Starr described Clinton as ``extraordinarily talented, wonderfully empathetic,'' and denied he was on a puritan crusade against the President. ``He is extraordinarily likable as a person, and the issues that we have had to face have been issues that, you know, are difficult,'' he said. ``I was assigned to do a job by the attorney general, and that was to find out whether crimes were committed in this sexual harassment lawsuit,'' he said.

Starr has alleged 11 impeachable offenses including perjury and obstruction of Justice related to events surrounding the President's affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Clinton admitted in August to havingan affair with Lewinsky when she was 22, but denied having sex with her when he testified under oath in January. The President, however, asserts he did not commit perjury, which could constitute an impeachable offense.

In the interview, Starr called perjury an attack ``on the very heart and soul of what courts do. As long as we have the courts I think any judge worth his or her salt would say, `We cannot tolerate perjury'.''The interview is part of Starr's attempt to improve his image, which has taken a beating from Democrats in Congress and the White House, who have accused him of being out to get the President. The independent counsel also admitted his office did not do well in its handling of Lewinsky's former friend, Linda Tripp.

He was asked what he thought about Tripp leaving his office in January and going home and talking to lawyers for former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones, who was pursuing her own sexual harassment suit against the President. ``I think we could have had better control ofher,'' he said, adding that he did not know Tripp was talking to Jones' lawyers. He also told interviewer Diane Sawyer he believed extramarital sex was wrong. ``I think it's wrong at a moral level, and I just also think it's injurious to one's self.''

But he denied he was a prude or a ``moral crusader''. In his testimony to the House Judicial Committee on November 19, Starr omitted the explicit sex that filled his September report to Congress, and that sparked widespread criticism. But he defended his 453-page referral, saying his staff made a ``professional judgement'' to include the graphic sexual detail about Clinton and Lewinsky.