Supreme Court Revives Clintons' Vince Foster Scandal

NewsMax.com ^ | Monday, May 5, 2003 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[Jean S]

Are Bill and Hillary Clinton sweating now that the Supreme Court today revived the controversy over Vince Foster's death?

Urged by the Bush administration, the court said it would decide in autumn whether the government must release post-mortem pictures of the Clinton White House attorney's "suicide."

At stake is "the privacy interest of millions of individuals, about whom personal and sensitive information is stored in government files," Solicitor General Theodore Olson told the court.

Olson insisted that five investigations had showed Foster killed himself and that a sixth inquiry "by an unsatisfied private citizen" seemed unnecessary. But for the whole story, see Christopher Ruddy's "The Strange Death of Vincent Foster."

Accuracy in Media, a public interest group that maintained Foster's suicide note was a forgery, filed a request with Park Police seeking autopsy photographs and photos of Foster's body at Fort Marcy Park in McLean, Va.

The government refused, and a federal appeals court in Washington agreed. The court claimed the pictures were exempted from the mandatory disclosure provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.

AIM said it wanted the photos to uncover "government foul play," but unless the group had compelling evidence there was not enough reason to justify an invasion of privacy, the appeals court said.

Attorney Allan J. Favish, who represented AIM, then filed his own FOIA request with the independent counsel's office to obtain the photos. When the office refused, Favish filed suit in federal court in Los Angeles.

Though a federal judge again said that there was no evidence justifying the invasion of privacy, a divided appeals court panel reversed and said evidence was not necessary.

When the case was sent back to trial court, the judge, under the appeals court's guidance, ordered the release of five of the 10 photographs of Foster's body, including one that had been published in Time magazine.

The government, joined by members of Foster's family, appealed. This time, an appeals court panel ordered the release of nine of the 10 photos. When the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, with headquarters in San Francisco, refused to hear the case, the government asked the Supreme Court for review.

[Yeti]

does it have anything to do with airplanes airports central america and a certain attny general turned gov turned pres and a certain alphabet man?

I can't figure out what your post menas..er...means.

[fml]

Whatch talking about?

[GrandMoM]

THE SIX MONTH LATE BLIND TRUST
One of the requirements imposed on the Presidency is that the personal wealth of the first family be placed in a blind trust for the term of office.

The reasons for this step should be obvious. The first family, with access to inside information, is in a position to personally profit from that information. There's a name for that. It's called "insider trading" and its a crime.

The reason that the trust is "blind", with the first family unaware of just exactly how their funds are invested, is to prevent awareness of personal welfare from influencing matters of National Policy.

Since its inception, each President has had the blind trust completed and in the hands of a trustee at inauguration time., as required.

With one exception.

The trust declarations for Bill Clinton's assets were not delivered to the trustee's office on Inauguration Day. Or the day after. Or the day after that, or the next week, or the week after that, or the next month, or the month after that!

On July 20th, 1993, six months to the day after Bill Clinton vowed to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution, the trust declarations still languished, unfinished, on the desk of the man tasked to complete them, White House Deputy Council Vincent W. Foster.

It is a minor but salient point that the blind trust is considered the President's personal business, to be completed with his own lawyer prior to assuming office. As Vincent Foster was part of the White House staff, and paid for by the taxpayer, it was inappropriate for him to be working on Clinton's personal business. Admittedly a technical matter, but germaine.

But, appropriate or not, Foster had the job of completing the six month late trust declarations.

What is a trust declaration? A trust declaration is a list. A list of assets. A house. A condo. These bank accounts. Those stocks. The Clintons do not claim to be exceptionally wealthy compared to other presidents. Indeed, the Clinton's public posture is of relative poverty. Why then would a simple listing of their assets drag on for six months?

Vincent Foster, the man tasked with making up that list of assets and submitting them, delayed completion for 6 months. Why?

There is only one way that a list of assets can have a problem, and that's if the list is incomplete, or fraudulent. As the preparer, had Vincent Foster submitted trust declarations he knew to be incomplete or fraudulent, he would face criminal prosecution were the fraud uncovered.

That the trust does not include all the Clinton assets was revealed by Carolyn Huber's testimony regarding a file cabinet in the private residence with (among other items) paperwork on the Clinton's "condo", an asset which should be under the care of the trustees.

What assets would not be in the trust, and why?

Assets whoes origins don't bear close scrutiny, for one. With recent revelations of highly questionable donations from Lippo Group, money laundering through a California Buhddist Temple, and four dead 1992 Clinton Campaign fundraisers, the reports of cash flowing from the CIA's gun and drug operation at Mena airport gain credability. It's certain that such tainted assets would not look good on the trust declarations. That Clinton took cash from at least two drug criminals is now proven fact.

The Clintons, in particular Hillary, have a prior history of highly questionable stock and commodities trading practices, of which "Cattle-gate" is the most famous. A lesser well known fact is that during the abortive health care reform, Hillary Clinton made a small profit by short-selling pharmaceutical stocks. That's insider trading, its illegal, and its the very activity the blind trust (still incomplete at the time) was intended to prevent.

Knowing that the trust is fraudlent, and knowing that Foster was in a position to know of the fraud, his obvious reluctance to complete the declarations becomes understandable. Were the fraud ever revealed, Foster himself would face jailtime. Resignation would be preferable.

That Foster's resignation would have been a problem is clear. It would have brought even more attention to the already late blind trust and what it contained, or to be more accurate, what it didn't contain.

In the days before Foster's murder, both Webster Hubbell and Marsha Scott had long private meetings with Vincent Foster. Marsha admitted to the press that Vincent was struggling with a decision. What that decision was is never explained, as her entire FBI interview was redacted on the grounds of "National Security".

Had Foster resigned, and the trust declarations been submitted anyway on the paperwork he had worked on, the same self-preservation that led him to resign would have forced him to speak out.

Had that happened, and an investigation into the blind trust resulted, the money trail through the Clintons to ADFA, and back to Mena, would have been laid bare.

But what actually occured is that on the day before his scheduled meeting with Bill Clinton, Vincent Foster's body was found in Fort Marcy Park.

The official explanation is that Foster inserted a .38 revolver into his mouth and pulled the trigger, without getting any of his fingerprints or his blood on the gun, or bullet fragments or powder from that gun in his wounds. A dubious claim, to say the least.

Three days after Vincent Foster's murder, the much delayed trust declarations were delivered to the trustee's office. The paperwork carried Vincent Foster's signature. Whoever completed those papers remains a mystery, but one thing is clear. The paperwork and records for the blind trust had to have been among the boxes of records looted from Vincent's office prior to its being sealed by the investigating officers.

That proves that the blind trust documents were of paramount importance to whoever directed the looting of Vincent Foster's office!

Which connects it to the murder.

[mass55th]

"President Bush had plenty of opportunity to do so. He has avoided it."

Gee, when did you want him to pursue this? Right after the terrorist attacks on our country, and in between the war in Afghanistan, or the war on terrorism, or trying to get a tax cut through Congress, or trying to get his judicial nominees approved, or running a war in Iraq?

Yeah, I guess President Bush should have put all of these other items on ice until he dealt with bringing down the Clintons. Glad to see where your priorities are.

[ChemistCat]

It would have been nice if the extent of deliberate damage done to the White House by those juvenile delinquents hadn't been smoothed over. That was pre-9/11. I agree with you that he has other priorities now, but...I beg your pardon for daring to have a thought other than terroristic threats against my nation....

[mass55th]

History will deal with the Clintons and it won't be pretty. While I'd like to see them get theirs, I don't believe that it was Bush's responsibility to do this, especially not within the first year of his term of office. I remember how most of us were appalled when the first thing Clinton did after taking office was issuing his "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rule. How would it have looked (especially after the recount fiasco & Supreme Court battle) for Bush to pursue the Clinton's shortly after he took office? I would hate to think how the press would have portrayed that. Part of the reason Bush is so popular is because he isn't like the Clintons...vindictive. People can see the difference between them. The Senate had the opportunity to convict Clinton and get rid of him. They failed to do their Constitutional duty. I think you have more of an argument with them than you do President Bush on this issue.

[ChemistCat]

No doubt about it.

But I still won't be forgetting stacks of porn, printed at taxpayer expense, being left in printers for the next administration, graffitti on the walls of America's house...everything they stood for, those Clinton people, symbolized more by THAT set of actions than anything else they did. Selling us out to China, trying to steal the elections...most of that stuff is very complicated, but vandalizing the White House on their way out was a pretty simple act of contempt for all of us.

[cars for sale]

bingo and I said that elsewhere two yrs ago
the same niceness is on display via Powell / Dubya.
both strong enuf alone or together to cover every base
in decency,intergrity,and COMPLETELY.

by having law supercede Olsen's niceness point, it
was as it ALWAYS WAS, law that rights any wrong.

Telling will be who yells loudest,that person(s) is
Hillary's mouthpiece sending trial balloons.

[sit-rep]

It's like he can't do two things at once...

[ChemistCat]

Sure he can. It's called delegating.

There are sound political reasons why he hasn't.

[Wondervixen]

Ask anyone in America how many people with whom they have been acquainted have committed suicide and you'll likely get an answer of at least one, but NOT likely more than two.

The Clintons have been acquainted with AT LEAST EIGHT people who have committed "suicide."

Suspicious???

Sure, but NOT to brainless liberals who'll lie to themselves till Hell freezes over before they'll admit to the obvious truth.

[giotto]

Foster knew too much about OKC

But Foster died in 1993--2 years before OKC.

[Old Professer]

If you're a Democrat, you do -- misery loves company, don't you know?

[adanaC]

Thanks for posting this JeanS

IT'S ABOUT TIME THIS HAPPENED! BUMP!!!

[Fred Mertz]

Foster knew too much about OKC....

I'm fairly certain that Cicero meant that Vincent Foster knew too much about Waco.

[b4its2late]

Thanks for the info. I knew something smelled.

[firewalk]

bttt

[sit-rep]

At times, I think the only difference between the two partys is the spelling.

[ChemistCat]

Yea verily!

[bruinbirdman]

Of 16 or 17 appeals brought by Ken Star, this is the only one the Toon won and Greta Van Cistern called correctly.

yitbos