The Vincent Foster “Suicide”

By Nicholas A. Guarino

The Most Under-Reported Story of the Decade

Vincent Foster’s alledged “suicide note” having been examined by several hand writing experts was a forgery! This indicates a cover-up of the reasons for his death by the highest level of the White House staff.

But a cover-up of what? For the answers to these and other questions, read on …

VINCENT FOSTER, WHO WAS CLINTON’S COUNSEL FOR Whitewater, was the highest government official to meet an untimely death since the Kennedys.

He could have killed himself on July 20, 1993, as Robert Fiske, Clinton’s “independent” counsel claimed. But it’s rather doubtful. The story line concocted by Fiske has about 20 major holes in it – which partly explains his replacement by Kenneth Starr. A few examples:

Official photos show the alleged suicide gun in Vince’s right hand. Trouble is, he was left-handed. (Of course, a hit man wouldn’t have known that.) Fiske ignored this in his report.

Vince went out and hired two lawyers on July 19. As Clinton’s man in charge of covering up Whitewater, he had failed badly and could see everything was about to unravel (which it began to do in Arkansas the very next day). Question: Why pay for a lawyer to launch a defense and then shoot yourself a day later? Fiske ignored this.

After a somewhat hurried lunch in his office July 20, Vince grabbed his jacket and left the White House with the words, “I’ll be back.” And then we are supposed to believe, apparently, that he picked up a White House beeper, drove to his Georgetown townhouse, got a gun, drove to a lonely park in Arlington, walked 200 yards to a steep slope, went down into some thick bushes, sat down, shot himself and then threw his glasses 13 feet away through heavy brush, and wound up lying down supine and perfectly straight, legs together, with arms straight down at his side, the gun still in his hand, and trickles of blood running from his mouth in several directions, including uphill. What’s wrong with this picture?

Where’s the bullet? None was ever found even after a massive search and excavation. Could it be that the police and FBI looked in the wrong place? Sgt. George Gonzalez (the first paramedic on the scene) and his boss both insisted they found Foster 200 feet from the official spot. If they’re right, then why was the body moved?

Where are the fingerprints on the gun? There were none! Where are the skull fragments? None were ever found. Who is the mystery blonde whose hairs were found on Vince?

In this age of detective movies, how could anyone think such clues unworthy of mention in a serious report? Sadly, the real reason Fiske was sacked by that 3-judge panel was not to preserve an “appearance of impartiality,” as the papers said.

They were simply tipped off that Fiske was rapidly burying everything he could. For instance, when David Hale’s trial judge refused to keep Bill Clinton’s name entirely out of Hale’s testimony, Fiske immediately stopped the trial and changed his charge from a huge felony to a small misdemeanor – with a vastly reduced sentence!

Where’s the suicide note? Vince [Foster] wrote an unsigned outline of a resignation letter, which Clinton’s counsel Bernard Nussbaum kept for six days, tore into 27 pieces (without leaving one single fingerprint – try that!), then changed his mind and let the bright yellow pieces strangely appear in Vince’s briefcase, which the police and FBI had already inspected and found to be empty. But this “suicide note” says nothing about suicide, of course. And the final letter is missing.

I could go on and on. Fiske quoted reports – even an anonymous one from visitors to the park [Fort Marcy Park] that day. But some witnesses also saw “a menacing-looking Hispanic man” by a white van with its big door open near Vince’s car just before the body was found. Fiske left that out.

Instead of allowing Vince’s office to be sealed after his death, top Clinton staffers Bernie Nussbaum, Patsy Thomasson, and Maggie Williams frantically rifled it for “national security matters” (read: incriminating Whitewater documents) and carted them off to Hillary’s closet upstairs. In a stunning show of chutzpah, they even made the park police and FBI agents sit in the hallway for two hours while they did it. And Nussbaum later claimed it was only ten minutes! (An FBI agent disclosed to me that a file was opened for obstruction of justice, but Bill had it closed.)

Why would anybody want a nice, gentle fellow like Vince Foster killed and his body dumped in a park? The #1 reason is that Vince knew far too much and he had to go because he was about to crack – and that would have ended the Clinton presidency right there and then. Suppose, however, it was a suicide. Suppose Whitewater was becoming such a horror that suicide seemed better than facing the music. What then?

Then the only logical explanation is scenario #2, as follows: Vince’s Whitewater coverup was coming apart. Facts were popping up in the press and people were talking. For instance, Clinton’s partner in Whitewater, Jim McDougal, had gone to Little Rock attorney and 1990 Republican gubernatorial candidate Sheffield Nelson and made a taped statement which I have heard, saying: “I could sink it [the coverup] quicker than they could lie about it if I could get in a position so I wouldn’t have my head beaten off. And Bill knows that.”

So sensitive was Vince to criticism that he was still bothered about the heat he was getting for his role in Travelgate. In fact, Fiske stated that those close to Vince thought that “the single greatest source of his distress was the criticism he … received following the firing of seven employees from the White House Travel Office.” Little did they know the whole story. Vince had to keep Whitewater details bottled up inside – even at home.

On the day Vince shot himself, he received a shocking phone call from an attorney at Arkansas’ Rose Law Firm saying that FBI Director William Sessions was about to subpoena the documents of Judge David Hale. Hale was a Clinton appointee who charged that Clinton forced him to give fraudulent SBA loans of millions of dollars to Clinton’s friends.

In the Senate hearings, Clinton’s people denied such a call took place, but I know for a definite fact that it did. And I’m backed up by the Rose phone billings and Vince’s phone log. Also, Sen. Christopher Bond (R.-Mo.) later confirmed that the call was from “an old friend” at Rose.

About this time, Clinton fired his FBI Director – a step so desperate that no President had ever taken it.

Vince realized that the genie was out of the bottle. He had confided to his brother-in-law, former congressman Beryl Anthony, that he was very worried that Congress itself was about to launch a criminal probe into his affairs. (In this scenario, the “suicide note” was actually the “opening argument for his defense” before Congress – a defense which Vince told his wife he wrote on July 11.)

He was sure that in such a probe, the easy-going David Hale would spill the beans and drag in Gov. Tucker, Steve Smith, Madison Marketing, Castle Grande, Whitewater, Vince himself – and, inevitably, Bill Clinton. He mentally added up the fines and prison terms he would face for concealing Bill’s crimes – many of which he had taken a supporting role in.

The totals were horrendous. And the thought of being a central figure in America’s first presidential impeachment [Pres. Andrew Johnson was the first impeachment trial, although he, in the end, was not actually ousted.] was too much for his quiet mind to bear. He told his wife and sister that he was thinking of resigning. (But he still couldn’t let on about the Whitewater crisis.)

He was cracking up. Everyone around him agreed he looked and sounded terrible. The Desyrel prescribed by his doctor didn’t help. So when the call came about Hale’s subpoena, he had to go home and think things over. But there, alas, he could think of no way out. So he put two bullets in his revolver, drove across the Potomac to the first quiet spot he found, hid himself in some bushes where he could pray in solitude, and pulled the trigger.

That’s the most probable suicide scenario. Unfortunately for Clinton, it’s almost as damning as the murder scenario.

Today everyone – from Vince’s family to the press to the White House – professes to be baffled by Vince’s death. “How on earth,” they wonder, “could such a typical Washington flap as Travelgate cause Vince to be so depressed?” Under either scenario, the plain answer is: It didn’t.

Nicholas A. Guarino’s firm once held $10 million in Madison Guaranty S&L.