During the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Weiner was subpoenaed to testify before the Whitewater-Lewinsky grand jury by independent council Kenneth Starr. Starr cited Weiner's work as a White House spokesman at the time to justify his subpoena; however it was later revealed that Starr was motivated by Weiner's comments to a friend concerning the legality of Linda Tripp's secret recording of private phone calls with Monica Lewinsky, a felony in the state of Maryland. Upon exiting the courthouse, Weiner is quoted as saying "this is an incredible overreach by the prosecutor to have subpoenaed us. It is Big Brother at its worst and it really scares you."