July 20, 1995 - Part 1
July 20, 1995 - Part 1
(10:20:41) Ms. BRAUN. How much detail? Senator GRAMS. To secure the area at the crime scene itself and,, why your concerns were to seal the office. Ms. BRAUN. Initially, at the crime scene, you want to preserve any evidence that's there, and so what I did in order to do that Was to request that the main gate to the fort there be closed and that would prevent any other people from coming into the area to con- taminate it. Senator GRAMS. You wanted to seal that part of the investigation? Ms. BRAUN. Right. Once that was all taken care of, we had processed the area and gotten whatever evidence we felt we needed from that area we left that to go to the family to do the death noti- 157 fication. From there, that becomes your more investigative end of it, more interviews with the family. If Mr. Foster had been seeing a psychiatrist, we would have wanted to try to speak with the psychiatrist just to try to confirm any information they may have been able to provide within the realm of what they could tell us. Then, having not been able to get any information as to his state of mind from the family, no knowledge that they had found a note or anything, his place of business becomes the next logical place to go, as I said earlier. What we wanted to do was to try to preserve it in the condition that he left it. Senator GRAMS. You didn't want the scene, basically, contaminated, either unintentionally or intentionally? Ms. BRAUN. Right. Senator GRAMS. You would consider, then, that his office would be a very important part of this investigation, and that's why you made the request early on, as already has been noted, to Mr. Watkins as you arrived at the home, asking him to make sure that Ms. BRAUN. That request was not made when we arrived. That was as we left. Senator GRAMS. As you left. To me, it means that if you asked that the office be sealed, that you would want it locked; is that correct? Ms. BRAUN. Yes. Senator GRAMS. Now, you previously testified that there might be evidence in the office related to the decedent's state of mind? Ms. BRAUN. Right. Senator GRAMS. For example, you might be looking for what? You said a suicide note? Ms. BRAUN. A suicide note, his appointment book indicating that he had an appointment with a psychiatrist or psychologist, a journal that indicates I've had umpty-nine bad days and I don't know if I can take it anymore, anything that would have helped show that he was really down in. the dumps. Senator GRAMS. When you found out during your investigation that this involved a lawyer's office, was there any other special precautions that you might have taken, as we've heard testimony on attorney-client privilege and things like that, but especially for a high-ranking Member of the Administration, would there have been additional precautions you would have asked for? Ms. BRAUN. I just felt that I was dealing with the people who could take care of my request, and I didn't feel that anything other than trying to prevent people from going into the off-ice was all that was necessary. Senator GRAMS. Just to get the time again, you said that you made the request to Mr. Watkins about scaling the office as you left Ms. BRAUN. Right. Senator GRAMS. -the home. So you had looked at the crime scene. You checked the car. From the car, the home was the next logical spot, and as you left the scene, which was about 10:45 in your estimation, you requested to Mr. Watkins that he seal the office? Ms. BRAUN, Right. 158 Senator GRAMS. At that time he did not say his earlier question, that he might have already called someone. Did you notice him calling anyone while lie was at the home with you? In Ms. BRAUN. Everybody was on the phone. They were the phone was getting passed around. It was in constant use, Senator GRAMS. But he did not tell you, again, that he had asked someone from the White House Administration to go to Vince Fos- ter's office? The CHAIRMAN. Senator, I'm wondering-for purposes of clarification, Detective, you testified the President got there about 11 p.m., and you left shortly thereafter; and it was as you were leaving, so it would have been closer to 11 p.m.? Ms. BRAUN. That's correct. I think we ended up leaving closer to 11:10. 1 think the President got there just before 11 p.m. The CHAIRMAN. It would have been between 11 and 11:10 when you spoke to Mr. Watkins and made your request known? Ms. BRAUN. That's correct. The CHAIRMAN. Just for clarification. Senator GRAMS. For clarification, we noticed in yesterday's testimony that the security-the doors were opened at 10:42, which would have been at least 15 minutes before you had talked to Mr. Watkins. Mr. Hines, what would you consider the definition to be if someone was asked to seal an office? What would you expect to happen after that request was made? Mr. HINES. I would expect when we said seal the office, that the office would be closed, it would be secured and no one would be entering the office. Senator GRAMS. According to the testimony or in conversations with Sergeant Braun, did you also assume that request had been made early on? Mr. HINES. Yes, I had.