Clinton prosecutor Ken Starr dies age 76 of complications from surgery in Houston hospital 

Clinton researcher Kenneth Star died on Tuesday at the age of 76 after a prolonged illness.

Starr, a Reagan court appointee and attorney general under George HW Bush, earned his fame when he served as the independent counsel leading the investigation that led to the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton from the House.

He died at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston from complications of surgery.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our dear and loving father and grandfather, whom we admired for his wonderful work ethic but who always put his family first,” said his son Randall Starr.

Starr has argued 36 Supreme Court cases, including 25 while serving as US Solicitor General from 1989 to 1993.

Two years ago, he was part of former President Trump’s defense team during his impeachment trial in the Senate, where Trump was acquitted.

Starr was also the former president of Baylor University and a frequent presence on Fox News.

Starr was initially appointed independent counsel in 1994 and charged with investigating Bill and Hillary’s financial dealings with the Whitewater Land Company, but soon embarked on an extensive investigation that included Clinton’s actions as a defendant in the Paula Jones initiated sexual harassment proceedings.

In the course of that investigation, White House staffer Linda Tripp provided Starr with taped telephone conversations in which White House intern Monica Lewinsky talked about giving oral sex to then-President Clinton. Clinton made an affidavit in that case in January 1998 that he had no sexual relations with Lewinsky. He also denied being alone with her.

Six months later, Clinton faced a grand jury, assembled by Starr, to consider whether Clinton had committed perjury or otherwise obstructed justice in the Jones case. Clinton argued that oral sex did not count as “sexual relationships” in his eyes.

In September 1998, the Office of the Independent Counsel delivered its four-year report on the president to the House Judiciary Committee. It listed 11 possible grounds for impeachment in connection with the Lewinsky affair.

Clinton was subsequently impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice in the House, but acquitted in the Senate.