THE VINCENT FOSTER CASE: SUICIDE OR MURDER?
Second Edition
Michael T. Griffith
1995
@All Rights Reserved
On July 20, 1993, Vincent Foster, a White House counsel who was heavily involved in handling the Whitewater scandal for President Clinton, supposedly committed suicide at Fort Marcy Park in Arlington, Virginia, by shooting himself in the head with a pistol. This was the conclusion of Robert Fiske, the special counsel appointed by Clinton to investigate the Whitewater affair. But the many inconsistencies and discrepancies in Fiske's report on Foster's death have led researchers from all across the political spectrum to suggest that Foster was in fact murdered. Even a traditionally conservative publication like the national weekly HUMAN EVENTS has questioned the circumstances surrounding Foster's death. HUMAN EVENTS, which has strongly criticized conspiracy theories in the past, has run articles and advertisements that tacitly suggested Foster's death was part of a larger Whitewater cover-up. Fiske has now been replaced by Kenneth Starr, and Starr has reopened the investigation into the Foster case.
So just exactly who was Vincent Foster? As mentioned, he was a White House attorney. But this is not all. Foster was playing a leading role in handling the Whitewater scandal for Bill Clinton. Foster was also a partner with Hillary Clinton in the Rose Law Firm in Arkansas and handled Whitewater and other legal matters for the Clintons when the couple occupied the governor's mansion. Foster was the highest White House official to meet an untimely death since John F. Kennedy.
The points that follow are based primarily on three sources, (1) the Western Journalism Center's full-page advertisement in the 10 February 1995 issue of HUMAN EVENTS, (2) Nicholas Guarino's booklet MURDER, BANK FRAUD, DRUGS, AND SEX (Burnsville, MN: The Wall Street Underground, 1994), and (3) Reed Irvine and Joseph Goulden's syndicated article, "Starr Checking Loose Ends of Foster Death," which was reprinted in the 3 February 1995 issue of HUMAN EVENTS. Let us now examine some of the troubling facts that have led so many people to question the official explanation of Foster's death:
* No blood or blowback material was visible on the gun, even though Foster allegedly fired with the barrel deep inside his mouth.
* Very little blood was found on the front of Foster's body.
* No fingerprints were found on the gun.
* The fired bullet was never recovered.
* Foster allegedly shot himself in some thick bushes in front of what is known as the second cannon, but rescue workers and others who went to the park after the 911 call said the body was 200 feet from the official location. The paramedic later changed his story, and other rescue workers were ordered by the Fairfax County Fire Department not to discuss the case with the press. However, Dr. Donald Hunt, the medical examiner who was called to the park to approve the removal of Foster's body, told Accuracy in Media officials that the body was where the paramedic originally said it was, about 200 feet from the second cannon.
* Dr. Hunt also said that very little blood was found on the ground under Foster's body.
* Even though Foster allegedly shot himself deep in the mouth, no powder burns were found in the mouth and no teeth were broken or shattered.
* No traces of soil were found on Foster's shoes and clothing, although he supposedly walked 600 feet through the wooded park and then shot himself in some thick bushes.
* Shortly after Foster's death, White House aides quietly removed Whitewater documents from Foster's office.
* Foster's eyeglasses were found 13 feet from the official location for his body. How did they get there? How could they have traveled through the heavy brush?
* Blood stains and tracks on Foster's head indicated that his head assumed four different positions after his instantaneous death.
* Foster was found with his legs together, with his arms straight down at his side, and with the pistol still in his hand. The lead paramedic said Foster's body was so neatly arranged that it was as if "he was ready for the coffin."
* As mentioned, the pistol was still in Foster's hand when rescue workers found his body. Yet, according to experts, handguns used is suicides often are thrown up to 20 feet away from the body. (Note: In the first edition of this article, it was said that Foster was left-handed. This was based on initial media reports concerning his dominant hand. However, it appears that Foster was right-handed.)
* Foster made no final arrangements and did not bid farewell to his wife and three children.
* Foster was found with a full meal in his stomach.
* Foster had just, the day before, hired a lawyer to handle his defense in the Whitewater investigation. Asks Guarino, "Why pay for a lawyer to launch a defense and then shoot yourself a day later?"
* Foster had no history of visiting Fort Marcy Park.
* The "suicide note," which was allegedly "found" in Foster's briefcase, did not turn up until six days after his death. It was torn into over 20 pieces and had no fingerprints on it. Also, the Park Police and the FBI had already searched the briefcase and found it to be empty. The so-called "suicide note" was actually nothing of the kind--it was an unsigned outline of Foster's resignation. [One recent news report claimed there was evidence the note was forged.]
And what of Robert Fiske's "investigation" into Foster's death?
* Fiske did not use a grand jury, and put no one under oath.
* Fiske relied heavily on the findings of a medical examiner involved in other questionable suicide rulings--in one case the murderer CONFESSED.
* Investigators never conducted a canvass of park regulars or neighbors in the area.
* No effort was made to analyze the carpet fibers and hair that were found all over Foster's clothing and underwear.
Hopefully, the new investigation being conducted by special counsel Ken Starr will shed more light on the death of Vincent Foster. At the very least, let us hope it exposes the failings and errors in Fiske's report. If Foster was murdered, as clearly seems to be the case, then it is almost certain that his death was connected to the Whitewater scandal. Guarino has researched the cases of several people connected to Whitewater who have died under suspicious circumstances--some allegedly committed suicide, some were admittedly murdered, and others died in "accidents."
Many observers are disturbed by what they perceive as a lack of news media interest in the strange circumstances surrounding Vince Foster's death. Certainly it is hard to understand why the major news outlets have not done more to bring the facts about the case to the public's attention, and why they have not frankly discussed the troubling implications of those facts. As Irvin and Goulden note,
There are a number of strange things about the Foster case, but one of the strangest is the refusal of the TV networks and the once great NEW YORK TIMES to tell the public the unanswered questions that probably explain why Kenneth Starr has reopened this Fiske-closed case.
For more information on the Foster case, I would refer interested readers to the documentary video UNANSWERED: THE DEATH OF VINCENT FOSTER. The documentary was researched by investigative reporter Christopher Ruddy and can be ordered from the Western Journalism Center by calling 1-800-WJC-5595. The video sells for $35. (I have no financial interest in the WJC and will receive no royalty payments of any kind on sales from the video.)
[Two other sources of information on the Vince Foster case have recently come to my attention:
THE DEATH OF VINCE FOSTER, 60-minute color video, produced by Honest Government.
THE MURDER OF VINCE FOSTER, Columbia, MD: CLS Publishing, 1995, by Michael Kellett.
Both items can be obtained by contacting Honest Government, P.O. Box 213, Folly Beach, SC 29439, phone 1-800-292-6185. Credit cards accepted. As with the WJC, I have no financial interest in Honest Government and will receive no payment or royalty of any kind from them.]
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Michael T. Griffith (CompuServe ID: 74274,650)
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[The following article is used with Mr. Clark's permission.]
FOSTERGATE
Richard Clark
1995
@All Rights Reserved
There follows a list of suspicious events, observations, and circumstances, taken from the 2,726 pages of the 1994 Senate Hearings and Report Volumes that cover the death of Vince Foster. To find out how you can receive a 160 page synopsis of this material, put together by Stanford and MIT grad Hugh Sprunt, call Bell Jean Printing at (301) 864-6882. Pay only for shipping, tax, and copying costs.
1. No fingerprints on the gun.
2. No proof that it was his gun.
3. Suspicious people seen in and around victim's car just before the body was found.
4. Eyewitnesses saw the victim's briefcase in his car, yet the briefcase later vanished. So did the files index in his office.
5. All 35mm film of crime scene was either "overexposed" or it vanished.
6. Most of the Polaroid photos of the crime scene vanished.
7. "Independent" investigator Fiske was forced to concede that the victim's head HAD been moved---after death had taken place and before his body was photographed.
8. Car keys were not found with victim at crime scene, nor were they to be found in his car, yet the conclusion immediately arrived at . . . was suicide! (Does this make any sense whatsoever?)
9. The first non-official to see the body said their was no gun in sight; so did the first official to see the body.
10. No blood splatter found. (High velocity .38 bullets through the mouth and head leave splatter!)
11. No bone fragments were found at the scene, yet part of the victim's skull was missing, according to the Fiske report.
12. X-rays vanished with no explanation. (Was it to conceal the fact that Foster had other head injuries besides that of a single bullet?)
13. Dr. Beyer, the examining physician, has a history of mistaking homicide for suicide. In some instances he stated X-rays had been taken; in other instances he stated they had not. Why the inconsistency?
14. According to some reports, Foster's head wound not consistent with a high velocity .38 caliber bullet. Dr. Haut's statement to the FBI was that the exit hole was very small. In contradiction, the Fiske report says Dr. Haut's observation was that the exit-hole was very large.
15. No fingerprints were found on the torn-up "suicide" note, but a palm print was. How can you tear up a piece of paper without leaving any fingerprints on it, even when the paper is "receptive" enough to take a very clear palm print?! (No determination was made that it was Foster's palm print.)
16. A wound was seen on Foster's neck by paramedics. One described it as a bullet hole.
17. Dr. Haut & paramedics said they viewed the body in a location that is 200 feet from the site officially described.
18. The cannon near where some witnesses say the body was found has been removed from the park.
19. In his report, one paramedic listed the death as a homicide.
20. Numerous hairs and carpet fibers covered Foster's clothing. But his car was never checked to see if any of the same fibers could be found on the driver's seat, as surely there would have been found, had he actually driven himself to Fort Marcy Park.
21. Whereabouts of victim in hours before death remains a mystery.
22. The list of items in his "suicide note" could simply have been some reflection of his plans to resign his White House position, which his wife said he was seriously thinking of doing.
23. Only two bullets in the gun. No matching bullets were to be found in his home or car.
24. The victim planned to give his visiting sister a tour of the White House the next day.
25. The victim's friend and attorney, Jim Lyons, was coming from Colorado to meet with him the next day.
26. Foster had a full lunch before leaving to (supposedly) kill himself. He was jovial, and told his staff he would be back later in the day.
27. In spite of an exhaustive search, no bullet was ever found which matched the cartridge in the revolver that was reportedly found at the scene.
28. The attitude of the body was not consistent with suicide. It was laid out straight, with arms neatly at his side.
29. No one heard the shot. Few people in the surrounding area were even asked. The closest house, which was under construction at the time, was only 400 ft. away.
30. The FBI was kept out of the initial investigation.
31. The lead investigator assigned to go to the body site was performing his first homicide investigation.
32. Victim's appointment book was never found.
33. Victim had been making OVERNIGHT trips to Switzerland (go one day, come back the next) which his wife didn't know about. Indications are that he had a Swiss bank account which had been mysteriously emptied of $2.7 million a week before he died. His last planned trip to Switzerland had, for reasons unknown, been canceled.
34. Foster had, until coming to Washington, been employed as a $300,000 a year lawyer. His house in Washington was not especially impressive. Yet in the last weeks before his death he had a chronically overdrawn checking account!
35. Police were prevented from searching the victim's home and office.
36. Victim's widow was not interviewed for ten days after the death. Apparently she was shown a gun, silver in color, that was identified as the weapon used. She said it looked like the "silver-colored revolver" she had previously seen at home. The ABC photo very clearly shows a black gun in Foster's hand.
37. No proof that gun found with victim fired the fatal shot.
38. Photos and reports in the possession of the Park Police and FBI are being kept from public view. (Just like the Zapruder film in 1963.)
39. The Fiske Report contains numerous factual errors regarding time and geography at crime scene. It reports a large pool of blood under Foster's head, even though no one who was at the site made any such report. In fact some of those who viewed the body, including Dr. Haut and Corey Ashford, specifically stated to the FBI that there was no blood on the ground. (Ashford is one of the medical technicians who helped pick Foster's body up, to remove it from the scene.)
40. One vehicle seen at park by police and rescue eyewitnesses is ignored in the official record of the case.
41. Park Police concluded their investigation before they sent the gun for testing to see if it could fire.
42. Death was ruled a suicide before the investigators viewed the body.
43. The crime scene was never totally secured. (There are access roads near the body site, in the opposite direction from the parking lot where Foster's car was found. Access to the body, from these roads, was never blocked off in any way.
44. No damage whatsoever to victim's teeth from the recoil of a .38, allegedly placed in his mouth. This pistol has a rather substantial steel aiming device mounted at the top of the end of the 4-inch barrel.
45. Wildly conflicting testimony re: the time at which the victim was identified.
46. There is no evidence to support the Fiske report that the victim had lost weight . The only evidence is that he had GAINED weight.
47. Conflicting testimony as to when the White House was told of the death---from as early as 6:00 PM, according to the initial report from Chelsea's nanny, to the official time of 8:30 PM.
48. The phone number of a Secret Service officer was found in the notebook of Park Police investigator Rolla. Immediately following this entry was the address and phone number of Vince Foster. When asked about this during his deposition, the record shows that Rolla got nervous and flustered.
49. Eyewitness testimony is in disagreement as to whether victim's car was initially found locked. Some say it was locked. But the car keys were "found" much later, at the morgue, in a front pocket that had already been searched at the scene. How then was Foster's car opened up?!
50. Because of interference with prosecutor Rodriguez' inquiry into this case, he resigned in protest.
51. Marsha Scott met with Foster, her friend of 20 years, in an unusual 1-2 hour closed-door meeting the day before he died. After Foster died, the ONLY thing Ms. Scott said she could remember discussing, from her long meeting, was that Foster had a good weekend. (!)
52. The ABC News photo published showing Foster's hand with the gun is not consistent with eyewitness accounts of the scene.
53. The victim's office, a secondary crime scene, was immediately cleansed of evidence and documents by Clinton administration officials.
54. The victim's personal effects including his pager were returned to the White House within 24 hours---before they could be analyzed by the police.
55. Certain White House personnel, whose names are (for reasons unknown) not in the official record, were prepared to break into Park Police Officer Rolla's desk drawer to obtain a key to the evidence locker where Foster's possessions were being kept. (See p. 91 of Hugh Sprunt's report.)
56. The neighborhood around the crime scene at Ft. Marcy Park was not canvassed by police, to see if anyone had heard a shot, until two YEARS after the shooting took place.
57. Several police officers in Arkansas, two of them on duty at the Governor's mansion, have given sworn depositions that they were told of Foster's death, by phone, at 6:00 PM EST. But this would be BEFORE police and rescue workers arrived at Ft. Marcy Park! One of these officers immediately informed the governor's wife---more than an hour before White House personnel say they found out about Foster's death.
58. It is unclear when and where the victims car keys were actually found. One rescue worker says they were found on the way to the morgue. Another says they were found at the morgue.
59. Police and rescue workers have been forbidden to discuss the case.
60. No mention has ever been made as to whether there were powder burns inside of Foster's mouth and whether they were consistent with the bullet and spent shell found in the gun at the scene.
61. Shortly before his death, Foster asked his executive assistant put two, inch-thick ring binders, from the National Security Agency, into Bernie Nussbaum's safe. However, Foster did not have the security clearance necessary for possession of such binders. When Foster's assistant revealed, under oath, in an interview by Senate Banking Committee investigators, that she had placed these binders in the safe after Foster gave them to her with this request, no follow-up questions were asked, and no mention was made of any of this in the public hearings which followed. Why not?
62. The gun found at Ft. Marcy Park was composed of parts from *two different guns* and the serial numbers had been ground off both parts!
63. Lisa Foster was given more than $250,000 just prior to her husband's death. It was channeled to her via Vince Foster's sister who works at the Department of Justice. Why was Lisa given this money? Was it hush money?
64. Web Hubbell, in his testimony to the recent Whitewater hearings, when describing his actions FOLLOWING notification of Foster's death is reported to have said, "We searched for Vince Foster's gun in his house". Could Web Hubbell have taken the silver-colored gun from Foster's house, so that the FBI could later show Lisa Foster the "suicide weapon"?
The sixty-four thousand dollar question: How could the first Independent Prosecutor, Robert Fiske, have possibly missed ALL of the preceding 64 points? How could a truly independent and objective investigator honestly and totally miss all this?! And if he missed it on purpose, what was he trying to hide, why was he hiding it, and for whom was he hiding it?
The foregoing list of suspicious events, observations, questions and circumstances was taken, almost entirely, from the 2,726 pages of the 1994 Senate Hearings and Report Volumes (3 of them) that cover the death of Vince Foster. To find out how you can receive a 165 page synopsis of this material, put together by Hugh Sprunt, direct your inquiry Bill Jean Printing, (301) 864-6882 or contact HSprunt@aol.com. Sprunt has an MBA and JD from Stanford, as well as a BS and an MS from MIT. He is the lead author of a two-volume, 750 page tax reference work. His words have been published in the NYT, the WASHINGTON TIMES, the WSJ, and FORBES MAGAZINE. He also happens to have been the person to find his grandfather, minutes after the elderly gentleman had blown his brains out with a .38 revolver (the barrel of which had been placed in the mouth). So he knows, personally and vividly, what such a scene looks like. (And also knows that from all descriptions of the Foster death site, no HV .38 caliber bullet through the mouth & head could have possibly taken place at this location.)
I've read Sprunt's 165-page booklet from cover to cover and have highlighted and tagged every section referred to in this list. All but two or three of the items on the list can be found both in Sprunt's booklet as well as in the Senate Hearings Report just mentioned. The two or three others can be found in Jim Norman's Fostergate article, which was carefully checked by the staff at Forbes, the staff at Media Bypass, and the staff at the Jerusalem Post, where (i.e. the last two places mentioned) the article was finally published.
Richard Clark, 1995