July 25, 1995 - Part 2
July 25, 1995 - Part 2
(10:55:40) Senator BOND, Your assumptions were that they were not even concerned about looking for a note, They had told you they had not found a note, so you just assumed that they weren't really interested in finding out if there was a note in the office? Mr. WATKINS. No, sir, They did not express much concern about the office. I had known on the way over to the house-they mentioned that there was not a note at the scene, and sometime during the course of the evening, we discovered there was not a note at the house. I don't mean to say they were not interested in a note. They just didn't talk about the office. Senator BOND. Sergeant Braun, in her deposition and later in testimony before this Committee, at page 35 of her deposition said, "prior to my leaving, I asked that David Watkins have the office sealed." It's your testimony that she did not say that to you? Mr. WATKINS. It is my testimony that I do not recall such a request. Senator BOND. Mr. Webster Hubbell, when he testified before us, said that he heard the request, a request to seal the office made, and you're telling us that we should believe that Sergeant Braun was incorrect when she testified that she asked you? Senator SARBANES. Mr. Chairman, could Senator Bond phrase that question again. I don't recall that Hubbell testimony, if I understood his question. Senator BOND. Mr. Hubbell stated that he overheard a request to seal the office. I'm now asking Mr. Watkins if he contends that she did not ask that question? Mr. WATKINS. When I was here last week, Senator, waiting to testify, I watched on television some of Mr. Hubbell's testimony. I do not believe that he said that. I think what he said was that his wife and some other-a friend told him they thought he said something about the office should be locked and conveyed that to someone. Senator BOND. Either you or Mack? Mr. WATKINS. Either me or Mack McLarty, yes, Senator BOND. All right. Mr. McLarty. Going back to the testimony of Sergeant Braun, can you give us any reason why she would have fabricated this request or otherwise not told the truth about the request she made to you? Mr. WATKINS. No, Senator. I'm not saying that, but, again, I think that her partner, Detective Rolla, said that lie didn't hear her say that. If she said that, if she made that request, I didn't hoar her make that request. It was not in her reports following her re- ports of the scene--I mean of the investigation reports. It was not in Detective Rolla's investigation reports. So I do not recall her making such a request of me. Had she made a request, because it was my job to be a facilitator as part of Administration and Management, part of my functions, I think I would have done one of three things: One, I would have conveyed that, referred that to Mr. McLarty, the request, who was there at the house; or 1 would have asked someone in the Counsel's Office about that request; or I would have mentioned it to the Se- cret Service. Senator BOND. Mr. Watkins, we will have to draw our own infer- ences from the other testimony. We know, in the other testimony, 259 that Detective Rolla reported later that she related to him that she had requested. But you knew at the time that Mr. Foster had been engaged with you in the matter of Travelgate, for instance, which was a very upsetting question to you and Mr. Foster. Did you know if any of the files or the petty cash or the ledgers from the Travelgate investigations may have been in Mr. Foster's off-ice? Mr. WATKINS. No, sir, I did not know that. Senator BOND. You did not know whether any other information on Travelgate may have been in that office? Mr. WATKINS. No, sir, I did not.