"We were in Little Rock. We were assessing a very important issue. In the midst of our discussions, we were receiving urgent inquiries from The Washington Post asking about interviews"
About this Quote
Then comes the bureaucratic incantation: “assessing a very important issue.” It’s a phrase engineered to sound consequential while saying almost nothing. The vagueness is the point. In the Clinton era, Starr’s office didn’t just investigate; it performed seriousness for a media ecosystem hungry for scandal with a constitutional wrapper. “Very important” becomes a stamp of legitimacy, a way to pre-argue that whatever comes next is not prurience but principle.
The third beat is the real tell: the intrusion of The Washington Post. “Urgent inquiries” flips the power dynamic. Instead of the investigation driving the story, the press is cast as the impatient actor, pushing for “interviews” in the middle of sober deliberation. That’s reputational jiu-jitsu: if the public remembers frenzy, Starr wants it attributed to journalists, not prosecutors.
Underneath the calm cadence is an attempt to control the narrative of motive. He’s not chasing headlines; headlines are chasing him. In a scandal defined by questions of obsession, scope creep, and political intent, Starr’s diction works like a legal brief: minimal admissions, maximum implication of propriety.
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APA Style (7th ed.)
Starr, Kenneth. (2026, January 16). We were in Little Rock. We were assessing a very important issue. In the midst of our discussions, we were receiving urgent inquiries from The Washington Post asking about interviews. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-were-in-little-rock-we-were-assessing-a-very-87065/
Chicago Style
Starr, Kenneth. "We were in Little Rock. We were assessing a very important issue. In the midst of our discussions, we were receiving urgent inquiries from The Washington Post asking about interviews." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-were-in-little-rock-we-were-assessing-a-very-87065/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"We were in Little Rock. We were assessing a very important issue. In the midst of our discussions, we were receiving urgent inquiries from The Washington Post asking about interviews." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-were-in-little-rock-we-were-assessing-a-very-87065/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2026.





