SPECIAL TREATMENT

Monica Lewinsky: ‘If F*cking Only’ Clinton Had Got the William Barr Summary Treatment

Wishes Starr Report was summarized in favorable 4-page memo, saying no crime had been committed.

Monica Lewinsky, Bill Clinton’s most famous former White House intern, has a few choice words about the publication of special counsel reports. U.S. law professor Orin Kerr raised a comparison between the handling of the Kenneth Starr report into Clinton’s conduct—which was published in full—with the way Attorney General William Barr has been able to issue a short, friendly summary on behalf of his boss, President Trump. “Imagine if the Starr Report had been provided only to President Clinton’s Attorney General, Janet Reno, who then read it privately and published a 4-page letter based on her private reading stating her conclusion that President Clinton committed no crimes,” he wrote on Twitter. Lewinsky responded: “if. fucking. only.” In reality, Starr’s 453-page report, which detailed the sexual encounters between Clinton and Lewinsky in pornographic detail, was published in full after a House vote of 363 to 63 in favor of releasing it to the public. It was downloaded by 20 million people and a book version became a No. 1 bestseller.

opinion

No Comparison

Ken Starr Was a Witch Hunter. Bob Mueller Is a Prosecutor.

Michael Tomasky