July 18, 1995 - Part 2
July 18, 1995 - Part 2
(11:55:04) On July 22, when the White House officials were searching the office, White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum removed several documents and papers from Mr. Foster's briefcase, but they failed to find a note that day. In fact, according to the testimony I expect we will hear, Nussbaum gave everyone the impression that Foster's briefcase was empty. Yet there is evidence that Nussbaum was told that there were pieces of torn paper in Foster's briefcase, but he did nothing to find out if those pieces of paper were relevant to the investigation. Then, somehow mysteriously, 4 days later, someone looked into the briefcase and found the torn-up note that ultimately provided the motive for the Foster suicide, Mr, Chairman, I have the briefcase in question here. This briefcase is the property of Vincent Foster. It's from the Rose Law Firm Professional Association, Little Rock, Arkansas. Vincent Foster, Jr., Rose Law Firm, 120 East 4th Street, Little Rock, Arkansas with the phone number. As anyone can plainly see, it would be pretty difficult not to see 27 pieces of paper from a legal notebook. Now, here's 27 pieces of paper in this briefcase. They represent, if you will, an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper. If one is looking in here, you're going to find 27 pieces of paper, we've already had testimony that other papers had been removed from the briefcase. So anyone looking in here-it's pretty hard not to observe that there's some pieces of paper in the briefcase in question. Certainly, had the Park Police or the FBI been examining this briefcase, there is no doubt that they would have found the note and provided the President and the American people with the rationale for the Foster act, but the professionals did not handle the investigation. The White House handled the investigation. It's very hard for this Senator to understand why it took 4 days, 4 days to discover this note if it was, in fact, in Foster's briefcase all along. Now, maybe it was an oversight, but that's what happens when you allow the political people to take over an investigation that should be run by professional law enforcement personnel. Mr. Chairman, I look forward to resolving this and the many other issues that will have to be addressed before we can finally close the books on Whitewater and the Vince Foster death. 39 Senator SARBANES. Mr. Chairman, could I inquire of Senator Murkowski whether he got that briefcase from the Independent Counsel? The CHAIRMAN. Yes, the Independent Counsel did furnish us with Senator MURKOWSKI. I made the request for the briefcase, Senator Sarbanes. senator SARBANES. When was it furnished to us? The CHAIRMAN. Yesterday. Senator SARBANES. Thank you. Senator MURKOWSKI. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN, Thank you, Senator Murkowski. Senator SARBANES. Was this side advised of the furnishing of the briefcase? The CHAIRMAN. Yes. We had left word to the Minority counsel, but I think there was a little problem in some communications. We had made some requests, but counsel did advise or attempted to advise Minority counsel that we had received this yesterday. If I might, just for purposes of clarification, there were at least a half dozen phone calls that were made yesterday by our counsel to Minority counsel to advise him of this and other matters, and during that period of time we were not able to make contact, so I just suggest this was not some kind of slight of hand. Senator Frist. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR BILL FRIST Senator FRIST. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Last year, the Banking Committee reviewed the circumstances surrounding the tragic death on July 20, 1993 of Vincent Foster, the Deputy White House Counsel. At the end of the hearings, the Committee determined that Vincent Foster did indeed take his own life in Fort Marcy Park. Over the next several weeks, we will focus on the White House staff's handling of the documents in Mr. Foster's office immediately after his death. We will attempt to determine whether certain White House staff removed documents from Mr. Foster's office to prevent investigators from seeing those documents. The primary facts that we will be reviewing over the next several weeks are as follows: On July 20, 1993, between 5 and 6 p.m., Vincent Foster's body was discovered in Fort Marcy Park. U.S. Park Police then notified Mr. Foster's family and close friends about his death between 8:30 and 9:40 p.m. Later that evening, Park Police requested that Mr. Foster's office be sealed immediately. The office was not sealed. Instead, around 10:30 p.m., Bernard Nussbaum (White House Counsel), Margaret Williams (the First Lady's Chief of Staff) and Patsy Thomasson (Director of White House Office Administration) entered and looked through Mr. Foster's office. Ms. Thomasson had been sent there by David Watkins, Director of White House Management, to search for a suicide note. Finding no note, the three left the office around 11:41 p.m. A Secret Service agent asserts that Ms. Williams exited the office with a box of documents, a claim that Ms. Williams denies. 40 The White House made no effort to seal Mr. Foster's office until July 21, when Mr. Nussbaum posted a Secret Service guard at the office door. Mr. Nussbaum, however, refused to let Park Police search the office or inter-view White House aides. On July 22, investigators from the Department of Justice and the Park Police expected they would finally have the opportunity to search for and review documents in Mr. Foster's office. They were not allowed to do so. Instead, Mr. Nussbaum had the investigators relegated to watching him sort through Mr. Foster's files and briefcase. After emptying various files from Mr. Foster's briefcase, Mr. Nussbaum claimed that there was nothing else in it. On July 26, Steven Neuwirth, a White House lawyer, allegedly discovered a torn-up suicide note in the very same briefcase that Mr. Nussbaum had previously declared empty. Mr. Neuwirth notified Mr. Nussbaum immediately of the existence of the torn-up note. However, it was not until July 27 that either the President or the Park Police investigators were told about the existence of the torn-up note. I hope that during the course of these hearings, we will be able to determine whether certain White House staff removed documents from Mr. Foster's office to prevent investigators from seeing those documents. In particular, I hope that we will get answers to the following questions that I have about the discovery of Mr. Foster's torn-up suicide note: The first question is: When and under what circumstances did the White House discover the torn-up note? This question was discussed at length by