July 18, 1995 - Part 1
July 18, 1995 - Part 1
(10:10:46) This is but the first step. I quoted the particular relevant section, and then there are other sections that deal with various matters which this Committee will look into on behalf of the Senate on the basis of the charge that has been given to us by the Senate. Again, we've been given significant resources and counsel has been taken on both sides. I'm encouraged by the degree of cooperation that I perceive has taken place between counsel on both sides in an effort to move forward, as the Chairman said, with a fair inquiry, an impartial inquiry and a thorough inquiry. Let me just make a couple of comments about the hearings that are now before us. We have an extended set of hearings next week, the following week, and possibly into the week after that with the objective of completing the examination of the Foster papers issue before the August break, as I understand it. I think it's important to bear a few things in mind as we hear the witnesses that are going to come before us over the next few days. First, I think it's important to withhold judgment until all information is received. We need to get the facts out to the public. We need to weigh the facts carefully. We need to hear the testimony carefully. I think people will obviously have differing recollections about events. There will be conflicting testimony. I don't find that unusual or extraordinary, given that we're talking about events that happened more than a couple of years ago. In some respects, it would be extraordinary if everyone had exactly the same story. So, in a sense, we will have to sort out these differing views of what took place and what the implications are of those differences. Second, we have to clearly recognize that many allegations have been made, but allegations are not facts, and allegations need to be subject to a fair, tough- minded evaluation. Our job, I think, here, is to find the truth, to determine what the facts are, and, in the course of these hearings, to lay that out to the public so judgements can be made about what took place. Third, I think it's very important to bear in mind, as we look at people's conduct in the aftermath of Vince Foster's suicide, and to realize that this was an extraordinary, traumatic situation in which people found themselves. For the Foster family and friends and his colleagues and associates in the White House, this was an extraordinarily stressful time. Psychiatrists will tell you that one of the most traumatic experiences, one of the most stressful experiences, people can go through is a suicide of someone to whom they felt close, and it's very clear from some of the depositions we've already received that this had an enormous emotional impact upon people. Grown men and women broke down emotionally. Foster was extremely popular with his working colleagues, and so I simply lay that out because I think it's important, as one looks at how people behaved, to understand the emotional shock that they had experienced. I mean, that comes through at different places that we'll be looking at, just how people were reacting in a very emotional way from what had transpired.