July 20, 1995 - Part 3
July 20, 1995 - Part 3
(12:05:27) Ms. BRAUN. Yes, he definitely did not say no, I can't do that. Senator BOXER. OK. He did not say I can't do it. Did he say I'm going to do it this second? Ms. BRAUN. There was no timeframe discussed. Senator BOXER. OK. Mr. Rolla, you did not hear that conversa tion, but you were informed of it by Ms. Braun; is that correct? Mr. ROLLA. That's correct. Senator BOXER. OK. The fact is that the office was locked shortly after you made that request. I guess I'm confused about-- let me put it this way. Out of all the things you said to Mr. Watkins that night and of all the things you said to anyone that night regarding your professional responsibilities, what were the most important things you said that night, what were the most important questions you asked that night, what was your most important role that Ms. Braun? Ms. BRAUN. My role was to confirm that we had a suicide, and that's what I was attempting to do. Senator BOXER. Was your role to inform the widow that- Ms. BRAUN. That was part of it. Senator BOXER. -she was a widow? Was that important? Ms. BRAUN. Yes. Senator BOXER. So the most important thing for you to do was to come to the house, go eye to eye with the widow and her family, inform them of this and ask them questions which might give you some more light on the subject; is that correct? Ms. BRAUN. Yes. Senator BOXER. So the most important thing was not your saying to Mr. Watkins on the way out the door secure the office? Was that the most important thing? Ms. BRAUN. At that point I was doing a mental checklist of things that had been done and what still needed to be done, and that's where it fell, was on my way out the door, this is one area that we still need to check into that we need to do. Since Mr. Watkins had been developed as our liaison, that's why I covered it with him on my way out the door. Senator BOXER. OK. Was it the most important thing you did that night, making that comment to Mr. Watkins? Ms. BRAUN. No, I would say it was not. Senator BOXER. It was not the most important thing. You didn't write it in your report; is that correct? Ms. BRAUN. That's correct. Senator BOXER. Why is that? Ms. BRAUN. I had been up since 7 a.m. that morning and it did not come to me as I was sitting there at the PC putting together my report. Senator BOXER. Wait a minute. It did not come to you sitting at the PC that you had told Mr. Watkins to secure the office? Ms. BRAUN. That's correct, Senator BOXER. OK. That would certainly confirm the view that you didn't think it was the most important thing you did or said that night. Ms. BRAUN. Yes. Senator BOXER. Is it in your rules of procedure that in a situation like this anything other than the crime scene would be sealed? 185 Ms. BRAUN. No. Senator BOXER. I would yield the time to-let me ask one more question. senator SARBANES. There's no time left. senator BOXER. I want to get to the issue of-I'm going to yield to counsel in a minute. Senator SARBANES. There is no time left. Senator BOXER. There's no time left. I'm so sorry. I'll wait. The CHAIRMAN. Senator Bond. OPENING COMMENTS OF SENATOR CHRISTOPHER S. BOND Senator BOND. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Sergeant Braun, we've been going over and over this, but I want to try to make it clear that you do recall asking Mr. Watkins to seal the office? Ms. BRAUN. Yes, sir. Senator BOND. You have no doubt about that? Ms. BRAUN, No, sir. senator BOND. You indicated that he was to be the liaison with the White House. You interpreted that from-on what basis did you make that assumption? Ms. BRAUN. I made that assumption through the fact that we were contacted by our shift commander to contact Mr. Watkins, that he wanted to go do the notification with us, Since Mr. Watkins was a person that we had been dealing with and had brought with us to do the notification, I put him into that role as liaison. Senator BOND. You've used the term seal, close or secure the office. Is there any question in your mind that there is a different level of access permitted? In other words, I understood from your testimony that it didn't matter whether you said close, seal or secure the office. You did not want anybody going in there, rummaging through papers, removing papers or having access to the office; is that correct?