FINAL REPORT ON THE DEATH OF VINCENT FOSTER, JR.

FINAL REPORT ON THE DEATH OF VINCENT FOSTER, JR. (Summary)
(from The Congressional Record, June 30, 1994)

STATEMENT ON WASHINGTON, DC, INVESTIGATIONS, JUNE 30, 1994

The Washington, DC Office of the Independent Counsel has completed two separate investigations:

(1) An investigation to determine whether the cause of the death of Vincent W. Foster, Jr. was a suicide or a homicide, and if it was a suicide, whether any matter related to the Clintons' involvement in the Whitewater Development Company ('Whitewater'), Madison Guaranty Savings and Loan ('Madison Guaranty') or Capital Management Services ('CMS') played any role in his death; and

(2) An investigation to determine whether a criminal prosecution should be brought against anyone for obstruction of justice or a violation of any other federal statute for conduct arising out of a series of meetings and other contacts between White House and Treasury Department officials from September 1993 through March 1994.

A third investigation, to determine whether a criminal prosecution should be brought against anyone for obstruction of justice or a violation of any other federal statute for conduct involving the handling of Mr. Foster's documents in the White House immediately following his death, is in its final stages and should be completed shortly.

We announce today the results of the 2 completed investigations. We are satisfied that all of the issues involved in these investigations have been fully and thorougly investigated. In total, attorneys from this Office and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ('FBI') questioned 188 persons and reviewed and analyzed thousands of documents. Other investigative steps were also undertaken.

I am extremely grateful for the commitment and effort of the lawyers on my staff in Washington; Roderick C. Lankler, Mark J. Stein and Carl J. Stich, Jr., and the FBI agents who have worked with us, which has enabled us to conduct and complete these two investigations in a period of less than four months.

THE FOSTER DEATH INVESTIGATION

At this time, we are issuing a complete report on the death of Vincent Foster. This report concludes that on July 20, 1993, Mr. Foster committed suicide in Fort Marcy Park, Fairfax County, Virginia. The report lists a number of factors that may have contributed to his suicide, and finds no evidence that matters relating to Whitewater, Madison Guaranty or CMS played any role in his death. The investigation into Mr. Foster's death was not a grand jury investigation. It consisted of interviews by attorneys and FBI agents working with this Office, and of extensive forensic and pathological laboratory analyses. Accordingly, there are no grand jury secrecy restrictions on the public issuance of a full report, and we are making public such a report at this time. (FOOTNOTE 1) We will submit a copy of this report to the division of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia referred to in Title 28, United States Code, Section 49, as part of the report required by Title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 600.2(b)(1).

(FOOTNOTE 1) Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure provides, in relevant part, '(2) A grand juror, an interpreter, a stenographer, an operator of a recording device, a typist who transcribes recorded testimony, an attorney for the government, or any person to whom disclosure is made (pursuant to a specified exception) shall not disclose matters occurring before the grand jury, except as otherwise provided for in these rules. . . . A knowing violation of Rule 6 may be punished as a contempt of court.'

WHITE HOUSE/TREASURY CONTACTS INVESTIGATION

On February 24, 1994 Deputy Treasury Secretary Roger Altman disclosed in testimony before the Senate Banking Committee that he and Treasury General Counsel Jean Hanson had met with members of the White House staff on the subject of the Resolution Trust Corporation's ('RTC's') investigation of Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan ('Madison Guaranty'). In the days and weeks that followed that testimony, disclosure were made about additional meetings and contacts that occurred from September 1993 through February 1994 between Treasury representatives and White House staff on the subject of Madison Guaranty. Following these disclosures, Members of Congress, the press and other individuals raised questions about what occurred at these meetings and whether there was any attempt by members of the Administration to improperly influence the RTC investigation.

As a result of these disclosures and the issues that arose from them, this Office conducted a grand jury investigation to determine whether any Government official did anything during or following these contacts that amounted to obstruction of justice under the federal criminal laws.

The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether the evidence established that any of those contacts, viewed individually or collectively, amounted to a violation of law by anyone involved. A total of more than twenty different contacts, either face-to-face meetings or telephone conversations, were investigated. The investigation focused on whether in the course of any of these contacts, any individual obstructed justice, attempted to obstruct justice, or conspired with others to obstruct justice, as defined in Title 18, United States Code, Section 1505. That section provides, in pertinent part:

'Whoever corruptly influences, obstructs, or impedes or endeavors to influence, obstruct, or impede the due and proper administration of the law under which any pending proceeding is being had before any department or agency of the United States (s)hall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.'

After a review of all the evidence, we have concluded that the evidence is insufficient to establish that anyone within the White House or the Department of the Treasury acted with the intent to corruptly influence an RTC investigation. Therefore, the evidence of the events surrounding the contacts between the White House and the Treasury Department does not justify the prosecution of anyone for a violation of Section 1505. We have also concluded that the evidence does not justify a criminal prosecution for violation of any other federal statute.

Because this investigation was conducted almost entirely through the use of a federal grand jury sitting in the District of Columbia, we are precluded by Rule 6(e) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure from publicly disclosing anything more than the results of the investigation. We will submit a full report of this investigation to the Division of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia referred to in Title 28, United States Code, Section 49, pursuant to Title 28, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 600.2(b)(1).

In reaching this conclusion, this Office is not determining anything other than that the evidence does not justify a criminal prosecution. We express no opinion on the propriety of these meetings or whether anything that occurred at these meetings constitutes a breach of ethical rules or standards. Prior to the issuance of our grand jury subpoenas, Secretary of the Treasury Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr. had asked the Office of Government Ethics ('OGE') to conduct an investigation into these meetings. That investigation was suspended, at our request, when we began our investigation. We have advised Secretary Bentsen that we have completed our investigation, and we understand that the OGE investigation will now go forward.

Robert B. Fiske, Jr.,
Independent Counsel.

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.