July 25, 1995 - Part 2
July 25, 1995 - Part 2
(10:45:45) Ms. MATHEWS. That's correct. Everything was mixed. 255 Mr. BEN-VENISTE. From what you know about burn bags, is it correct that the actual burn bag is then retained, it's not destroyed along with its contents? Ms. MATHEWS. That's correct. Individuals keep their own and they're emptied on a nightly basis. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Now, you are looking at a large quantity of classified material, sensitive material; correct? Ms. MATHEWS. That's correct. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Tell us again what you did. MS. MATHEWS. I tipped the bag over and pulled out a few items, and then stopped. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. What made you stop? Ms. MATHEWS. I was concerned, thinking about my security briefings, and I was concerned about going through the materials of the entire West Wing, that that may not have been appropriate for me. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Now, at that point, is it correct that you did not know that Officer O'Neill, who was delegated that evening with the responsibility of emptying the burn bags from the second floor of the West Wing, had not dumped Mr. Foster's burn bag? Ms. MATHEWS. No, I did not know that. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Going back to the trash material that you had collected, did you have a conversation with Mr. Nussbaum at any point that evening with respect to either what you were going to do or what you had done? Ms. MATHEWS. With respect to the trash? Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Yes. Ms. MATHEWS. No. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Now, what did you do after you had looked through the burn bag material, the commingled burn bag material, and realized that you might come across things that you should not be looking at? MS. MATHEWS. I did not go through the whole bag. I pulled out a few items, tipped it back up. At that time a senior staff person also commented they thought this probably wasn't a good idea. Then Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Who was that? Ms. MATHEWS. That was Gene Sperling, and then I actually asked Bill Burton what should we do with the burn bag. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. What did he say? Ms. MATHEWS. He said to seek the advice of Mr. Nussbaum, the Counsel. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. What did you do? Ms. MATHEWS. I went and asked Mr. Nussbaum about the burn bag, Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Where did you find Mr. Nussbaum? Ms. MATHEWS. I think that it was in the Chief of Staff 's Office secretarial area. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Did you explain to Mr. Nussbaum what you had done and what you had looked through and what your concerns were? MS. MATHEWS. I explained to them that I had gotten the bag and had a question about what we should do with it. 256 Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Did you tell him at that time that you had already isolated the trash bag from Mr. Foster's office? Ms. MATHEWS. I'm sorry, I don't recall. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Is there any reason why you would not have relayed to him your successful venture in recapturing Mr. Foster's trash? MS. MATHEWS. There is no reason, but I don't specifically recall. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Did Mr. Nussbaum say anything to you, in words or substance, you ought to get rid of that, throw that away? MS. MATHEWS. No, he did not. He advised me that Vincent Fos. ter did not Mr. BEN-VENISTE. With respect to the trash, I mean. MS. MATHEWS. No, no, I'm sorry. I thought you were referring to the bum bag. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. Going to the question of the burn bag material, what did Mr. Nussbaum say to you? MS. MATHEWS. With regards to the burn bag, he advised me of two things. One is that he told me that Vincent Foster did not have a burn bag in his office, and he also said that it was a commingled burn bag and we should use the usual processing for our evening' Mr. BEN-VENISTE. You did not have the burn bag at that point, did you? Where was it physically? MS. MATHEWS. It was in the outer office where I was sitting. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. You had brought that material there? Ms. MATHEWS. The material had been-the material from the burn bag, in the large burn bag had been brought to the Chief of Staffs Office. Mr. BEN-VENISTE. By the uniformed n MS. MATHEWS. Uniformed division officer.