July 29, 1994 - Part 2
July 29, 1994 - Part 2
(12:50:56) 48 The CHAiRmAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Monroe and thank you for your professionalism and your hard work in what is obviously a very difficult assignment. Dr. Hirsch, let me ask you, is it your professional opinion that Mr. Foster's death was a suicide? Dr. HIRSCH. Yes,, sir, absolutely. The CHAIRMAN. And Mr. Colombell, you participated with Mr. Monroe. I take it you associate yourself with his remarks and it's your professional opinion as well that this was a suicide? Mr. COLOMBELL. I do, Senator. The CHAIRmAN. Now, I'm going to reserve the balance of my time and we're going to a 7-minute question period here. Is there anybody on my side at this point that would wish to raise a question or make a point in the time I have remaining before I yield. Senator BOXER. I have I minute of questions. The CHAIRMAN. I yield 1 minute of my time to Senator Boxer. Senator BOXER. Yes, I would just like to state that Senator Hatch made a comment and I wish he was here. I think if anyone disagrees with the way I remember his point, he said that in his mind there was no question, after reading the report, that this was a suicide but that be said he didn't think that the Special Counsel did an assiduous enough job regarding the connection between the suicide and Whitewater. So I'd like to ask you one more time, Mr. Monroe, because as I understand it, you were the one who developed the state of mind evidence or you were one of the people. If you believe you did an assiduous enough job and you believe that there was no such connection. other than something in his mind that you had no way of knowing? Mr. MONROE. That's a two-part question. First of all, I am prepared to list in detail the manifestation of Vincent Foster's depression, and I can do that and I'd be glad to do so, Maam. The point about the Whitewater, I think, needs to be clarified, and I'd like to clarify that in two ways, Senator. We did not report that Whitewater played no role in Mr. Foster's suicide. We did report that based on all of our interviews that Mr. Foster never expressed a concern regarding this matter, and therefore, we have no evidence to this effect. I know, while -I might be repeating myself, we cannot conclusively rule out such a concern as a possible contributing factor to his illness. And while I'm repeating myself again, that although Whitewater today is of an intense media interest, at the particular time Mr. Foster was going through this depression, the spring and summer of 1993, it was not a media interest and was not according to our investigation, an interest of White House officials. Senator BOXER. But my question was simply do you feel you did a thorough enough investigation of this connection, of this possible connection? Mr. MONROE. Yes, ma'am. Senator BOXER- Or do you think you need to do more of an investigation? Mr. MONROE. No. I believe that we've done a thorough investigation. 49 The CHAIRMAN. Senator D'Amato. Senator D'AMATO, Mr. Monroe, on the day that Vince Foster took his own life, a search warrant obtained for David Hale's office in Arkansas, I believe, was issued; is that correct? Mr. MONROE. That's correct. Senator D'AMATO. Do you know when the paperwork for that search warrant was undertaken and how long it took? Did you interview people in the U.S, Attorney's Office to ascertain how long that took? Mr. MONROE. I'm not familiar with exactly how long it took, Senator. Senator D'AMATO. Did you interview people down there to see if there was any leak as it relates to that information being put out? Mr. MoNTRoE. I don't recall, Senator, how many people we interviewed but we uncovered no evidence to the effect that Mr. Foster was aware of the issuance of that particular search warrant. Senator D'AMATO. Mr. Hale's attorney called the White House or called Mr. Foster. There was some talk about that. If you have any information, I'd like to know about it. Mr. MONROE. I do not, Senator. Senator DAMATO, Has that been looked into? Mr. MONROE. Yes, sir. Senator D'AMATO, And we have no information with regard to that call from Mr. Hale's attorney? Mr. MONROE. I have no information in our investigation that there was any contact between Mr. Hale and Mr. Foster, Senator.