[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 148 (Wednesday, November 30, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: November 30, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                 WHITEWATER QUESTIONS REMAIN UNANSWERED

                                 ______


                            HON. DAN BURTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 29, 1994

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, during this past year I have 
given numerous speeches on the House floor this year regarding 
Whitewater and a number of related topics. We are ending this session 
of Congress with many troubling questions about Whitewater still left 
unanswered. I think that this is one of the biggest failures of the 
103rd Congress.
  When the 104th Congress convenes in January, Whitewater hearings will 
certainly be high on the agenda. For the benefit of my colleagues who 
will be participating in these hearings, I thought it would be helpful 
to summarize the concerns that I have expressed throughout this year. I 
believe that a majority of the American people want to put Whitewater 
behind us, but only after all questions are answered and all persons 
involved are held accountable for their actions.


        death of white house deputy counsel vincent foster, jr.

  Vincent Foster left his White House office at 1:00 p.m. on July 20, 
1993. He was found dead late that afternoon by the confidential witness 
(CW) at Fort Marcy Park in Fairfax County, Virginia. The Fiske report, 
released on June 30, 1994, concluded that Mr. Foster committed suicide, 
and did so at Fort Marcy Park. However, CW has contradicted many key 
statements in the report. This summer I obtained a sworn statement from 
CW regarding Vince Foster's death.
  CW said that when he discovered Mr. Foster's body, Mr. Foster's hands 
were at his side, palms up, with no gun in either hand. The Fiske 
report quoted CW as saying that there may have been a gun in Mr. 
Foster's hand which he did not see due to dense foliage at the site. 
They suggested to him that if the trigger guard had been around one 
finger, and the gun underneath his hand, that CW might not have noticed 
it. After being pressed, CW said that if that were the case, he might 
not have seen the gun, but the palms were definitely up. The FBI agents 
refused to show CW the photo of Foster's hand. When I showed CW the 
photo of Foster's hand. When I showed CW the ABC News photo of Mr. 
Foster's hand with the thumb trapped in the trigger guard, CW reacted 
very strongly, saying this is definitely not what he saw. If CW is 
correct, then someone move Mr. Foster's head between the time CW left 
the scene and the police and the paramedics arrived.
  The Fiske report said that Mr. Foster's head was upright, but it had 
been moved earlier as evidenced by bloodstains on Mr. Foster's right 
cheek and shoulder that are inconsistent with the upright position of 
the head. CW, who was first on the scene, made it very clear to me that 
Mr. Foster's head was in an upright position when he saw it, and that 
there was no blood stain on the cheek. Clearly, someone moved Mr. 
Foster's head after CW left. The Fiske report failed to identify who 
moved the head.
  CW also said that he saw a wine cooler bottle adjacent to Mr. 
Foster's body. He said that this bottle matched the half-empty wine 
cooler four-pack that was in the white Honda automobile in the parking 
lot of the park. The Fiske report is silent on the wine cooler bottle.
  I am further troubled by several other unanswered questions. The FBI 
never found the bullet that killed Vince Foster at the park, nor were 
any skull fragments ever found at the scene. The Fiske report said that 
no fingerprints were found on Foster's .38 caliber Colt revolver. No 
dirt or grass was found on Foster's shoes. Carpet and hair fibers found 
on Foster's clothing were not analyzed as to their origin. The security 
guards stationed outside of the Saudi Arabian Ambassador's residence 
directly across Chain Bridge Road from the park never heard a shot.
  The Fiske report contained a great deal of material (over 70 pages in 
all) on the credentials of the four pathologists who reviewed the 
physical evidence surrounding Vince Foster's death. Yet they never 
actually examined his body. Their findings were wholly reliant on the 
autopsy conducted by Dr. James Beyer, the Fairfax County Coroner. He 
said that Foster's death was ``consistent with a self-inflicted 
wound.''
  Dr. Beyer has been challenged in the past for conducting flawed and 
erroneous autopsies. According to the Washington Times, Dr. Beyer 
overlooked critical evidence in the 1989 Timothy Easley stabbing and 
supported a police finding that the death was a suicide. The death was 
later ruled a homicide after an outside expert noted glaring errors in 
Dr. Beyer's report. These errors included missing a self-defense wound 
on the victim's hand and getting the color of his hair wrong. Mr. 
Easley's girlfriend later confessed to the murder.
  In December 1991 Dr. Beyer ruled that the death of Thomas Burkett, 
Jr. was a suicide. The body was later exhumed and a second autopsy 
detailed numerous serious omissions in Dr. Beyer's report. These 
omissions included a fractured lower jaw and, according to the New York 
Post, a bloody and disfigured ear, indicating a struggle.
  So many questions remain unanswered that it is very clear that the 
investigation into Mr. Foster's death needs to be reopened.


                THE SEARCHES OF VINCENT FOSTER'S OFFICE

  White House Chief of Staff Thomas ``Mack'' McLarty ordered Vince 
Foster's office sealed after learning of his death. However, the office 
remained unlocked overnight and was not sealed until 11:00 a.m. the 
next day, when a guard was posted at the door. Despite the order to 
seal the office, within the first few hours after Vince Foster's body 
was found, White House officials removed records of business deals 
between the President, Mrs. Clinton, and the Whitewater Development 
Corporation, without telling the Federal authorities who were 
investigating his death. The officials removing files from the office 
were White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum, Special Assistant to the 
President Patsy Thomasson, and Mrs. Clinton's Chief of Staff, Margaret 
Williams.
  On July 22, 1993, Mr. Nussbaum and White House officials searched Mr. 
Foster's office a second time. Citing executive privilege, they kept 
the Park Police and FBI agents from entering the office. The Park 
Police later discovered that Whitewater records had been removed from 
the office.
  On July 27, 1993, White House officials revealed that on July 26, 
they found a note, supposedly written by Vince Foster, in the bottom of 
the briefcase which was in the office. The note was torn into 27 
pieces, and there were no fingerprints on the note. The Fiske report 
said that reason for the lack of fingerprints on Foster's gun was 
because of the heat and humidity that day. This begs the question as to 
the reason for the lack of fingerprints on the note. In addition, two 
previous searches of the briefcase failed to turn up any note.


             CLINTON TIES TO CONVICTED COCAINE DISTRIBUTOR

  Both Patsy Thomasson, who is responsible for the administration of 
the White House, and President Clinton have been linked to Dan Lasater, 
who was convicted in 1986 of cocaine distribution. Lasater's Little 
Rock, AR brokerage (Lasater and Company) was awarded lucrative 
contracts to underwrite bond sales for the State. These contracts may 
or may not have been related to the fact that Lasater was a friend of 
the Clintons and a large political donor. He lent money to Roger 
Clinton, Bill Clinton's half-brother, to help him pay off his drug 
debt, and also gave him a job, according to Newsweek.
  In the early 1980s Ms. Thomasson joined Lasater's company and quickly 
rose to become a key assistant. When Dan Lasater served his sentence 
for cocaine distribution, she ran the company and received Mr. 
Lasater's power of attorney. Prior to Dan Lasater's conviction, Mr. 
Dennis Patrick from eastern Kentucky was persuaded by a long-time 
friend to open an account at Lasater and Company. Over $107 million was 
traded in his name without his knowledge. When Mr. Patrick raised 
questions about the huge amount of money flowing through his account, 
there were three attempts made on his life. We need to find out if Ms. 
Thomasson knew that these illegal trades were taking place.
  The Arkansas Development Finance Authority (ADFA) steered a great 
deal of state bond underwriting business to Lasater and Company. Then-
Governor Bill Clinton created ADFA to provide economic development 
loans to small businesses in Arkansas. In December 1988 ADFA deposited 
$50 million in a bank in the Cayman Islands. I do not see how 
depositing this money in the Cayman Islands would have benefited small 
businesses in Arkansas, since Arkansas banks offered competitive 
interest rates. Given Dan Lasater's drug involvement, I believe that 
some very serious questions need to be raised about why the State of 
Arkansas was sending its money to an offshore bank in a country 
identified by the State Department as a drug money laundering haven.
  According to the Albuquerque Journal, a joint Federal/State 
investigation of Dan Lasater's drug activities was called off for 
political reasons. Eventually Lasater was convicted of possession and 
distribution of cocaine. He served 10 months of a 30 month prison 
sentence, but did not spend one day in prison. He was later pardoned by 
then-Governor Clinton. Congress and the American people need to know 
whether or not Ms. Thomasson was aware of Lasater's drug use and 
whether or not then-Governor Clinton was aware of this when the State 
bond contracts were awarded to Lasater and Company, and the American 
people deserve to know why Bill Clinton would pardon a convicted drug 
distributor who made substantial contributions to his campaign.
  There was also another case similar to that of Mr. Dennis Patrick. 
Lasater and Company traded Treasury futures for First American Savings 
and Loan of Oak Brook, Ill. First American lost $361,000 of depositors' 
money through these trades, which First American's head claimed were 
traded without their permission.
  First American was seized by Federal regulators in 1986. The 
regulators pursued a pending lawsuit that First American had filed 
against Lasater. The Rose Law Firm handled this suit on behalf of the 
Federal Government, and superlawyer Hillary Clinton and Vincent Foster 
worked on this case. The suit, which was originally for 3.3 million, 
was settled for $200,000. It was a serious conflict of interest for 
Hillary Clinton to be handling this lawsuit. Dan Lasater, who was the 
primary target of the lawsuit, was a personal friend and supporter of 
her husband. One certainly has to wonder how hard Hillary worked to 
obtain as much money as possible from Mr. Lasater.


          questionable loans to Clinton while he was governor

  According to the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the 
Associated Press (AP), then-Governor Clinton borrowed between $220,000 
and $400,000 in the mid-1980s to promote his legislative agenda as 
Governor of Arkansas. White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers said 
that the money was used for travel and legislation-related events. The 
White House has said that most of the money to repay these loans came 
from individual donors who were not connected with corporate interests. 
However, AP has reported that Tyson Foods, Inc. and TCBY Enterprises, 
Inc. were among the donors.
  We need to know specifically what the loans were used for, who the 
donors were, and whether or not any of the donors received special 
favors from the Legislature or from then-Governor Clinton. I wrote to 
the President on July 14, 1994, asking for answers to these and other 
questions that have been raised in response to the press reports. To 
date I have received no response.


               criminal probes in whitewater pigeonholed

  President Clinton appointed Paula Casey as United States Attorney for 
the Eastern District of Arkansas (Little Rock). She had worked on the 
Clinton/Gore campaign in 1992, and her husband was appointed to a state 
job in Arkansas when Bill Clinton was governor.
  A criminal referral from Jean Lewis, a Resolution Trust Corporation 
(RTC) investigator who investigated the failed Madison Guaranty Savings 
and Loan, was on Paula Casey's desk waiting for action when she became 
U.S. Attorney. This referral, which was made in September of 1992, 
stated that over $100,000 in Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan funds 
were illegally funneled into the Whitewater Development Corporation to 
pay the company's bills. President Clinton and his wife were two of the 
four principal investors in Whitewater. Ms. Lewis identified at least a 
dozen companies that siphoned Madison funds to Whitewater. The Clintons 
were identified as ``potential beneficiaries'' of this scheme.
  In September of 1993, Jean Lewis at the RTC filed a second criminal 
referral charging that Madison had illegally diverted $60,500 to 
Clinton's 1984 gubernatorial campaign. Her referral charged that the 
campaign was an alleged participant in the illegal conspiracy. The 
referral also contained additional information on the relationship 
between Madison and Whitewater Development Corporation.
  In October of 1993, Paula Casey formally declined to investigate the 
first criminal referral. After the second criminal referral had been 
reported in the press, reported in the press, Paula Casey recused 
herself from the case. Because of Paula Casey's close relationship with 
President Clinton, she should have immediately recused herself from 
both referrals. The fact that she didn't raises questions about why she 
let the first referral languish for so long.
  On November 10, 1993, Jean Lewis was removed from the Madison/
Whitewater case because of an alleged personality conflict with an 
attorney on the case. On February 2, 1994, after both of her criminal 
referrals were made public. Ms. Lewis was visited by April Breslaw, an 
RTC attorney from Washington, D.C. Ms. Lewis tape recorded this 
meeting. During the meeting, Ms. Breslaw pressured her to change her 
conclusions about Madison and Whitewater. Furthermore, Ms. Breslaw said 
that people at the top (of RTC) would be happier if they had answers to 
the Whitewater questions that would get them off the hook. Ms. Lewis 
said that two of the head people Ms. Breslaw was talking about were RTC 
Deputy Chief Executive Officer Jack Ryan, and RTC General Counsel Ellen 
Kulka. Both Mr. Ryan and Ms. Kulka worked directly under then-Deputy 
Treasury Secretary Roger Altman, the RTC's acting Director and a close 
friend of the President. Ms. Lewis is now seeking redress under the 
Federal Government's whistleblower law.
  At the time the first criminal referral from Jean Lewis at the RTC 
was gathering dust on Paula Casey's desk, Paula Casey was negotiating 
with David Hale. Mr. Hale was the head of Capital Management Services, 
Inc., a small business investment company. According to the Wall Street 
Journal, among the bad loans he was under investigation for were 
$300,000 to a company controlled by Susan McDougal, a Whitewater 
partner with her husband and the Clintons. Some $110,000 of this loan 
may have ended up in the Whitewater account. Mr. Hale told reporters 
that he was pressured by then-Governor Clinton to make the loan to Mrs. 
McDougal. Mr. Hale was a former municipal court judge appointed by Bill 
Clinton.
  Mr. Hale's attorney, Randy Coleman, entered into negotiations with 
Paula Casey to obtain a plea bargain. Mr. Coleman asked Paula Casey to 
recuse herself from this case because of the obvious conflict of 
interest that would be present on her part. Since Mr. Hale was willing 
to provide additional information on the case to assist in undercover 
operations, I am concerned about the possibility that Paula Casey may 
have refused to consider his request because of the obvious political 
implications of the information he would provide. Paula Casey 
eventually recused herself from the case in November of 1993, but by 
that time Mr. Hale had been publicly indicted and thus would not have 
been useful to any undercover operations.
  We need to find out if President Clinton or other members of his 
administration sought to influence the actions of Pauls Casey and the 
RTC with respect to Jean Lewis' criminal referrals and David Hale's 
plea bargain request. The above mentioned situations I think already 
represent a clear conflict of interest on the part of Paula Casey, but 
I am concerned that it may go deeper than that.


                DOCUMENT SHREDDING AT THE ROSE LAW FIRM

  Jeremy Hedges, a part-time courier at the Rose Law Firm, told a grand 
jury that he was told to shred documents from the files of Vincent 
Foster after Robert Fiske had announced that he would look into Mr. 
Foster's death (Fiske was appointed as Independent Counsel on January 
20, 1994). It is still illegal to destroy such evidence even before a 
subpoena is issued. Hedges said that none of the documents that he saw 
and shredded related to Whitewater. However, another Rose employee told 
the Washington Times that documents showing the Clintons' involvement 
in Whitewater had also been ordered destroyed. The shredding reportedly 
occurred on February 3, 1994.
  During the 1992 presidential campaign, three current or former Rose 
employees said that couriers from the Rose Law Firm were summoned to 
the Arkansas governor's mansion by Hillary Clinton, who personally 
handed over records to be shredded at the firm's downtown office. The 
shredding began after the New York Times reported on March 8, 1992, the 
involvement of Governor Clinton and his wife in Whitewater Development 
Corporation. The shredding continued through the November 3 general 
election. During the presidential campaign, the Clintons said that the 
Whitewater records had disappeared. We need to find out which documents 
were shredded, why they were shredded, and who ordered this to be done.


                        governor jim guy tucker

  Jim Guy Tucker succeeded Bill Clinton as Governor of Arkansas and was 
elected Governor for a full 4-year term this year. Previously he served 
as the Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas. Like President Clinton, he has 
been involved in several questionable business deals with James 
McDougal that contributed to the demise of Madison Guaranty Savings and 
Loan.
  According to press reports, the RTC has subpoenaed documents from 
Governor Tucker's businesses going back over a decade, the RTC is 
pursuing fraud claims against him, and has named him in a criminal 
referral to the Justice Department. The press has also reported that 
Governor Tucker is a possible target for indictment in the Independent 
Counsel's of Madison's failure.
  Mr. Tucker borrowed over $1.25 million from Madison, amazingly 
without even filling out loan applications or making down payments. He 
told the Little Rock Democrat-Gazette, ``I called Jim McDougal if I 
wanted to borrow money.'' When Federal regulators seized Madison, Mr. 
Tucker's $1 million loan for a sewer system was one of the largest 
delinquent loans on Madison's books. We need to find out to what extent 
Mr. Tucker's bad loans contributed to the failure of Madison.
  Mr. Tucker also borrowed over $750,000 from David Hale's Capital 
Management Services, Inc. However, Capital Management Services was 
licensed by the U.S. Small Business Administration only to lend to 
socially or economically disadvantaged small business owners. The key 
question is why Mr. Tucker, who became a millionaire through the cable 
television business, was borrowing money from a company that was only 
allowed to lend to disadvantaged persons. David Hale has also accused 
Mr. Tucker of pressuring him to make bad loans.


                               conclusion

  I am hopeful that the issues I have raised will be thoroughly 
investigated by the Independent Counsel, Mr. Starr, and by the House 
and Senate. Contrary to what supporters of the President have said, 
those of us who advocate a compete and thorough investigation of 
Whitewater are not on a political fishing expedition. We simply want to 
know the facts. If the President and members of his administration had 
answered all of the questions that have been raised so far, perhaps 
Whitewater would be far behind us now. Let us hope that this will all 
be dealt with by the Independent Counsel and Congress this coming year 
so that the American people can regain confidence in their Government 
and so that we in Congress may devote our attention to other crucial 
issues facing our country.

                          ____________________