Later that morning, Foster walked into Nussbaum's office, where Nussbaum was watching television coverage of two events: the Freeh nomination and Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Supreme Court confirmation hearings. Nussbaum was exuberant about both nominations. He said to Foster, "We hit two home runs today." Foster seemed distracted and his response was markedly understated.
At approximately 12:00 noon, Foster asked Linda Tripp, an Executive Assistant to Nussbaum, to get him lunch from the cafeteria. A short time after Tripp went to the cafeteria, Thomas Castleton, an employee in the Counsel's Office, arrived at the cafeteria and told Tripp that Foster had sent him to find out what was taking so long. Tripp delivered Foster's lunch and added some M & M's to the tray. Foster sat on the couch in his office and ate his lunch while reading the newspaper. At about 1:00 p.m., he came out of his office holding his suit jacket, without a briefcase. He told Tripp that there were still some M & M's on the tray if she wanted them. He said, "I'll be back," and then left.
Foster did not return to the White House. A number of people tried unsuccessfully to reach him by telephone. C. Brantley Buck, Foster's former partner at the Rose Law Firm, called to discuss finalizing work that Buck had been doing to set up a blind trust for the Clintons. Foster, who was acting as Buck's contact point at the White House, was supposed to have the Clintons sign some documents to complete the process. Buck stated that there was nothing about the blind trust that would have provided a source of concern to Foster, nor did Foster ever express any such concern.
James Lyons called to finalize plans for his meeting with Foster, scheduled for the following day. Gordon Rather, an attorney from Little Rock, called to discuss a routine matter regarding the American Board of Trial Advocates. A number of people within the White House also tried to reach Foster to discuss ongoing White House projects with which Foster was involved.
We have been unable to determine where Foster went following his departure from the Counsel's Office at about 1:00 p.m. We have also been unable to determine with certainty when Foster entered Fort Marcy Park. One motorist traveling on the George Washington Memorial Parkway saw a Japanese-made car driven by a white male swerve from the left lane of the Parkway into Fort Marcy Park some time between 2:45 and 3:00 p.m. on the afternoon of July 20. When interviewed shortly after Foster's death, the motorist told the Park Police that he recalled that the license plate on the car was from either Arkansas or Ohio. When he was recently shown pictures of Foster's car, the motorist stated that he did not believe that it was the car he saw on July 20 because the license plate he saw identified the State in the lower right hand corner of the plate. (2)
Another man stated that he drove into Fort Marcy Park between 4:15 and 4:30 p.m. He observed two cars in the parking lot of the Park at that time. He described one as a brown Japanese made car with an Arkansas license plate. When shown photographs of Foster's car, he stated that the car he saw appeared darker in color and more compact. He stated that nobody was in the car, but there was a man's suit jacket folded over the passenger seat of the car. He recalls that the car was parked in one of the first spaces on the left side of the lot, which is where the Park Police found Foster's car following his death. The Park Police also found Foster's suit jacket draped over the front passenger seat of his car.
(1) Nothing of significance to the issues
of this Report occurred during that meeting.
(2) In recent years, only the State
of Montana has a license plate that identifies the State in the
lower right corner.