operator of a recording device, a typist who transcribes recorded testimony, an attorney for government, or any person to whom disclosure is made under paragraph (3)(A)(ii) of this subdivision shall not disclose matters occurring before the grand jury. . . . A knowing violation of Rule 6 may be punished as a contempt of court [my italics].”

In fact, Legal Times magazine raised the bar on the interpretation of that statute even further, writing that “Any disclosure of grand jury material, known as a 6E violation, is considered a federal crime. Leaking this confidential information is also a violation of Justice Department guidelines, American Bar Association model rules, and D.C. Bar ethics rules.”¹

Federal crime or not, the independent counsel seems to be spewing self-serving information like the Exxon Valdez oil tanker. As Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz succinctly put it, “Material is just not safe once it gets in the presence of this independent counsel’s office.”²

But don’t hate Ken Starr for it—he just can’t resist. Why miss a chance to smear your enemies and get your name in the papers at the same time? Betcha can’t leak just once, Inspector!

A Starr Turn from the Pages of Richard Nixon

Ken Starr has said that he “really identified with Nixon” in the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon television debates. Evidently so. The following excerpts from Nixon’s White House tapes, as transcribed by Stanley I. Kutler in his book Abuse of Power, shed light on the origins of our Starr player’s modus operandi.³

Nixon to Bob Haldeman, Charles Colson, John Ehrlichman, July 1,1971

“I don’t want that fellow Ellsberg to be brought up until after the election. I mean, just let—convict the son of a bitch in the press. That’s the way it’s done. . . . Nobody ever reads any of this in my biographies. Go back and read the chapter on the Hiss case in Six Crises and you’ll see how it was done. It wasn’t done waiting for the Goddamn courts or the attorney general or the FBI.”

Nixon to Haldeman and Henry Kissinger, July 1, 1971

“Let me show you what happened [in the Hiss case]. . . . I played it in the press like a mask. I leaked out the papers. I leaked everything. I mean, everything that I could. I leaked out the testimony. I had Hiss convicted before he ever got to the grand jury.”

Nixon to Haldeman and Kissinger, July 1, 1971, on getting DanielEllsberg

“I mean, we will leak—we’re going to leak out bits and pieces. . . . The conspiracy. All at once we find with regard to the conspiracy there’s going to be leaked to columnists and we’ll kill these sons of bitches. This [NSC official] Cooke, I want to get him killed. Let him get in the papers and deny it.”

Ken Starr’s Likely Leaks

And so with Master Leaker Richard Nixon’s words echoing in our ears (no wonder he needed all those Plumbers), let’s take a look at the wet work in the press, along with some ideas about the motivations for the leaks.

Starr investigating suspension of three RTCofficials (12/8/94)

“Three sources familiar with the investigation” all speaking “on the condition that they may not be identified by name” told the Associated Press that Starr was scrutinizing several investigators at the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) about their internal Whitewater probe.⁴

Why make this leak?

In case you forgot, this is the same RTC that happened to be suing Starr’s law firm at the same time the independent counsel was raking it over the coals. Good idea to put more heat and pressure on these folks by leaking their names to the media, huh?

First Lady’s fingerprints on Rose Law Firm billingrecords (5/6/96)

“Sources close to the inquiry” told the amazingly well-connected Michael Isikoff of Newsweek magazine that “FBI experts” identified the First Lady’s fingerprints on the billing records of the Rose Law Firm.⁵ The firm, Mrs. Clinton’s law firm, has been accused of illegal billing practices.

Why?

With this leak, Starr’s team was trying to publicly brand the First Lady as a liar attempting to conceal evidence of wrongdoing. Basically, they wanted to make the case that the First Lady was trying to hide information from investigators.

Naturally, what was left out of the story is the fact that fingerprints can last up to twenty years, and that it’s impossible to tell exactly when the First Lady touched these documents. In fact, Mrs. Clinton has said several times that she may have used these papers during the 1992 campaign in order to respond to press inquiries. But that small factual glitch in the story didn’t stop Starr’s posse from launching its smear salvo.

“Fifty-fifty” chance the First Lady will be indicted(4/22/96)

In a 1996 New Yorker article, journalist Jane Mayer quoted a “top official with the [Starr] investigation” as saying there was a “fifty-fifty” chance that the First Lady would be indicted by the independent counsel for crimes relating to Whitewater.

Why?

Same dirty tricks as above. An easy chance to defame Mrs. Clinton.

Since there’s still no evidence of wrongdoing by the First Lad...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Also By
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Acknowledgments
• Epigraph
• Introduction:
• He Crawled from the Deep:
• Follow the Money:
• Follow the Money 2:
• Starr Wars:
• Just Following Orders:
• What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?:
• The Rabid Watchdog:
• The President’s Character
• Conclusion:
• Appendix A:
• Appendix B:
• Appendix C:
• Appendix D:
• Appendix E:
• Appendix F:
• Appendix G:
• Afterword:
• And Finally . . .
• Notes