I think that is why Starr was picked for the Kabuki Theater of the impeachment trial: The UniParty knew they could trust him to keep it to “just sex” and so keep their man in office.
Henry Hyde similarly shut down David Schippers the day after midterms in 1998. Schippers has lived in fear of Hillary Clinton ever since.
I believe that as well. If you remember back to that time-period, China-gate was really beginning to take off. Charlie Trie, Maria Hsia and many others who were agents of the Chinese govt, were funneling millions of dollars to all aspects of the Clinton campaign and throughout the administration. At the time, it was an unprecedented level of foreign infiltration. People were outraged and demanded to know how the Chinese military had bought so much influence to the highest offices in the land.
Then, in 1997 (I think) a little known site known as the Drudge Report released a buried article about a Presidential affair with an intern and a blue-stained dress. The rest is history...we never heard about China-gate again. Starr was the perfect man for that job.