The US Independent Counsel, Mr Kenneth Starr, appeared to bury the hatchet with President Clinton yesterday when he described him in an RTE interview as "an extraordinarily gifted . . . and brilliant man of politics with an enormous ability to connect to the American people".
The judge, whose investigation uncovered the most intimate details of Mr Clinton's affair with Ms Monica Lewinsky, told RTE's Rodney Rice that Mr Clinton had "extraordinary empathy, immense charm" and a "fabulous" ability to relate to people, especially in times of tragedy such as the Oklahoma bombing.
Despite the "very difficult setting" and "unhappy circumstances" in which he encountered the US President, Mr Clinton had been "unfailingly gracious" and polite.
Asked if he nevertheless considered Mr Clinton to be "fundamentally a corrupt man", Mr Starr, who is in Ireland to deliver a lecture at Trinity College Dublin tonight, refused to "get into characterisations".
Speaking on RTE's Today programme, the Independent Counsel said his report had shown that in "very sensitive circumstances", President Clinton "was unwilling to tell the truth". While he acknowledged that lying about a private relationship might be considered "understandable" or even "human", Mr Starr insisted that it was "not acceptable" to "lie under oath".
"When you cross the threshold into the arena of the judicial . . . you put your hand on the Bible, you're obligated to tell the truth. If the truth is going to hurt you, in our system you simply say `I decline to answer that question on the grounds that it might inculpate me'. "
Mr Starr felt that "cynicism about government has increased" because of Mr Clinton's attitude to his investigation. "It is a bad thing when individuals in a position of leadership choose to mislead for reasons of self-aggrandisement."
However, he said he also thought it was necessary to "keep the entire individual in mind . . . we're all mixtures of good and not so good and there's an enormous amount of good and talent there in my judgment".
Mr Starr was less enthusiastic about Mrs Clinton. While she was "very gifted, extraordinarily bright, very talented in a number of areas", she did not have "the basic gregariousness and warmth that the President really unfailingly shows. . . She's a bit more distant, a bit more cool".
He believed Ms Lewinsky had behaved dishonourably and regretted that she and Mr Clinton had not been more up-front about their affair. If both had said at the start of January, "all right, the cat is out of the bag, it's time to be forthcoming and forthright", then "we all would have been spared what has since transpired, including the impeachment process", Mr Starr said.
Mr Starr will speak to an invited audience in TCD tonight on the role of the Independent Counsel in the United States.
