Former Baylor president Kenneth Starr gives awkward interview

Video: Ken Starr interview with Waco TV station

When he stepped down from his chancellor post this week, former Baylor University president Ken Starr called for "full transparency" in the wake of the football program's sexual assault scandal.

But based on an awkward interview Starr - who resigned as Baylor's chancellor earlier this week -gave a Waco television station Thursday, that may be a case of "do as I say, not as I do."

ALSO SEE: Kenneth Starr resigning as Baylor chancellor as 'a matter of conscience'

Starr's interview with reporter Julie Hays of KWTX was interrupted after Hays asked Starr about an email with the subject line "I was raped at Baylor" from a woman who said she was raped by former Bears player Tevin Elliott. Starr was among the recipients of the email, whose sender said she got no responses from any Baylor personnel for six days.



Click through the gallery for a timeline of the Baylor sexual assault scandal. less After calling for transparency in the wake of the school's sexual assault scandal, former Baylor president Kenneth Starr gave an awkward, heavily coached interview to a Waco TV station Thursday.

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Hays asked Starr about the email in question and if he'd seen it.

Starr's response? "I honestly may have," he said. "I'm not denying that I saw it."

But moments later, Merrie Spaeth, who was introduced to the KWTX crew as "a longtime family friend" of Starr's, asked KWTX's news director who was on site not to use that portion of the interview.

He declined that request and Spaeth - a longtime communications operative who has been described as a Republican "fixer" and coached then-independent counsel Starr before his Congressional testimony during President Bill Clinton's impeachment in the late 1990s - interrupted the interview to speak with Starr.

After some time off camera, the two returned to camera range, with Spaeth saying, "She needs to ask you that question again. Whether you do it on camera or not is up to you. I just want to make sure it doesn't end up misedited."

ALSO SEE: Former Baylor coach Art Briles issues statement on his firing

So Starr was asked the question again.

He said, "All I'm going to say is I have no recollection of that." He then turned to Spaeth and asked "Is that OK?"

Spaeth responded with, "Don't look at me, look at her."

Starr then answered the question for the third time, saying "I honestly have no recollection of seeing such an email and I believe that I would remember seeing such an email.

"The president of the university gets lots of emails. I don't even see a lot of the emails that come into the the office of the president. I have no recollection of it - none."

KWTX reported that Spaeth said she "made a huge mistake" and "was sorry she hurt her friend Ken Starr."

Starr was stripped of his president title last week after the findings from the report by independent counsel Pepper Hamilton came out. Football coach Art Briles was fired and athletic director Ian McCaw was laced on probation before he resigned Monday.