July 19, 1995 - Part 2
July 19, 1995 - Part 2
(11:40:10) Senator BENNETT. Did I characterize that correctly? All right. Ili the background, then, of those statements, let me read to you from Mr. Nussbaum's deposition what happened that night, You've said, appropriately, you weren't there, you were, as you've indicated to Senator Moseley-Braun, with the family, but this is what happened. there that night, according to Mr. Nussbaum. Picking up on page 33 of his deposition, and I will not read everybit of it, but I believe I've got the essence of it. I decided to go to my office to call members of my staff to try to reach some people to let them know what happened before the news became widespread. I recall walking from the residence directly to my office, The door was open. As I walked into the suite, I noticed a light on in Foster's office, and I turned to walk into Foster's office, seeing the light, and I saw Maggie Williams and Patsy Thomasson. Question: What were they doing? Answer: Maggie was sitting on a sofa crying and Patsy was sitting behind Vince's desk. Question: Doing what? Answer: Looking at the top of the desk. I said, what are you doing here, and Patsy said- Maggie didn't say anything-Patsy said, I'm looking to see if he left a note. I said, that occurred to me also on the way over, which it did. Indeed, I was going to go in and look for a note. I said, well, actually, that occurred to me, too, and Patsy also said-1 said we just arrived. We're looking for a note. We just arrived. I'm looking for a note, I said, well, that occurred to me also, and I went over to stand next to her, and we looked on top of the desk, and we looked around, just sort of eyeballing the room. We opened a number of drawers in the desk. We saw nothing. There were a lot of papers on his desk and it ended. It concluded. That cursory search for the note ended, We were looking for something obvious. At least I was looking for something obvious, a letter on the desk to whom it may concern, designed to be found. We didn't see anything there. We chatted briefly about what a tragedy it was, and we got up and left together. That's Mr. Nussbaum's description of what happened that night. This is an office where there are files of the White House Counsel. Someone of the stature of the White House Counsel is someone you suggest should be the one to be searching, the police should not be allowed to roam willy-nilly through that office, yet Mr. Nussbaum shows up and it never occurs to him to even suggest there's anything wrong with Patsy Thomasson sitting behind Mr. Foster's desk looking at the papers on his desk and ultimately opening the drawers in his desk. Now, the question I have for you in that circumstance, and I think you are qualified to answer it, perhaps better than anybody, is who is Patsy Thomasson? Why would her presence be accepted by the White House Counsel as a normal matter of course in this circumstance that it would never occur to him to even ask Why she's there, other than to accept her statement she's there to look for a note, and he says I'll look with you, and together they go through the drawers of the desk of a man that, in your phrase, has the files of the White House Counsel in it? It's extraordinary to me that the White House Counsel accepted her presence in this fashion, but I don't know who she is. I don't know what her relationship to this thing is. You have the background with her in the cam- 113 paign. You had the background with her in this circumstance. Can you tell the Committee who Patsy Thomasson is? Mr. HUBBELL. I know some parts of Patsy's background. I know she worked in the campaign. I know she was the Chairman of the Arkansas Highway Commission. I know she had worked for several Senators and Governors, and I know she worked in the campaign in the transition and was an Assistant to the President of the United, States and the Chief Deputy to David Watkins, who was in charge of the building itself and getting the light bulbs changed, so to speak, Senator BENNETT. Did she have a White House pass at the time she did this? Obviously she had a White House pass. Did she have a security clearance? Mr. HUBBELL. I do not know. Somebody said she did not. I did not know that. Senator BENNETT. You said she worked in the campaign. What did she do in the campaign? Mr. HUBBELL, I think she worked for David in running the administration of the campaign, but I'm not sure. I did not have any dealings with Patsy during the campaign. I worked with others. Senator BENNETT. So I was wrong in assuming you could shed some light. The Arkansas Highway Department doesn't help a whole lot in this context. Why would she be the logical first person to be in Vince Foster's office? Can you help us at all?