In the emails, "hugs" and "love" from Ken STARR to EPSTEIN [View all]

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/why-is-baylor-s-disgraced-former-president-in-the-epstein-emails/ar-AA1QoxQe?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=HCTS&cvid=6917439f907a477ba4cc145bc948c51d&ei=184

.... In the emails, Starr frequently expressed his wish to visit Epstein in both New York City and Florida. The two often shared thoughts on current events, such as the Trump Russian interference scandal and new allegations that began to come out about Epstein, leading up to his arrest in 2019. Starr and Epstein frequently expressed fondness for each other, and Starr frequently signed his emails with "hugs" and "love." Starr, who died in 2022, often conversed with other lawyers and elites in Epstein's orbit.

According to the new tranche of emails released by the House Oversight Committee, Starr, the Vernon, Texas native, corresponded with Epstein throughout 2016 and 2018. That itself isn't a surprise. After serving as the independent counsel in the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky affair that led to Clinton's impeachment, the longtime conservative lawyer returned to private practice and was involved in many high-profile cases. Those include representing the school board in the 2007 "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" Supreme Court case, supporters of a California proposition that outlawed same-sex marriage, and the private mercenary company Blackwater.

But most controversially, Starr was part of the legal team that defended Epstein during his first criminal case in the mid-2000s. As part of that defense, Starr was instrumental in securing a plea deal for Epstein in 2008 that included an unprecedented non-prosecution agreement. Epstein, who was accused of running a "cult-like" network to rape underage girls at his Palm Beach mansion, was ultimately granted immunity from federal sex trafficking charges. Instead, he agreed to plead guilty to two state felony prostitution charges, serve 18 months in prison, and register as a sex offender. In 2018, Miami Herald journalist Julie K. Brown revealed the arrangement had allowed Epstein to be housed in a private wing of the Palm Beach jail and be granted work release. Epstein was allowed to leave the jail six days a week for 12 hours a day and work at his private office, despite rules barring sex offenders from work release agreements.

According to Brown's book, Perversion of Justice, Starr was a key player in securing this deal. Brown wrote that Starr served as a "fixer" for Epstein, who used political connections in George W. Bush's White House to get the Justice Department to review Epstein's case. Starr was ultimately able to get Epstein the "sweetheart deal" that stopped the Department of Justice from prosecuting him, which Brown says was thanks to help from an unnamed Washington official. Starr later said he was "in the room" when then-U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta signed off on the deal, something that would later cause Acosta to step down as Secretary of Labor in the first Trump administration. ....

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