Starr: Clinton Impeachment 'Unhappy' But 'Right' Decision

Feb. 16, 2010 — -- Ken Starr, whose investigation into the Monica Lewinsky scandal eventually led to President Clinton's impeachment, said he would "absolutely" tell the former president he was sorry about the "unhappy decision" to impeach.

"Who is not sorrowful for the entire chapter in American history?" Starr told "Good Morning America's" George Stephanopoulos today. "But the law is the law and no one is above the law.

"It was the decision, and it was an unhappy decision, but it was the right decision."

Click here to watch the full interview.

Starr famously questioned Clinton about his sexual relationship with Lewinsky -- which Clinton flatly denied -- before providing evidence that the president and the young intern did have sexual relations in the Oval Office and that Clinton's statements amounted to perjury. In December 1998 Clinton was impeached but was not convicted of perjury two months later by the U.S. Senate.

Starr's words of regret for the time period in political history come on the same day a new book about the scandal, "The Death of American Virtue" by Ken Gromley, hits shelves across the country.

In the book, Gromley wrote that Starr should not have been the independent prosecutor in the Lewinsky matter.

"I respectfully disagree with some of his conclusions," Starr said in response.

For his part, Starr said it was unlikely he would ever write about the episode and is looking forward to new professional challenges as he takes up the reins as the president of Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Starr said he was "humbled" by the appointment to the Baptist school.

"I've been very happy to move on in professional life, to be called to serve at Pepperdine University School of Law, now to be called to Baylor University to serve as president. And so, to coin a phrase, move on," he said. Starr has been dean of the Malibu, Calif., law school since 2004.

Starr In the Public Eye

Starr, 63, was named to the federal Court of Appeals by President Reagan and was solicitor general under President George H.W. Bush.

As a private lawyer, he was appointed an independent counsel by a three-judge panel to look into allegations surrounding the Clinton's Whitewater business venture and that later expanded to include the Lewinsky scandal. His seven-year probe cost $70 million.

For the first time since the Lewinsky affair faded from the national consciousness, Starr made major headlines last spring when he spoke out on the behalf of Proposition 8, a California constitutional amendment that recognizes marriage in the state as only between a man and a woman.

His arguments before the California Supreme Court contributed to a victory in the high-profile case.

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