Suicide of Vince Foster
Deputy White House counsel
Suicide and investigation
Park Police discovered Foster dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in Fort Marcy Park (off the George Washington Parkway in Virginia on July 20, 1993). He was found holding a Colt .38 Special in his right hand, his thumb hooked through the trigger guard.
An autopsy and subsequent investigation later concluded Foster had died by shooting himself once in the mouth with the gun found at the scene. [1]
Subsequent investigations found that Foster was distraught over accusations and criticisms related to the White House travel office controversy. Foster had confided to friends and colleagues that he was considering resignation, but feared that he could not handle the "personal humiliation" of returning to Arkansas in defeat. Foster admitted to his sister that he was depressed shortly before his death, and he sought treatment for depression one day before committing suicide.[2]
Although police found no evidence of foul play, several tabloids and newsletters speculated that Foster's death may have been a homicide, possibly involving the Clintons themselves.
The suicide has nevertheless continued to fuel speculation: then-presidential candidate
Evidence
Torn note
I made mistakes from ignorance, inexperience and overwork I did not knowingly violate any law or standard of conduct
No one in The White House, to my knowledge, violated any law or standard of conduct, including any action in the travel office. There was no intent to benefit any individual or specific group
The
FBI lied in their report to the AGThe press is covering up the illegal benefits they received from the travel staff
The GOP has lied and misrepresented its knowledge and role and covered up a prior investigation
The Ushers Office plotted to have excessive costs incurred, taking advantage of Kaki and HRC
The public will never believe the innocence of the Clintons and their loyal staff
The
WSJeditors lie without consequenceI was not meant for the job or the spotlight of public life in Washington. Here ruining people is considered sport.
A draft of a resignation letter was found torn into 27 pieces in a briefcase after his death.[7] Associate White House counsel, Steve Neuwirth, discovered the torn pieces of the note in Foster's briefcase on July 26.[8] After receiving the note from Neuwirth, White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum handled the note various times before giving it to Park Police Lieutenant Joseph Megby the following evening.[9]
The United States Department of Justice revealed the note's contents at a joint press conference with the Park Police on August 10.[9][10] The DoJ stated that a smudged palm print was on the note, but no fingerprints; they confirmed the handwriting as Foster's.[10]
Conspiracy theories
The Arkansas Project
On May 2, 1999,
The Clinton Chronicles: A Political Firestorm
In 1997 crime reporter Dan Moldea was approached by Regnery Publishing House, a conservative group whose leadership was impressed by Moldea's published works, to publish a book on the Foster case.[14]
In researching Foster's death, Moldea found that documents relating to the Whitewater corporation were removed from Foster's office on July 22 and sent to the Clintons’ personal attorney,[15] and that the most oft-used conspiracy scenario could be traced back to Park Police Major Robert Hines, who shared the idea with Reed Irvine (Accuracy in Media) and Christopher Ruddy (New York Post). Moldea concludes, and Maj. Hines publicly maintains, that Hines incorrectly told Irvine and Ruddy "... that there is no exit wound in Foster's head ... I don't think there was anything nefarious here; he was being approached by reporters and he wanted something to say." Still, the "missing exit wound" claim continued to surface.[14]
Moldea's research sought, among other things, to discover the origins of this line of investigation into the Clintons' credibility. In an interview for Salon.com, he suggests that "Foster had some blond hair and carpet fibers on his suit jacket, and he had semen in his underwear. So, the Jerry Falwells and the right-wing crowd get a hold of this information, and…they start making movies alleging that the Clintons were involved in this murder."[14]
In 1994, Falwell subsidized the creation of a film called The Clinton Chronicles that featured Ruddy's claims that the gun that killed Foster was placed in his hand after the fact, and that Foster's body was laid out to give the appearance of suicide, among others.[14] Funding for the film was provided by Citizens for Honest Government, an organization to which Falwell gave $200,000 in 1994 and 1995.[16]
Citizens for Honest Government covertly paid individuals who had provided information to media outlets such as the
See also
References
Notes
- ^ Labaton, Stephen (August 6, 1993). "Autopsy on Counsel to President Points to Suicide". The New York Times. New York Times. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
- ^ Von Drehle, David; Schneider, Howard (July 1, 1994). "Foster's Death a Suicide". Washington Post. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
- ^ Watson, Russell (March 20, 1994). "Vince Foster's Suicide: The Rumor Mill Churns". Newsweek. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
- ^ a b Kessler, Glenn. "No, Donald Trump, there's nothing 'fishy' about Vince Foster's suicide". No. 2016–05–25. Washington Post. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
- ^ DelReal, Jose A.; Costa, Robert (May 23, 2016). "Trump escalates attack on Bill Clinton". Washington Post. Retrieved August 5, 2017.
- ISBN 1-57230-541-X.
- ^ Johnston, David; Lewis, Neil (February 4, 1994). "Report Suggests Clinton Counsel Hampered Suicide Investigation". The New York Times. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
...One investigator said he had watched Mr. Nussbaum inspect the briefcase earlier without finding the note....
- ^ Ray, Robert W. (January 5, 2001). "Part E: The Discovery and Removal of Documents from Vincent W. Foster Jr.'s Office" (PDF). Final Report of the Independent Counsel in Re Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan Association. Vol. III. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Publishing Office. p. 277. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
- ^ a b c d Final Report of the Independent Counsel in Re Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan Association, Volume III, Part E 2001, p. 278.
- ^ a b Apple Jr., R.W. (August 11, 1993). "Note Left by White House Aide: Accusation, Anger and Despair". The New York Times. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
- ISBN 9780895263827. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
…A fingerprint analysis of Foster's note by the FBI also reveals…that the palm print found on the note had been left by Bernard Nussbaum….
- ^ "Foster suicide note was a forgery, say experts". The Independent. October 26, 1995. Archived from the original on May 25, 2022.
- ^ "'Arkansas Project' Led to Turmoil and Rifts". Washington Post. May 2, 1999. p. A24. Retrieved May 3, 2006.
- ^ a b c d Lori Leibovich, "Why Vincent Foster can't rest in peace" Archived May 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Salon.com, May 28, 1998.
- ISBN 9780895263827. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
- ^ a b c Murray Waas "The Falwell connection", Salon.com, March 11, 1998.
Books
- Hugh Sprunt, Citizen's Independent Report: Material Errors, Omissions, Inconsistencies, & Curiosa
- John Clarke, Patrick Knowlton and Hugh Turley. "Failure of the Public Trust" Archived August 7, 2020, at the ISBN 0-9673521-0-X
- David Brock, Blinded by the Right : The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative, Three Rivers Press, 2003.
- ISBN 1-4000-3003-X
- ISBN 0-312-27319-3
- Dan Moldea. A Washington Tragedy: How the Death of Vincent Foster Ignited a Political Firestorm, Regnery Publishing, 1998
- ISBN 978-0-89526-408-4
- Christopher Ruddy. The Strange Death of Vincent Foster: An Investigation, Free Press, 2002; ISBN 978-0-74324-253-0
- Dean Arnold, Hillary and Vince: A Story of Love, Death, and Cover-up, Chattanooga Historical Foundation, 2016; ISBN 978-0692744871
- David Martin, The Murder of Vince Foster: America's Would-Be Dreyfus Affair, Independent, 2020: ISBN 979-8685698940
External links
- Report on the Death of Vincent W. Foster, Jr,/by the Office of Independent Counsel in Re Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan Association HATHI Trust Digital Library, Universities of Michigan and Purdue, the complete 137 page, 2 vol. report with app., footnotes, and exhibits
- Once Upon a Time in Arkansas: Vince Foster's journal from Frontline
- Foster Report posted by The Washington Post (NOTE: This file does not contain the report's footnotes or appendix)
- Nancy Benac (July 21, 1993). "White House Attorney An Apparent Suicide". Daily Sitka Sentinel. p. 7. Retrieved July 25, 2017 – via newspapers.com.