4.2.12 WC: 191694 perceived a possible conflict of interest, and didn’t make the call. Several years later, I was approached by Monica’s mother at a Jewish event. She said, “I wish you had called Monica.” I have often wondered whether the case would have turned out differently if I had called and agreed to represent her. Although I helped defend Clinton before Congress and in the court of public opinion, I was critical of his sexual misconduct while in office. In my book Sexual McCarthyism, | argue: “At bottom this is a story of how two men who are obsessed about forbidden sex—Clinton about engaging in it and Starr about exposing it—managed to turn a tawdry series of Oval Office sexual encounters into a constitutional crisis. Clinton and his advisers made mistake after mistake in a futile effort to keep his embarrassing little secret from becoming public. Starr and his staff overreached, overreacted, exaggerated and pressed every issue to the limits of its logic to expose the secret and embarrass the President. The result was a highly unlikely combination of factors that led the nation to where almost no one wanted to go—to the brink of a constitutional crisis with international implications. Some critics believe that Bill Clinton and Kenneth Starr deserve each other. But we the people do not deserve to see our delicate system of checks and balances endangered by the reckless actions of two obsessed men.” Remarkably, I have remained on friendly terms with both Clinton and Starr after writing these harsh words. Most celebrities I have encountered have extremely thin skins. They never forgive even small slights because they are accustomed to being universally adored. Both Clinton and Starr have thick skin. They accept criticism, especially when they know it is well intentioned. The same cannot be said about the next celebrity (and his lawyers) in whose case I played a major role. 281 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_017368