July 29, 1994 - Part 4
July 29, 1994 - Part 4
(16:01:05) Senator KERRY. No one at any time suggested to you that you should find certain things or alter any conclusions you had drawn, did they? Mr. ROLLA. No. Ms. BRAUN. No, sir. Senator KERRY. And nothing that you have learned since, either through the Fiske investigation or through the FBI investigation, has altered one bit your early conclusion that this was a suicide? Is that accurate? Ms. BRAUN. That is accurate. It is confirmed. Senator KERRY, Thank you. The CHAIRMAN. Is that true for you, Mr. Rolla? Mr. ROLLA. Same for me. The CHAIRMAN. Very good. Senator Bennett. Senator BENNETT. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Rolla, I would like to go along the same path that Senator Bond did and take you through some of the statements you made during your deposition to get them on the record here. So I will read to you a statement from your deposition, giving you a page number, and ask if that is still your present understanding. This is at the scene. You are asking questions of official people, and your answer is: "No, after again, I did not know who he was, even being in the White House, I was not overly concerned. Like I said, a million people work in the White House, but until such time as it started picking up all these people, trail of people following us to the house, I realized this guy is fairly important. And when the President of the United States walked in, then it dawned on me. I realized the White House is going to do whatever they want to do." Is that pretty much what happened as you went through that circumstance, thinking Foster was just another White House staffer and then Mr. ROLLA. Well, obviously, I am not very politically savvy. I did not know who he was. He bad a White House pager and a White House I.D. and many people work at the White House have Arkansas tags. A lot of people came from Arkansas with the President. You are right, I did not know, and until an entourage started arriving at the house, and we started Finding out a little bit more, that Mr. Foster was more than a staffer or just an employee of the White House, a little higher official. And then, I guess I was dumbfounded when the President of the United States walked in, and I realized, oops. Senator BENNETT. Who would not be? I mean, I am not criticizing you. 89 Mr. ROLLA. I have worked Presidential detail and I have been around, but when he walked in the house, I realized that obviously this was a higher White House official and a friend, Senator BENNETT. And that is when you realized the White House was going to do whatever they wanted to do in your phrase now? Mr. ROLLA. Wait. Senator BENNETT. This has to do with the autopsy, Mr. ROLLA. No, you are talking about the autopsy, about them moving up. The CHAIRMAN. Senator Bennett, I think he, wanted to make a comment to clear up a misperception and I think he should have the chance to do that. Senator BENNETT. OK, fine. Mr. ROLLA. I just wanted him to clarify. I was not sure to what question I made that statement, that the White House can do whatever they want. I did say, yes, right as far as the autopsy was concerned, meaning if the White House wanted that autopsy moved up a day, they were going to get it. And people Keep looking at me, well, why? It is the White House, it is the President of the United States, the White House, do people find that odd? The CHAiRmAN. No, I do not find it odd. Mr. ROLLA. You know, they want something, they get it. [Laughter.] I mean, that is not--I do not find that odd. Senator BENNETT. Neither do I. Mr. ROLLA. I am sorry, I did not mean to be funny or- Senator BENNETT. OK, then I'll go on to page 135, you are asked the question: "Did you feel that the presence of White House or Government people made your investigation more difficult?" This is a slightly different question than the first one. And this was your answer. "I feel this way. Mr. Watkins and his wife, who played tennis with her earlier that day, they were obviously friends of the family. I had no problem with that. I feel too many other people came in there. I do not know who was who, but I later found out Web Hubbell, he spent the whole time on the phone like there were official things going on there. It made my job difficult because we were not given access as fully as we would have liked with Mrs. Foster." Is that an accurate statement?