One can hardly blame former President Bill Clinton for being rather circumspect in his choice of words when asked about the passing of Republican attorney Ken Starr at the age of 76.

If Clinton wasn’t exactly effusive, it’s for a very good reason: Starr shot to fame as the independent counsel who investigated the Clinton administration, Mediaite reports. And it was this dogged pursuit of Clinton while presiding over the Whitewater controversy and the resulting report that led to Clinton’s impeachment after the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

On Sunday during an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, who asked Clinton his thoughts on Starr’s passing. Clinton’s response was polite but not overflowing with warmth, which is understandable when you consider what Starr did to him.

“I read the obituary, and I realized his family loved him, and I think that’s something to be grateful for. And when your life is over, that’s all there is to say,” he said. “But I was taught not to talk about people that, you know…I have nothing to say, except to say that I’m glad he died with the love of his family.”

Starr’s family announced his death last week due to surgery complications. Even though he likely made Clinton’s life hell during the years that he investigated him, he was good friends with former President Donald Trump which is peculiar because Trump did things that were considerably more damaging to the country and wound up being impeached twice.

But in case you think Starr was a good guy, let me disabuse you of that notion.

Writing for Esquire, Charles P. Pierce reminds us that the only reason Starr “got the Clinton gig is because his predecessor as special counsel, Robert Fiske, had investigated the Whitewater “scandal” and determined that there was nothing there and he didn’t want to go to trial with his principal witnesses being a live crook (David Hale) and a dead nut (Jim McDougal).”

“Fiske dismissed the other nothing-burgers — Filegate! Travelgate! Vince Foster!—even more peremptorily. This displeased the Republican congressional sponsors of all this nonsense, and they replaced Fiske with Starr, who was more than willing to dredge through that mud all over again, until finally the president’s fling with Monica Lewinsky landed in his lap.”

Starr dragged out the Whitewater investigation for years eventually running up a $50 million price tag and was unable to find conclusive evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Bill or Hillary Clinton, Britannica reports.

After Clinton’s impeachment, Starr fell from grace, and although he served as the president of Baylor University, in Waco, Texas, beginning in 2010 he was fired by the university’s Board of Regents in 2016 after his incompetent handling of a sexual assault scandal that involved Baylor’s football team, Sports Illustrated reports.

“The regents believe that the blame for the school’s failure in handling rape and sexual assault reports falls on Starr, according to the report, and they might not bring punishment down on head coach Art Briles,” SI reports. “Starr has been Baylor president for the last six years. It is not clear if he will be moved to another position at the school or terminated completely. Baylor is accused of failing to respond to reports of rape and/or sexual assault filed by at least six female students from 2009 to 2016. Two former football players, Tevin Elliott and Sam Ukwuachu, have been convicted of rape.”

If these courageous women hadn’t come forward, Starr might have died with some people thinking of him as a hero, but his behavior here and failure to protect women, coupled with his friendship with Donald Trump, proves that he’s little more than a dirtbag. Which is what he’s always been.

WATCH:

Bill Clinton on the death of Ken Starr: "I read the obituary and I realized that his family loved him, and I think that's something to be grateful for. And when your life is over, that's all there is to say." pic.twitter.com/y0vPVuSZg1

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 18, 2022