FOSTERGATE from AIM.org source 2003 Report #14

The failure of the White House to insist on a thorough and professional investigation of the death of Deputy Counsel Vincent W. Foster, Jr. was the second major scandal of the Clinton administration. It should have been labeled “Fostergate,” but it escaped that because the establishment news media accepted without question the Park Police report that Foster committed suicide. Everyone at the White House was shocked. Hillary is on record as having said, “Of a thousand people I know, he is the last I would expect to commit suicide.” Bill Clinton said we would never know why he did it.

Harboring such strong reservations about the likelihood that Foster would have killed himself, why didn’t the Clintons examine both the qualifications of investigators who made that judgment and the evidence on which they based it? They knew that the U.S. Park Police are not experts in investigating crimes. Sgt. John Rolla’s supervisor said she assigned him to examine Foster’s body because he was new on the job and needed the experience.

Rolla said that he disregarded the rule that an unattended violent death must be investigated as a possible homicide until there is enough evidence to rule it out. He ruled it out because there was a gun in Foster’s hand and no sign of a struggle. When he reached that conclusion, he didn’t know that the gun did not belong to Foster and that it did not fire the shot that killed him. Nor did he know that Foster’s car had not arrived at Ft. Marcy Park until 15 minutes after his body was found there.

Other Park Police officers who were at the site learned this from two eyewitnesses who were questioned in the parking lot where Foster’s light-gray 1989 Honda Accord was then parked. The same eyewitnesses told the officers that an hour earlier, at 5:30 p.m., they had seen an older brown car parked in that same space with a man sitting in it and another standing beside it.

The Park Police report written by Sgt. Cheryl Braun from notes taken by officer Julie Spetz said the brown car had left, and shortly thereafter the eyewitnesses had seen another car enter the parking lot and park alongside “the deceased vehicle.” The two eyewitnesses, when questioned later by FBI agents, said they didn’t see the brown car leave and there were no other vehicles in the parking lot at that time.

Their description of the car they had seen in that spot was confirmed on July 22 when Patrick Knowlton called to tell the police that shortly before 4:30 p.m. he had parked at Ft. Marcy alongside a brown, mid-eighties model Honda Accord with Arkansas tags. The police wrote a brief memo giving the color but not the age of the car. They didn’t follow up with Knowlton, and they altered what the other two eyewitnesses had told them, missing the point that the car these witnesses had seen was not Foster’s. They told the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms that they were put in charge of this case because of its “sensitivity.” That apparently meant they could be relied upon not to embarrass the White House by finding evidence that Foster was murdered. That could be messy.

The brown Honda was probably used to take Foster’s body to Ft. Marcy at about 4:00 p.m. With Arkansas tags it served as a stand-in for Foster’s car, which arrived only 15 minutes ahead of the rescue workers and police. When they arrived in the parking lot, the rescue workers noticed a brown car without a driver that was not in a parking space and had its engine running. It was evidently leaving when those in it bailed out and hid when they heard the fire engine coming up the driveway. They left when the rescue workers dispersed to find the body.

Hillary says, “Those rumors (that Foster was murdered) should have ended with the official report ruling his death a suicide....” That report was discussed at a joint Park Police-FBI news conference on August 10, 1993, but no investigative report was released at that time.

Reporters were told to file Freedom of Information requests for it. Some did, but no copies were released until June 30, 1994, at the same time Robert B. Fiske, Jr., the independent counsel who had investigated the death, issued his report. It confirmed the Park Police findings and dominated the coverage. Most of the news media had been calling Foster’s death a suicide for nearly a year, and they paid no attention to the flaws in the reports of Fiske and the Park Police.

Mrs. Foster had told the police that the gun found in Foster’s hand was not the gun she thought it would be-“a silver six-gun with a long barrel.” That was her description of a revolver that she had brought to Washington. It was a modern, silver gun that Foster had inherited from his dad. It was kept in a closet in their home together with a semi-automatic pistol. They had no ammunition for either gun.

The gun that had been planted in Foster’s hand was “a piece of junk” according to the Park Police evidence officer. It was a black .38 Colt Army Special made up of parts from two different guns, both manufactured in 1913. It was a typical “drop gun.”

Finding a gun in the hand of a person killed by a single gunshot points to murder rather than suicide unless the deceased experienced cadaveric spasm, which freezes the grip on the gun. Normally a handgun used to commit suicide would fall to the ground when fired, often ending up several feet from the body because of the recoil. The officer who removed the gun from Foster’s hand said it was there because Foster’s thumb was stuck between the trigger and the trigger guard. He said he had to half-cock the hammer to get it past the joint. A photo of the gun in Foster’s hand shows the trigger guard circling the thumb below the joint, undermining the claim that it was stuck on his thumb.

The Park Police also had evidence from the photos they had taken of a small-caliber bullet wound in the right side of Foster’s neck under the jaw line. Sgt. Rolla had overlooked it, but Richard Arthur and George Gonzalez, two paramedics who had examined the body, saw it. Arthur believed it was made by a small-caliber bullet fired upward into the skull. He and Corey Ashford, who had helped bag the body, said the death was a homicide.

Miquel Rodriguez, a prosecutor hired by independent counsel Ken Starr to conduct a grand jury investigation, saw this wound on a Polaroid photo, which he had enlarged and enhanced. If he had been permitted to complete the grand jury investigation, he would have exposed the many lies that were told to cover up Foster’s murder. He resigned after Starr’s Washington deputy interfered with his aggressive questioning of the Park Police officers. Rodriguez has said that it was clear to him that Kenneth Starr was determined to confirm the Park Police findings.

Rodriguez would have exposed Dr. James Beyer, who performed Foster’s autopsy and lied to explain the absence of any x-rays. Beyer accept-ed the theory that Foster had fired the .38 revolver with the barrel inside his mouth. He said the entrance wound was in the back of his throat, 7-1/2 inches below the top of his head. He claimed that this bullet exited through the back of Foster’s skull, three inches below the top of his head, leaving a large hole. His report said x-rays were taken. They would show if Sgt. Rolla was right in saying there was no exit wound in the skull and if Richard Arthur was right that Foster was killed by a small-caliber bullet fired from under his jaw into his brain.

Beyer testified that he had no x-rays because the machine had mal-functioned. That was a lie. The service records show that there was no call for service on the machine until three months after Foster’s death. Ken Starr subpoenaed those records, but he didn’t use them to force Dr. Beyer to produce the x-rays that could have proven Rodriguez was right.

Hillary’s Most Outrageous Lie

Hillary lies outrageously when she says that the rumors that Foster was murdered should have ended “with the sheet of notepaper Bernie found torn into 27 pieces at the bottom of Vince’s briefcase.” She says it was “an accounting of the things that were tearing at his soul.”

There is strong evidence that she knew the note was a forgery. It was mainly about exonerating her and others involved in such White House scandals as Travelgate. It was “found” six days after Foster’s death and four days after White House Counsel Bernie Nussbaum had described everything he took from Foster’s briefcase to a group of Justice Dept. officials, FBI agents and Park Police officers. We are expected to believe that he overlooked 27 scraps of yellow paper at the bottom of the briefcase.

Hillary has apparently forgotten that those scraps of paper were not “discovered” by Bernie, but by assistant counsel Steve Neuwirth. Hillary may have made this error because there is evidence that the original plan was to say Bernie Nussbaum found the note. That was changed to Neuwirth when Hillary viewed the note in Bernie’s office on July 26, 1993. His story was proven false by tests showing that scraps of paper would not fall out of the briefcase held as he said he held it.

Bill Burton, an aide to Chief of Staff McLarty, took notes of what was said at the viewing. One read, “far happier if disc. if someone other than Bernie” with “other” underlined twice. That was why credit for discovering the note was promptly changed to Neuwirth. Hillary evidently feared the note might be exposed as a forgery and she would be implicated if her close friend Bernie “discovered” it. The fact that she was among the first to see it was kept secret for two years. David Margolis, the deputy associate attorney general, testified that her presence in the room would not be of “professional interest” to him. He said it was of interest that Nussbaum, Neuwirth and Burton when questioned by FBI agents conducting an obstruction-of-justice investigation of the note didn’t tell them she was there.

Another Burton note indicated that Hillary had made a comment that suggested that she may have helped compose the forged Foster note. It read, “if concerned about usher’s office discuss w/me.” That refers to an incident mentioned in the note in which she was involved.

There are many indications that Hillary lacked confidence in the forgery. One was the 30-hour delay in turning it over to the authorities. Another was the refusal to release photocopies, blocking for two years any possibility of independent experts exposing the forgery. The most telling is that on the day the note was found, Nussbaum, Neuwirth and Burton remained in Nussbaum’s office working late into the night. Nussbaum’s assistant, Linda Tripp, stayed to help them if needed.

She said that one of them came out to borrow one of the typewriters from the outer office shared by Nussbaum and Foster. Pointing out that the cords were taped to the floor, she offered to get one elsewhere. She was told not to bother. Nussbaum told the FBI that they wanted a typewriter to type the note. This suggests that because of Hillary’s qualms they were thinking of discarding the handwritten note and switching to forgery by typewriter. Nussbaum said he wanted to substitute a typed copy for the handwritten copy he had made, but he didn’t explain why the typewriter had to be one that Foster might have used. There is nothing in the record that indicates that the FBI asked that obvious question.

In 1995, photocopies of the note were leaked on Capitol Hill, and independent handwriting experts were able to analyze it. Three experts were given copies and ample samples of comparable notes written by Foster. Working independently, all three declared the note to be a forgery.
 

Hillary Clinton: A Squatter in the oval office?

Then there's Hillary. With the morals of Catherine the Great, the disposition of Marie Antoinette and a mouth that sounds like she was raised in a longshoremen's bar, Hillary moved right in the White House and occupied herself affecting the course of government. Hillary was not elected or appointed to any post in government, yet she continues to interfere with government operation. Surely, Hillary must have committed many violations of law, but nothing gets reported by the press. (See, "No Co-President Wanted" in issue #72). So, if we were to believe Hillary was "Co-President", then she has a lot to answer for. Nervous yet Bill? Al, how about you? Hillary submarined your election, don't think you are safe from her savage political nature!

Reports are that at least two Congressional committees are investigating the illegal transfer of high-tech military secrets to China. Yet, we hear nothing of the investigation. Will this information also go the way of the Chinese campaign fund money laundering unearthed by the Thompson Committee, and be permanently sealed from the eyes of the American public under that overused guise of "national security"? Probably. That's how they hide most government wrongdoing.

Other solid rumors have it that Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr's impeachment report to Congress is topping 300 pages already. More interesting, only about 5% of the report is said to concern the Lewinsky affair. Pay back is a bitch, and Starr owes that loathsome White House crew a lot for all the aggravation they have been giving him. Apparently, the day of reckoning is rather near.

Then comes another problem: Will we taxpayers get to see that impeachment report, or will that too be hidden under the carpet of national security? And, will Congress even bother to take action? There is some speculation about the intent of Congress. They obviously do not want to act.

"If the American people don't want impeachment to take place, I don't think impeachment will take place," Rep. Charles Canady (R-Fla.), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, told Knight-Ridder News Service Thursday. "That's the way a representative democracy works."

No it's not. Whatever happened to honor, duty and the rule of law?

Again, it's back to those media polls. Many members of Congress say they have no plans to act as long as Clinton is high in the polls. No matter, apparently, that Clinton and others are felons. If the poll ratings are high, no action will be forthcoming. And Clinton's sycophants in the media control most of the polls.

Where does a vote come from? Does Hillary convince herself that she is consistent? Hillary Scandals give you a good idea of why she votes in certain ways, and then misrepresents her position in careful, measured, poll tested statements. This is the first candidate since Jimmy Carter who has not had to answer even one tough question from the press.

In the late 1970s, the Clintons and McDougals buy land in the Ozarks with mostly borrowed funds. The Clintons get 50% interest with no cash down. The plot, known as Whitewater, is fifty miles from the nearest grocery store. The Washington Post will report later that some purchasers of lots, many of them retirees, "put up houses or cabins, others slept in vans or tents, hoping to be able to live off the land." HRC writes Jim McDougal, "If Reagonomics works at all, Whitewater could become the Western Hemisphere's Mecca." More than half of the purchasers will lose their plots thanks to the sleazy form of financing used.

The McDougals will be among a number of close HRC's friends and business associates who will end up in jail. Others include her law partner Webster Hubbell and financial middle man David Hale.

 Two months after commencing the Whitewater scam, Hillary Clinton invests $1,000 in cattle futures. Within a few days she has a $5,000 profit. Before bailing out she earns nearly $100,000 on her investment. Many years later, several economists will calculate that the chances of earning such returns legally were one in 250 million.

Hillary Clinton makes a $44,000 profit on a $2,000 investment in a cellular phone franchise deal that involves taking advantage of the FCC's preference for locals, minorities and women. The franchise is almost immediately flipped to the cellular giant, McCaw.

Jim McDougal tries to prevent state agencies from shutting down his S&L, which has been providing cash for the Whitewater operation. According to the Washington Times, Ms. Clinton is put on a $2000 a month retainer by the S&L. Ms. Clinton will later claim not to have received any retainer nor to have been deeply involved with Madison.

During the 1992 campaign, Hillary Clinton defends her role in the Madison Guarantee S&L scandal by saying, "I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas. But what I decided to do was pursue my profession, which I entered before my husband was in public life." Forgotten, however, is what inspired this homily: accusations that Ms. Clinton had represented Whitewater business partner Jim McDougal's S&L before her husband's government. Here's what the New York Times reported on March 17, 1992: "Hillary Clinton said today that she did not earn 'a penny' from state business conducted by her Little Rock law firm and that she never intervened with state regulators on behalf of a failed Arkansas savings and loan association. . . "

Records will show that she did, in fact, represent Madison before the state securities department. After the revelation, she says, "For goodness sakes, you can't be a lawyer if you don't represent banks."

Susan McDougal recalls Ms. Clinton coming in and drumming up the business. Ms. McDougal tells the Washington Post: "The problem was finances, her finances." The Washington Times quotes an unnamed Clinton business associate who claims the governor used to "jog over to McDougal's office about once a month to pick up the [retainer] check for his wife." Jim McDougal's version of the story, according to the LA Times, is that Clinton asked him to throw some legal work his wife's way to help the Clintons out of a financial crunch: "I hired Hillary because Bill came in whimpering that they needed help."

Hillary Clinton writes Jim McDougal enclosing a power of attorney for him to sign "authorizing me to act on your behalf with respect to matters concerning Whitewater Development Corporation." Another power of attorney is enclosed for Susan McDougal. The power of attorney includes the right to endorse, sign and execute "checks, notes, deeds, agreements, certificates, receipts or any other instruments in writing of all matters related to Whitewater Development Corporation." This letter, uncovered in 1993 by Jerry Seper of the Washington Times, directly contradicts the claim of the Clintons that they were "passive shareholders" in Whitewater.

From a 1996 Chicago Tribune editorial: "The legal issues will sort themselves out in time. But one thing has become all too clear. Bill and Hillary Clinton and their aides have made a concerted effort to deceive official investigators and the American public with half truths and outright lies . . . It's not clear what the Clintons want to conceal, but it's clear that they have made extraordinary efforts to do so."

The American Spectator reports in 1996 that on her Asian tour, Hillary Clinton told New Zealand television that she had been named after Sir Edmund Hillary. Sir Edmund, however, was an unknown beekeeper the year of Mrs. Clinton's birth.

The Spectator also reports that HRC served on the board of a corporation about which serious questions have been raised concerning its role in the pre-Gulf War arms pipeline to Iraq.

A drug dealer donates $20,000 to the DNC, attends a Christmas reception hosted by Hillary Clinton, has his photo taken with the Clintons and Al Gore and then -- three weeks later -- is arrested for smuggling 6,000 pounds of cocaine into the United States. It should have come as no surprise to anyone involved. After all, Jorge Cabrera had already served two prison sentences -- one for trying to bribe a grand jury witness and the other for filing a false income tax return. Later he will be back in the news when a businessman pleads guilty to laundering $3.5 million for Cabrera between 1986 and 1996.

 "I see the White House is like a subway -- you have to put in coins to open the gates." -- Clinton contributor Johnny Chung talking about the $50,000 he gave Hillary Clinton's top aide while seeking VIP treatment at the White House.

Spilling some of the beans on her "close friend" Ron Brown, Nolanda Hill tells Prime Time Live that Brown used drugs while Commerce Secretary and considered taking a big payoff from Vietnam to get trade restrictions lifted but dropped the idea when he got a tip that FBI was on the case. Hill also says that Brown thought it was Hillary who placed John Huang in a Commerce Department job. Huang left the Lippo Group -- with a golden parachute of around $800,000 -- to work for Commerce. Brown orders a top secret clearance for Huang. While at Commerce, Huang visits the White House about 70 times, is briefed 37 times by the CIA, views about 500 intelligence reports, and makes 281 calls to Lippo banks.

A federal judge issues a fine for a quarter million dollars because, "The Executive Branch of the government, working in tandem, was dishonest with this court." At issue is the composition of Hillary Clinton's health task force, a body stacked with those from the medical industry who would gain most from its faux reforms.

Number of times Hillary Clinton says "I don't recall" or its equivalent in a statement to a House investigating committee: 50. Number of paragraphs in this statement: 42

Starr decides not to pursue the FBI file matter after an investigation that included a nine-minute interview with HRC over tea and coffee. FBI Director Louis Freeh calls the handling of the FBI tapes an "egregious violation of privacy . . . without justification."

"Mr. Starr also botched the investigation into the White House's illicit use of confidential FBI files on 900 Republican opponents. He used FBI agents to probe misconduct involving the FBI itself. Needless to say, they came up empty handed. A civil suit on behalf of the victims has since uncovered evidence that the purloined files were part of a campaign of political espionage ordered by Hillary Clinton herself. The dirt in the files, including raw data on congressional leaders, was fed into computers.

Presumably it was later used for blackmail, or fed to media surrogates for the systematic smearing of Republicans." -- Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, London Telegraph.

After quitting the Justice Department and before going to jail, Hubbell is a busy man. He meets with Hillary Clinton, and follows up by getting together with major scandal figures John Huang, James Riady, and Ng Lapseng. Riady and Huang go to the White House every day from June 21 to June 25, 1994 according to White House records. Hubbell has breakfast and lunch with Riady on June 23. Four days later -- and one week after Hubbell's meeting with Hillary -- the Hong Kong Chinese Bank, jointly owned by Lippo and the Chinese intelligence services, send $100,000 to Hubbell.

"Through discovery in its civil lawsuit against the Clinton Commerce Department, Judicial Watch also has found evidence that President Clinton condoned and participated in a scheme, conceived by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and approved by the President, to sell seats on U.S. Department of Commerce trade missions in exchange for political contributions. ~~~ In addition to the illegal sale of taxpayer financed services, such as seats on trade missions, for political contributions, the President and Mrs. Clinton have illegally solicited and received monies directly from private citizens and others. The creation and use of legal defense funds is not only prohibited under federal law, but they have proved to be a means whereby lobbyists, influence peddlers and foreign powers have tried to influence the Administration, contrary to U.S. national security interests. In sum, Judicial Watch has uncovered a pattern of conduct by this President and his agents that indicates he has run, in effect, a criminal enterprise from the White House to obtain and maintain hold on the Office of the President of the United States. Indeed, he is likely in violation of the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). " -- Judicial Watch