Staggering Cost Of Starr Probe

Kenneth Starr's probe of President Clinton is the most expensive independent counsel investigation ever.

The Washington Post says the General Accounting Office puts the cost of the inquiry at $52 million. That exceeds the $47.4 million that Lawrence Walsh spent in the 1980s on his Iran-Contra investigation.

The paper says during the past six years, five independent counsels have spent more than $95 million investigating the Clinton administration.

Twenty independent counsels have investigated high-level officials since the independent counsel statute was enacted in 1978. Congress allowed the law to expire last July, but costs continue to accumulate.