How did Ken Starr's investigation into President Clinton resemble — and differ from — the ongoing Mueller investigation? Here's everything you need to know: Why was Clinton investigated?It began over the Whitewater scandal, a long-running controversy concerning a failed 1978 land deal in Arkansas. The Clintons' business partner in that project defrauded a small savings association and an investment firm, and some of the parties involved charged that the president and his wife had benefited from the fraud.