Presidency of Bill Clinton solicitor general, as an independent counsel charged with investigating the Whitewater controversy. Starr's investigation expanded beyond Whitewater, in part because of a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Clinton by Paula Jones, a former Arkansas employee. In 1998, Starr's office learned that a White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, had engaged in an affair with Clinton. In a deposition related to the Jones lawsuit, Clinton swore under oath that he had not engaged in sexual relations with Lewinsky. Clinton was able to squash rumors of the affair until July 1998, when Starr reached an immunity deal with Lewinsky and obtained her confession
Town Hall with President Clinton to a 21st-century version of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's fireside chats with a similar impact to John F. Kennedy's use of the television broadcast. Clinton, who acted as a proponent of access to the internet and technology for lower income areas, said that the chat utilized, "the most modern technology for . . . old-fashioned communication between the American people and their president." The President recognized the high rate of growth in internet connectivity (1.3 million computers were connected to the internet when he took office as opposed to 56 million connected at the time of the chat) and that the