Among those matters was Foster's role in arranging for the Clintons' accounting firm to prepare Whitewater tax returns for the years 1990-92. We have reviewed all of the Whitewater-related documents from Mr. Foster's files that were delivered to the Clinton's personal attorney after his death. However, Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure precludes us from disclosing the content of these documents since they were obtained by grand jury subpoena.
Those who worked in the White House during the first half of 1993 all stated that Whitewater was not an issue of any significance within the White House during that period. The issue had received virtually no attention in the press since the spring of 1992, during the Presidential campaign. As one person put it, Whitewater issues were "not on the screen" at that time. It was not until October 1993, three months after Foster's death, when it was disclosed that the Resolution Trust Corporation had issued criminal referrals involving Madison Guaranty and Whitewater, that the matter again received prominent public attention.
Each of Foster's co-workers, friends and family whom we questioned was explicitly asked whether Foster had ever mentioned Whitewater or Madison Guaranty related matters as a cause of concern or distress.(1) According to each of these people, Foster had never expressed any concern about these matters.
Questions have also been raised regarding whether a warrant authorizing the FBI to search the premises of CMS played a role in Foster's suicide. The search warrant was issued by the Federal District Court in Little Rock, Arkansas, on the afternoon of July 20, 1993, the date of Foster's death. However, the search warrant was not made public until it was executed, on July 21, after Foster's death. We have investigated to determine whether Foster learned of the search warrant prior to his death and have found no evidence that he did. In fact, only a limited number of individuals in the Little Rock U.S. Attorney's Office, the Little Rock FBI Office and the Court had any knowledge of the warrant prior to its execution.
Obviously, the fact that Foster never expressed a concern about Whitewater or Madison to anyone does not mean that he did not, in fact, have such a concern. Thus, we cannot conclusively rule out such a concern as a possible contributing factor to his depression. What we can conclude is that there is no evidence that he did have such a concern against a background in which Whitewater/Madison issues were neither a matter of expressed concern in the White House, nor the subject of media attention. (2)
(1) These questions were asked under
circumstances where a false statement would be prosecutable under
Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001.
(2) In addition to completing tax returns
on Whitewater, Foster also participated in creating a blind trust
for the Clintons, completing their personal 1992 income tax returns,
and fulfilling their financial disclosure requirements. There
is no evidence that these matters were a contributing cause of
Foster's distress.