He Was Starr’s Deputy Independent Counsel. That Title Is Not a Trump-War Finding.

DOCUMENTED

Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building in Washington, D.C.

Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building. Voice of America. U.S. government work.

The official biography of Senior Judge John D. Bates on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia states he was “on detail as Deputy Independent Counsel for the Whitewater investigation from 1995 to mid-1997.”

The Federal Judicial Center directory for Bates, John D., lists the same role: “Deputy independent counsel, Whitewater investigation, 1995–1997.” The FJC also records his earlier service as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia (1980–1997) and as chief of that office’s Civil Division (1987–1997).

The Independent Counsel statute is not a Trump-era office. Whitewater concerned the Clintons. The fact on this page is the title and the date range as the court and the FJC print them. It is not a finding that Bates later “switched sides,” and it is not a finding about any Trump case.

Sources

U.S. District Court for D.C. “Senior Judge John D. Bates.” Accessed 2026-08-26. www.dcd.uscourts.gov

Federal Judicial Center. “Bates, John D.” Accessed 2026-08-26. www.fjc.gov

Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. “Judge John D. Bates Receives 2025 Devitt Award.” 2025-12-02. www.uscourts.gov

Opinion

The following is commentary by this site. It is not a finding of fact and not a legal conclusion.

Compiler take

Starr’s deputy. Then a Bush judge. Then the man who, in 2019, told a Lawfare audience he had seen nothing showing the FISA court was misled on Carter Page. The résumé is public. The later remarks are public. Do not invent a conversion story.