July 18, 1995 - Part 2
July 18, 1995 - Part 2
(11:05:23) Thus, the night that Foster died, the investigative wheels were in motion in three different Federal agencies, all pointing a finger at the political infrastructure of Arkansas. That is why many of us are not surprised that White House office staff searched his office the night of his death, failed to post anyone at the door to ensure that documents would not disappear, and then set up an elaborate system of screening documents which prevented law enforcement officials from getting access to relevant documents. We should re- member that the actions of the night of July 20 and in the days that followed were only part of the larger picture, which continued well after Mr. Foster's tragic death. We also now know that in late September 1993, information on the Kansas City office 's second set of criminal referrals, nine new charges, was passed on to Mr. Altman and within days Jean Hanson, his top lawyer, was at the White House passing on that information. This set off a flurry of activity through the month of October culminating in the bizarre coincidence that the chief investigator on the case, Gene Lewis, was removed from the investigation. White House staff had information on confidential criminal Proceedings, and none of the witnesses who testified before us were 25 able to swear that no information got out. That is why criminal referrals are supposed to be kept confidential, Unfortunately, it is important for the general public to believe in and trust their elected leaders in performing their jobs in an ethical, truthful and fair manner, We have some very real questions as to whether that occurred in that instance. It is for these reasons and this pattern that we must pursue this investigation, issue subpoenas, conduct investigations by deposition and hold these hearings to determine what was going on in the White House with regard to Whitewater. For our purposes, most importantly, we must determine if the extensive powers of the Presidency were misused. I thank the Chair. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator. Senator Sarbanes. Senator SARBANES. Senator Boxer. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR BARBARA BOXER Senator BOXER. Thank you very much. First, I want to say to Senator Bond I agree with him that we need to practice open Government around here. I mean that across the board, whether it's looking at the Executive Branch or ourselves, and I'll remember your words. They're important words. Mr. Chairman, we now enter year 2, phase 1 of the Senate Whitewater inquiry. What did we learn in year I? We learned that people made mistakes. I suspect that is what we will learn in this phase. Now, certainly enough people are looking at this, Why do I say that? Think of this. Many of the individuals who will testify in these hearings testified last year before Mr. Fiske, the Special Prosecutor, then before the House of Representatives, then before the Senate. Then they testified before Mr. Starr, and now they're before the Senate again. Next, they will testify before the House again, and then, perhaps, they'll testify before the Senate again when we enter phase 2 of year 2. The Senate and the Office of Independent Counsel spent over $2 million on these inquiries last year. This year, we've budgeted almost $7 million between the two. Our report on the Whitewater investment prepared by an outside law firm for the RTC cost the taxpayers $3 million. I want to make a point here, Mr. Chairman, to put this into con- text. Mr. Starr is using more than 50 Federal agents to assist in his inquiry. Fifty Federal agents. Senator Kerry cited more; I'll go with the conservative number of 50. The Unabomber has been on the loose for 20 years. For 20 years killing people, maiming people, but we have more than 50 Federal agents dispatched to Little Rock for Whitewater duty. Duplication and expense. That's synonymous with these hearings so far. I hope we'll change that and move forward. I want to say, Mr. Chairman, I've listened to you. I've listened to the Ranking Member, and it appears to me like it is your inten- tion to move quickly, look at the facts and move on. I hope we can do that. Today, we begin hearings to examine events following the death of Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster. I've read the sum 26 maries of all the 50-plus depositions taken for this round. I would like to reiterate something I said in our first Whitewater hearing 1 year ago that happened to be replayed this morning on the radio.