Trump defense counsel Ken Starr says impeachment is 'hell'

WASHINGTON (AP) - Impeachment, he said, 'œis hell.'ť A measure of "last resort.'ť A bad habit to be kicked.

With that, Ken Starr, the man whose years-long probe led to the impeachment of the 42nd president, stood before senators on Monday and delivered a nearly hour-long argument against the ouster of the 45th.

Starr, with a nod to his own role in the impeachment of Bill Clinton and lofty talk about 'œAmerica's constitutional DNA,'ť argued that it's time to bring an end to 'œthe age of impeachment.'ť

Starr spoke to the senators in a modulated tone, flicking at the Pentagon Papers, Richard Nixon's crimes, the Iran-Contra scandal and, yes, the Clinton impeachment in a presentation that had echoes of a preacher extolling the virtues of moderation and expressing anguish that impeachment has become weaponized.

"In this particular juncture in America's history, the Senate is being called to sit as the high court of impeachment all too frequently," Starr said. 'œIndeed, we are living in what I think can aptly be described as the age of impeachment. ... How did we get here?"

Starr, a former solicitor general under President George H.W. Bush, is most famous for his time as the independent counsel who led an investigation of Clinton that started as probe of an Arkansas land deal and evolved into an examination of his sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Relying on the sometimes-graphic 475-page Starr report, the Republican-controlled House impeached Clinton and the Democratic-led Senate acquitted him.

Back then, real estate mogul Donald Trump wasn't a fan of Starr's work.

'œI think Ken Starr is a lunatic. I really think that Ken Starr is a disaster,'ť Trump said in an interview on NBC's 'œToday'ť show at the time. He called Starr a 'œtotal wacko'ť and 'œoff his rocker.'ť

On Monday, in his defense of Trump, Starr seemed to argue that impeachment is a constitutional relic that should be kept in a museum and only rarely used.

At times, he sounded almost apologetic for the impeachment of Clinton.

It was far from the tone Starr struck when he argued in his referral of obstruction of justice charges against Clinton that 'œno one is above the law.'ť

'œThose of us who lived through the Clinton impeachment - including members of this body - full well understand that a presidential impeachment is tantamount to domestic war, albeit thankfully protected by our beloved First Amendment,'ť Starr said Monday. 'œ(It is) a war of words and a war of ideas, but it is filled with acrimony and divides the country like nothing else. Those of us who lived through the Clinton impeachment understand that in a deep and personal way.'ť

Starr's anguish over impeachment was seen as ironic by some Senate Democrats.

'œI thought it was an absurd argument and quite rich coming from him," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat.