Graciously come back to the festival this year to talk about his latest book, a memoir of his time leading the 19 nineties investigation into whitewater and Monica Lewinsky mattered judge starr needs no introduction with his distinguished career is a graduate of George Washington university and us solicitor general. Dean of Pepperdine Law School and chancellor andnd president of Baylor University and the established private attorney and of course washington dc and also with the independent counsel. Even though we have a very bright crowd because this is the annapolis area if i said the three names i bet nobody knows who they are. You know im talking about a very select group of special prosecutors and independentpe c councils or special councils appointed or have been appointed to look into high level cases part one dash involving the executive branch. But first take us back to 1994. And then you get a call from the judge who calls to ask and those that were heading up the whitewater investigation. [laughter] why did you want to leave this great job and into the political arena . I had no idea whatsoever but when i arrived in little rock, on the day of my appointment, maybe they will take six months to investigate there wasnt that much money involved but when i arrived on that fateful afternoon to take the oath ofnd office quietly, it is an assignment and get itdo done. And that i arrived in his office that will foreshadow bob mueller and ways appointed by the attorney general special counsel then the appointee of janet reno. Im standing in his office a very distinguished lawyer i imactually worked with him and to have the highest regard and bob said move your family to little rock you will be here for a long time. [laughter] he had found more than a failed land deal in arkansas. How big was your team and who were the key actors . The team expect expanded or contracted depending on the circumstances we assign lawyers d to specific matters like the death of Vincent Foster junior the fraudulent buildings of Webster Hubbell who was associate attorney general in hillarys law partner at the rose lawaw firm. And one of the victims was the United States government and with those matters under investigation so overnight from being a live person and a judge on the dc circuit i had two tours of duty but while nobody said this needs to go when we need a replacement with a specialal division and the independent counsel to have someone who is truly boindependent and to be appointed by the attorney general. So the New York Times prays my appointment two weeks later they called me to resign. [laughter], in those two weeks i hadnt utne much bad in fact i had done nothing at all. But politics changed or the spin cycle inside the linda one clinton propaganda machine. Then i was visited and i see peopleom here that might be as old as i am that might remember watergate a real truth seeker was sam dash. He was a successful assistant da in philadelphia and an academic at georgetown i knew him well and he comes to my office and says you are being held to read because of your republican credentials. I set i noticed that he said im not a republican is very well known hes a prominent democrat and said you should considerhi retaining your ethics counsel as a check thats wasnt something i expected to have to do but as we geared up for the trial it turns out there was Serious Fraud in little rock as we gear up for the trial against a sitting covenant governor and Susan Mcdougall that these are names from the past for some of you may recover they were the sole owners of the guaranteed savings and loan that collapsed fraud and madison guarantee was hillarys client that raised a series of questions but also was an institution the funding was used in a program made from financing from the whitewater land deal real estate is a complex deal if you unravel at all there was fraud at the core of the entire transaction of the financing of the land deal for whitewater. As we look ahead knowing we were going to try it with some guilty pleas along the way with Robert Palmer and to his credit if you see what is unfolding now with the scandal College Admissions its an ugly situation but thats what we were experiencing and the upshot that included Rob Rosenstein the attorney deputy general. It is a complex web of transitions there were also prominent offshoots of the investigation and one of which at that time was a controversial death of a confidant and former law partner of Hillary Clintons vince foster so there were somehe questions regarding the circumstances of his death but ultimately you could conclude that was a suicide. That bob had undertaken an examination of the circumstances of the death Vincent Foster was a very successful lawyer and law partner of the Rose Law Firm of hillary and of hubbell and the three of them are very close so there was no suggestion that vince foster was involved in the fraudulent transactions. But within seven months of coming to washington dc is very successful prominent lawyer who is happily married with a family took his own life. So bob has concluded it wased a suicide there were so many conspiracy theories i decided we needed to take a second look just to make sure we had done absolutely everything to examine the questions that were being raised because there were suggestions that vince foster in fact was the victim of a homicide and his body was moved so yes we took a very elaborate look we did hire the leading experts in the country and we proved beyond a shadow of a doubt not just a reasonable doubt that he did commit suicide but i do raise why . Why was he depressed and that is something i do speculate about in the book because he was a person of conscience and there were some aspects from the former partners relationship with the rose law l firm and the billing records to show not that hillary committed fraud but participated in legal advice aspects to madison guarantee savings and loan including transactions clearly fraudulent. She was aware of the fraud and that is a key distinction. So why would the Rose Law Firm records free electronic days go missing . And they said they were stolen. That is not proper. You dont take building records out of a law firm. They were eventually found in the residence of the white house. Contrary to some opinion and the investigation that bob mueller has just run as a fishing expedition and a ywitchhunt and by character or definition of those professionals carrying those out or anything but and to take anything under that purview you have to get the goahead and in yourwh i case wh Monica Lewinsky initially how that came to your attention and then ultimately you had to get permission from the attorney general from janet reno to move forward. That last fact at the time was underappreciated at best by the American People the investigation for possible crime was expressly authorized by the attorney general of the United States janet reno. But it came to me because of a connection with vince foster junior the last person we know that saw vince foster alive in the white house was linda tripp. Linda tripp calls our office when i thought i was on my way to Pepperdine Law School. Not so fast. And one woman Monica Lewinsky working alongside me and the Public Affairs office has made me aware there is a relationship with the president. But most relevant she is asking me to commit perjury because she committed perjury herself. And at the end of the phone call on sunday night with the American Bar Association and says youda know me i am linda tripp from the Death Investigation of vince foster. And we take steps that could have been criticized to be verified but told us on that sunday evening and then to have a number of conversations with monica but then we had the famous episode at thepi ritz carlton but the conduct was vindicated after litigation. And we confirmed real time that this is what was underway and with the civil rights case we take sexualharassmenten pretty seriously with a lot of societal concerns this was a civil rights case at the time the employee of the government and she allege there was a horrible kind of event that was unsettling to her and so she brought federal court action against bill clinton for his conduct, and these are allegations in a hotel in little rock in a connection with that all of this was underway with those false statements to encourage others to lie and so forth. Obviously intense public scrutiny and battling back and forth politically. One thing that your book brings out is they are not thankless but its very difficult and you will make half the people upset before you come out. To know that bob mueller personally at one point to say this is a nightmare that will not end. And those that send their kids off to college and one year later after Chelsea Clinton went to stanford and gets there and the Marshall Service considered to be credible Death Threats with 24 hour protection. What a great freshman year. [laughter] i cannot say enough or praise of the marshals completely professional and superb but they had to do the job but once you have to be protected because i was appointed by the court under ecthe statute i was treated as if i were a judge. I was not paid as well but protections that came to his marshalsy that is that roundtheclock security of the house from the command host the brady bunch house of which the press already knew so they would go away once i left for the office and the press was fine and in fact at the funeral of Antonin Scalia a couple years ago and coming out of the cathedral , commenting on the record about Justice Scalia to serve on the dc circuit and then i save my quick piece and say by the way i camped outside your house you may not recognize me for guy was there eight months. He said i saved a lot of money we got a down payment on our house thanks to you. F m [laughter] some good comes out of it. But we are so surrounded by faith and friends with that support it is a very entertaining episode of Michael Moore the filmmaker but across the street neighbor donna hogan had a young kid a future stanford nfl quarterback named kevin hogan. Small world. She comes out and then it was on cnn get of this neighborhood we have children here. Youre scaring everybody and michael had colorful things to say. Those are some whimsical and not so whimsical moments to just suggest but heres the very good news. Became through it as a country and then to briefly describe so how do we in a free society for those that are kept honest . And after serious allegations of wrongdoing will be say excuse me theti chief executive is above the law. Its all unpleasant as all get out and also wrapped up for president clinton and chelsea hillarit is a horrible episode to go through. St isnt it reassuring to know that truly no one is above the law. That is the goal. And to make that statement very clear that is a principle to you also what is clear is that what has come out that people are not familiar. But can started as a democrat and was a big admirer of jfk. And i still am. Not still a democrat. [laughter] thank you for restraining yourself. And those Young Democrats and the epiphany for me was i am a six generation texan and tolo hear his philosophy and worry about the vision of freedom. Bet the old saying attributed to bernard shawe said he was not liberal who has no heart if youre not conservative you have no head. Also the point that is revealing so with those political leanings from senator fulbright and those voting actions i want to try to bring these things together the clear reverence for the law and the fact you rightfully believe no one is above the law and those principles of social justice to get your thoughts as unique perch of the judge and a law professor. And those that are the envyy of the world and at the incarceration rate is double of the population with no convictions the prosecution im familiar with with the financial crisis continue to see headlines with wealthy individuals if they dont escape prosecution then they dont get punishment commensurate with theh scale of their crime. Given that perspective how can thwe fix the system cracks. To be sensitive to of the proposed reforms, i remember all too vividly to the federal level of mandatory minimum sentences. That hasas fallen disproportionately heavenly on the Africanamerican Community because of the nature of thee offenses. Sitting at the feet of Warren Burger that i clerked for him and then to talk about a sign of a Civilized Society who cares about those incarcerated have opportunities for rehabilitation. Had then finally it is such a rich subject you here for it from this person beware of prosecutorial power. We have been involved in a supportive way of the innocence project. If you go on the website you will see case after case of the serious convictions of the most heinous of crimes but the defendant was factually innocent. Something happens to you. I was attending a program at ucla and i was chatting with a woman on death row in california and she was factually innocent and exonerated by dna. And one thing im deeply concerned about is with the selfassurance of prosecutors we know we have the right person well bri every person to bring that down because it is directed at you. Because almost any prosecutor is in the business for a while so we have to be skeptical about the exercise of power that is the functional equivalent of what bad of a brady violation that the prosecutor are sitting on exculpatory evidence they are dutybound to turn over that evidence i am fearful i dont have that empirical sense it is conversational and anecdotal we need to be very firm when we find a brady prosecution and drum them out so power corrupts. We do have a long way to go but it is encouraging to hear about the innocence project. There are some clear between your work and bad of bob mueller that recently concluded. But also some stark differences in terms of mandate and reporting responsibilities you wrote a piece in the atlantic lastnt month so what are the key differences . One is the method of appointment. After the 21 year experiment with the independent counsel arena, congress sought not to reauthorize and i applauded that. And then to object is also the constitutional invasion of the powers of the president that its okay to fire Archibald Cox know it wasnt okay or obstruction of justice but look at what happened the acting attorney general promptly within 11 days nominated Leon Jaworski he carried on the investigation and the rest is history. So a little more study of history as a great teacher that Ulysses S Grant fired a special counsel of his time but the investigation went on and harry truman fired the attorney general who fired the special prosecutor in the early fiftiesti but the investigation wentti on the investigation will go on so the unintended consequences to restore the authority of the constitutional structure of article two under the regulations that bob mueller was appointed the attorney general makes that appointment with the acting attorney general with Jeff Sessions the other in is a reporting requirement i was under statute to send my findings to the congress of the United States and i was a tool of the congress of the United States. No longer about the regulations of the last 20 years completely scaled back the reporting obligation. Done. Bob mueller is an honorable person who is now providing to the attorney general with a keyword, confidential report. Under the same regulations and this has the effect of law, the attorney generals obligation is to notify congress and he did on march 22nd and to set forth the principle conclusions. Thats what the regulations call for. Not to release the report. That is the law. Now, that having been said both confirmation hearings and then the letters of march 22 of march 24th yes. Rated that in the more recent letter a week ago the attorney general said i want to err on the side of transparency. So there will be by midwhenever a pro a release of the report that it will have we thank redactions. Why would you leave anything out . You leave those things out which and i will use two examples, actually need to use three because of the nature of the s. T. A. R. T. Report. Information is a matter of law, that must come out. Barring a court order we can get into that and what that looks like. Secondly National Security information, most all people of goodwill would say yes you have to protect National Security methods and sources. The third category is that of privacy. The report may very well have information that is not going to serve a Public Information function but could be embarrassing to one or more individuals. That was exactly the concern with the starr report and its one of the reasons we are seeing these episodes from now long ago with now chairman nadler at the time calli for the careful treatment of the starr report. It used to be if there was going to be Sensitive Information in their you would send it out so he voted along with many other members of the house of representatives not to release the starr report. We encourage this kind of careful look because especially the nature of that report with ve