Thread by @AriMelber

As Ken Starr speaks, recall what he wrote *last year* about his case for impeaching Clinton:

"Abuse of power.. our judgment that [Clinton] had improperly employed the powers of his office -- including meritless invocations of the doctrine of executive privilege..."

Starr writes "abuse of power" was important to include, because it "created the conceptual link to Watergate..."

"With Brett Kavanaugh as chief wordsmith, the set of charges proceeded .. from the first to... abuse of power."

"Contempt"
(2018, he also wrote/discussed it in '19)

Ken Starr on his case for impeaching Clinton:

10 counts of perjury and obstruction building "to what we viewed as the *capstone,* the 11th accusing the President of Abusing The Power of His Office... Abuse of Power stood at the center of The President's behavior"

Contempt, p268

Abuse of power was a main avenue for impeaching Nixon and Clinton.

The House voted on abuse for Clinton, it failed; Nixon resigned.

Starr speaking today reminds everyone *he* argued abuse of power is impeachable, back when his view mattered most, as a top DOJ prosecutor.

Ken Starr writing about his Clinton probe in 2018:

We strongly agreed on "presidential abuse of power... this wasn't an obscure legal doctrine. This is what had brought Nixon down."

Less legally significant, but also hypocritically telling:

Today Starr claims to worry impeachment has become too common and divisive.

In 2018, he wrote while the public opposed impeaching Clinton after the Starr report, he cheered the "courage" of the House GOP pressing on.