Ken Starr urges White House to take different tone on impeachment fight
Former independent counsel and Fox News contributor Ken Starr gives advice to President Trump on addressing the Ukraine call.
The decision by House Democrats to continue closed-door impeachment hearings is "fundamentally" wrong and unfair to the American people, former Whitewater Independent Counsel Ken Starr said Monday.
Appearing on "America's Newsroom" with host Sandra Smith, Starr said the impeachment evidence should be laid out before the American people in public hearings, dismissing the need for more closed-door witness interviews. He objected to the argument by Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Ala., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, that the White House is "afraid" of what will come out.
"What we're dealing with here are questions about the legitimacy, appropriateness of this resolution passed last week that continues the process ... for these to be closed-door hearings. And that's the fundamental problem, the closed-door nature of an impeachment inquiry is, I think, it's unprecedented, that's undisputed. It's also quite wrong and it's unfair to the American people. We need to see these witnesses," he said.
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As polling shows about half of Americans support impeachment, Starr advised the White House to stop arguing that the call between President Trump and the president of Ukraine was "perfect." He said the administration and Trump's supporters should argue to the American people that the call – even if it was not completely appropriate – does not rise to an impeachable offense.
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Starr said Friday that asking if the president "did anything wrong vis a vis" Ukraine is a "fair question," but that Democrats got "way ahead" of a fair process "about 38 days ago when they said this is going to be a secret proceeding before the House Intelligence Committee."
"And, I think that is just historically wrong," he added.
Democrats have accused Trump of seeking to withhold military aid from Ukraine in exchange for the country assisting his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, with a probe of the Biden family.