MRS. CLINTON'S FINGERPRINTS ON BILLING RECORDS II

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD (House of Representatives)
Dan Burton (R-Ind.), May 10, 1996

Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, last week I spoke about the new revelations that Mrs. Clinton's fingerprints were found on the billing records found in the White House. These records had been under subpoena by the special prosecutor for over 2 years, and they could not be found, and they turned up in the private living quarters of the First Lady and the President.

Today I would like to expand on this topic and raise some of the many, many unanswered questions that remain to be resolved. According to the Washington Post, the documents that were found in the Clinton's personal residence were copies and not the originals. The originals disappeared during the campaign for President in 1992. This raises a very serious question: Where are the originals? Who has the originals? Why were they removed from the Rose law firm files and never replaced? They disappeared right after reporters started asking questions about the Whitewater Development Corp.

It is widely believed that the billing records were removed from the law firm by Vincent Foster . The copies found in the White House residence had handwritten notes in the handwriting of both Mr. Foster and the First Lady. It is now well known that after Mr. Foster 's death, a box full of documents were removed from his office and locked up in the Clinton's personal residence at the White House. This was done by Mrs. Clinton's chief of staff, Maggie Williams. We are told that the records, the Clinton's personal records, were later turned over to their lawyer, David Kendall, but the question remains, did these also include these phone records, these billing records, that were later found, 2 years later, up at the White House residence?

This also raises numerous other questions. Were the billing records in Vince Foster 's office before he died? Were they originals or were they copies? Did Maggie Williams, the First Lady's personal secretary, remove these billing records from his office and take them to the Clinton's residence along with the other information? Were either the originals or copies of the billing records turned over to Mr. Kendall with the Clinton's other personal records? Who else's fingerprints were found on these records?

It has been reported in Newsweek that Maggie Williams was recalled to testify before the grand jury after these records were turned over to the Independent Counsel. Here is a very interesting point: After the billing records were found in January, White House aides insisted to reporters that the records definitely did not come from Vince Foster's office. However, they also told reporters that they did not know how the records got into the personal residence of the First Lady and the President, and we are still trying to determine the chain of custody.

Now, if these White House aides had no idea how the records got into the personal residence in the first place, how could they be so sure they did not come from Vince Foster's office? The important thing to remember is that whoever knew that these records were in the White House and did not turn them over to the independent counsel is guilty of obstruction of justice. Whoever knew these records were in the White House and did not turn them over to the congressional committees that had subpoenaed them is guilty of contempt of Congress.

One more point: The Washington Post reported that David Kendall was called to the White House after the records were discovered. He and White House lawyer Jane Sherburne discussed the fact that the FBI would probably want to check the records for fingerprints. However, they went ahead after they may have had this discussion and photocopied every single page of the documents. Did these two lawyers intentionally make it more difficult for the FBI to obtain fingerprints from the pages of the documents by handling these documents and photocopying them?

It is very important to remember that these records contain information that casts serious doubts about Mrs. Clinton's sworn statements about her legal work for Madison Guaranty. There are two central questions that must be resolved: First, is it plausible that these records were found in Mrs. Clinton's personal residence, had her fingerprints on them, and her handwriting on them, and she had not seen them since 1992? Second, who has the originals of these billing records? These questions must be answered and answered very quickly.

This document is an unofficial version of the Congressional Record. The printed Congressional Record produced by the Government Printing Office is the only official version.