Jim Lichtman

Trust and Confidence: The 1998 Battle Between the Secret Service and Ken Starr is a political, non-fiction book by author Jim Lichtman about the investigation into the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal.

In 1998, independent counsel KenW. Starr, issued a motion to compel Lewis Merletti, the former Director of the US Secret Service, and agents on the president’s protective detail, to testify about what they had heard or seen in relation to President Clinton’s intimate relationship with Lewinsky. It was the first time in history a director of the Secret Service was asked to testify against a sitting president.

Merletti challenged Starr’s motion, arguing that due to the nature of the job, the President must have absolute confidence and trust in the agents of the Secret Service. Compelling an agent to testify against a President on anything other than a criminal act, would undermine trust and confidence, the basic tenet of the Secret Service, and threaten the very survival of the agency. With the support of all living former directors of the Secret Service, the upper echelon of the Department of Justice, and the former president George H.W. Bush, Merletti battled Starr’s Office of Independent Counsel for six months, taking the case all the way to the Supreme Court.

The book is a tense political drama, presenting fascinating new insights into the legal battle between Starr’s Office of Independent Counsel and the upper echelon of the Department of Justice, following the Clinton-Lewinsky affair. Based on over twelve years of research by the author Jim Lichtman, including interviews with Lewis Merletti, documents from Merletti’s personal files, and other documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Star rating: 5 Stars

Summary: A gripping, well-written and extensively researched book, which will appeal to readers of political drama and historic non-fiction.