[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 17 (Thursday, February 24, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 24, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
            GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS INVESTIGATES FOSTER DEATH

  (Mr. CLINGER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CLINGER. Mr. Speaker, last summer the Nation was shocked to hear 
that a dedicated public servant and trusted friend of the President had 
taken his own life.
  The passing months have brought conflicting stories regarding the 
investigation of this tragic event. The way in which law enforcement 
authorities conducted their investigations has been most disturbing. 
The Park Police was chosen over the FBI to investigate the death and 
Bill Sessions suggested that any FBI investigation was compromised by 
White House and Department of Justice politics.
  Next we find that White House staff randomly searched through the 
victim's office removing some documents; that senior White House 
attorneys ordered investigators to sit in a hallway as they selected 
which evidence could be reviewed. The Park Police even criticized the 
White House for impeding its investigation. If these practices occurred 
in the private sector, it would be called obstruction of justice.
  Yet, the administration is continuing its systematic practice of 
choosing secrecy over openness when it comes to releasing the documents 
necessary to clear up these confusing issues. Neither the Park Police 
report, the autopsy, nor the ballistics report have been released.
  As a result, I am instructing the staff of the Committee on 
Government Operations to investigate this entire affair. The question 
of whether this was a suicide is not the focus of this investigation, 
but the extent of White House influence over criminal investigations. 
Although it appears that Special Counsel Fiske will eventually look 
into this matter, if the White House is politicizing criminal 
investigations, the Congress needs to know about it and correct it 
today, not after a secret review by the Justice Department.

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