The Suicide Of Vincent Foster

The latest meme trend against Hillary on Facebook is that a curious number of deaths mysteriously appear around the former First Lady every time the death in question was about to testify against her. Now, that's an odd accusation, because plenty of people with far more damning evidence have testified against her and emerged quite alive. That goes for Bill, too. So why would Hillary accrue a pile of bodies unnecessarily?

In a previous blog post, I delved into the recent death of former United Nations General Assembly President John Ashe. Some had claimed that Ashe's death was conveniently timed to thwart a testimony he was about to give against the Clintons. But his death turned out to not only be merely a freak accident, it had no connection to Hillary whatsoever, and barely even had a connection to her husband Bill. So, from my perspective, the accusation that Hillary is amassing a death count is batting 0 for 1 already. But actually, it's batting 0 for 2, because I previously investigated the suicide of Vincent Foster as well. No, not on this blog. It was many, many years ago.

Back then, I was a much younger man, a newly minted former Christian, and a young Republican. I had no love for the First Lady, or her Husband, but I knew that I had to at least treat the office of the President of the United States with respect (an attitude I find quite lacking in today's politics). I didn't have the Internet or Google to help me, but I was pretty mean with the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature, and I was the one who taught my high school librarian how to use the microfiche machine. I concluded, just like everyone else on the political Right did, that Foster did, in fact, commit suicide. It was the right conclusion.

Of great help to me at the time was a book by James B. Stewart called Blood Sport: The President and His Adversaries, which gave a detailed account of Vince Foster's background, his relationship with Hillary, and his subsequent suicide.

Hillary knew Vince Foster from her time at the Rose Law Firm in Arkansas, which she worked for from 1977 until her husband ran for President in 1992. She became the first female full partner of the firm. So when Bill and Hillary came to the White House, Foster came with them, and was named Deputy White House Counsel.

His tenure was a rocky one. Almost immediately the White House came under legal fire. An investigation was launched by Congress into the Whitewater scandal. Two nominees for Attorney General, Zoe Bard and Kimba Wood, were both shot down during their confirmation hearings due to revelations that both had employed illegal immigrants as nannies. Eventually, they confirmed Janet Reno, but having the top-tier of their legal team installed didn't smooth things over. Soon the Travelgate scandal broke, and it began to bog down the Clintons even more.

Witnesses to what happened leading up to Vincent Foster's suicide confirm that Hillary berated her former coworker at the Rose Law Firm mercilessly. In a meeting which took place about a week before he killed himself, she disagreed with a legal objection he made, and browbeat him fiercely in front of his coworkers, saying that he hadn't vetted their nominees properly, that he'd failed her, and that he wasn't protecting herself or her husband adequately.

With all the pressures that any young administration faces, the occasional outburst is understandable, and it's surprising they don't happen more often. But when Hillary, who had worked with and stood by Foster for so many years, tore him down in front of everyone, it cut him deeply in a way Hillary, who by her nature was overly perfectionist, was perhaps unaware of. Foster was already known to have a depressive personality, but those around him say that this tongue-lashing Hillary had given him was the last straw. On Tuesday, July 13, 1993, the night following that meeting, Vincent was having dinner with his wife Lisa, and broke down crying. He said that he was considering resigning.

The following weekend, the Fosters joined their friends, Michael Cardoza and Webster Hubbell and their wives for swimming and tennis. Vincent loved tennis, but everyone was concerned about his behavior that day, because he said he didn't feel like playing - something very much not like him. He merely sat away from everyone in a corner, apparently pretending to read a book, and staring off into space for long periods of time. The following Monday, Foster called his therapist, expressing he was having suicidal thoughts.

Then, the tragedy finally happened. Vincent showed up at the White House for work on the Tuesday morning of July 20th, looking even more sullen than usual. His briefcase probably contained the .38 caliber Smith & Wesson he would later kill himself with. He spent the morning drafting what was probably the outline notes for either his resignation or a suicide letter. Then he tore those notes up. The fragments would later be found by the FBI. Vincent left his office, ostensibly to go to lunch. He was seen by White House security cameras leaving the parking lot at 1:10 p.m.

He would never return. His body was found by police at 8:30 p.m. that evening in Fort Marcy Park, Virginia, just outside of D.C.

Numerous books have been written delving into the subject matter surrounding Vince Foster's death, but here's the highlights of what we know for certain. (And some of the things I list here I am doing from memory from my earlier investigation 20 years ago, but which I am quite confident I remembered correctly. You seldom forget things when they involve blood.)

1.) Six official investigations examined the evidence surrounding his death. All concluded that his death was, in fact, a suicide. One investigation was by the FBI, and another was led by independent investigator Robert Fiske, and another one by an independent investigator named Kenneth Starr, a Republican. He had no reason to hide anything that might damage a political opponent. The other investigations were by state and local police.
2.) The "second bullet wound" hypothesis is a myth. Foster shot himself under the chin with a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson revolver. The "kickback" created a second hole in his neck which was mistaken by one medical examiner as a small-caliber bullet hole. But this was shown not to be the case. No second exit wound existed. Kenneth Starr was satisfied with the coroner's explanation of this. His lead investigator, a man named Miguel Rodriguez, felt that this deserved further inquiry, citing the earlier medical reports, but Starr, knowing full well it was a wild goose chase, overruled him. Rodriguez, not having all the facts, resigned in protest. People still point to the inconclusive "evidence" Rodriguez cited as proof of a conspiracy theory.
3.) Vincent's body lacked a large pool of blood around it because he shot himself on a hillside with his head facing the top of the hill. The blood in his head drained out, but the remaining blood remained inside his body, downhill from the exit wound. This is why there was only a small blood stain, as one would reasonably expect.
4.) The first police officer to see the body insisted there was no gun in either hand. This was because the gun was found beneath the right hand.
5.) Foster was not about to testify to anybody. No testimony was slated to be given by him to any investigative committee following the date of his death.
6.) No suicide note or letter of resignation was ever found, but one would not be absolutely necessary for a death to be an actual suicide.

Now, that's what we know based on the facts. I will now engage in wild speculation, and I must emphasize that this is only my own hypothetical imagination. Take it or leave it.

1.) I believe Vincent Foster did, in fact, write a suicide note.
2.) I believe he sent that suicide note to Hillary Clinton.
3.) Some have speculated that Vincent Foster and Hillary Clinton had an affair. I don't believe they did. But I do think that Vincent Foster was in love with Hillary, and never told her. This is why her disapproval and harsh scolding wounded him so deeply, and drove him to suicide.
4.) I believe he confessed his love for her in his suicide note.
5.) I believe Hillary quite understandably burned it.
6.) I believe Foster's suicide note asked her to.

Now all that is just hypothetical. None of it should be taken all that seriously. But when I ask myself the question of why there was no suicide note, that particular hypothesis makes more sense than any other. There must have been a suicide note, because the draft of one was found torn up, but the note itself was never found. Why? The likeliest explanation for this is that Hillary must have received the suicide note. After all, she was his lawyer, and former coworker. If he were to send it to anybody, it would be her. Then, for some reason deeply personal to her and/or to Bill, she destroyed it. This seems the likeliest explanation for why it was never found. What was that deeply personal reason? Not Whitewater, although that bothered Vincent. Not Travelgate, although that bothered Foster even more. No, it must have been something even bigger, and more damaging. I highly doubt that there's anything in Hillary's public life that hasn't been raked over a hundred times or more, so that leaves only her private life. Vincent must have had a crush, but Hillary was too intimidating a woman for him to act on it. He followed Hillary like a little puppy dog from the Rose Law Firm for more reasons than merely the opportunity to work in the White House.

Am I right? Who knows? But it makes a kind of sense to me. But even if I'm wrong, Foster's death is still definitely a suicide. If there was a suicide note that didn't express love, it expressed something just as damaging. And if there was no suicide note, well then the official story line holds, no alterations needed.

That's my conspiracy theory. But unlike any true conspiracy theorist, you don't have to accept it. Am I excusing Hillary of murder by accusing her of hiding evidence from the FBI? Yes. But if I'm right, and Foster was in love with her, his suicide note would have begged Hillary to destroy it. After all, he couldn't face death knowing that his words might damage her.

What you do have to accept, because it's a goddamned fact, is that Foster committed suicide, and he was not about to testify against anybody. That much, at least, is certain.


Eric

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