August 10, 1995 - Part 2
August 10, 1995 - Part 2
(12:10:39) Mr. NUSSBAUM. I just told you, Senator, I would have been delighted to have seen the scraps of paper. I wanted to find it more than anyone else on the earth at that time. We had a funeral the next day. People did not know why Vince died. There was absolutely no reason for me not to want to discover the scraps of paper, to put them together, to see that handwritten list. I wanted it, I wanted it for my sake, I wanted for the White House's sake, I wanted it for Lisa Foster's sake. Mr. MURKOWSKI. I understand. Mr. NUSSBAUM. So all the speculation and all this paranoia, if I can use it, is misconceived. It's wrong. Mr. MURKOWSKI. Well, I appreciate your recollection of it as com pared to the recollection of other witnesses before the Committee who claim obviously a different version and have given testimony to this Committee of such. 1350 Now, we've had testimony from Mr. Foster's secretary that she saw something yellow in the briefcase. Bill Burton saw* yellow paper in the briefcase. I can't understand how, you know, cavalierly, we could have a situation where you put your hands in the' briefcase, took out the files, and at some other time didn't look back in the briefcase. You didn't allow anybody else to look in the briefcase. Nobody else asked and you didn't. Mr. NUSSBAUM. No, I didn't prevent anybody from looking at the briefcase. Mr. MURKOWSKI. Nobody asked? Mr. NUSSBAUM. Nobody asked. If somebody said, open the briefcase, I want to look in the bottom, of course I would have done that, absolutely I would have done that. I had no reason not to do that, Senator. There was no conceivable reason why 1 would not want to find those scraps of paper that day. That's why all these recollections are almost beside the point. Some of them are inaccurate, I believe, but they are besides the point. I wanted to find a note that day. I wanted to find scraps of paper that day. And when I found them, or when Steve Neuwirth found them on the 26th, we were happy because now we had an insight into what was bothering Vince, and I would have liked that insight before I flew away to Arkansas the next morning, the 23rd, to go to Vince's funeral. Mr. MURKOWSKI. My last question. Mr. Nussbaum, you remember Michael Spafford, the Foster family attorney, told this Committee that on the afternoon of the 22nd, after law enforcement officials had left Mr. Foster's office, that Cliff Sloan had picked up the briefcase, was looking into it, and told you. that there were scraps of paper in the briefcase and he testified that you essentially said, quote "Don't worry about it." Now, I gather you don't remember that conversation either? Mr. NUSSBAUM. Nor does Cliff Sloan, and Cliff Sloan is a person with a photographic, a phonographic memory, I'll use the word phonographic memory, as well as photographic memory, and he I think would remember that conversation. Obviously memory is playing tricks on some of us. Mr. MURKOWSKI. And it is on Mr. Spafford as well? Sloan and Mr. NUSSBAUM. I don't think it's playing tricks on Mr. myself; I think in this instance, it's playing tricks on Mr. Spafford, who is a good, decent, and honest person and I'm sure he's telling his best recollection as he sees it. Neither Sloan nor I remember that conversation. Mr. MURKOWSKI. In your opinion, is the note that was found, Mr. Foster's note, is that a suicide note, or does that note really reflect on the circumstances that were bothering Mr. Foster with regard to the Travelgate issue, in your best opinion? Mr. NUSSBAUM. In my best opinion, it's a list of things that were clearly bothering Mr. Foster in this timeframe. It reflected a lot of anguish, especially the last line and the reference to The Wall Street Journal editorials. It's probably not a suicide note, but it is a list of things reflecting despair and anguish. It is the kind of thing, that if I had found on the 22nd, and believe me, I wish I had, if I had found on the 22nd, I would have turned over immediately to law enforcement authorities. 1351 Mr. MURKOWSKI. There was a period of time when you found the note and kept the note, Mr. NUSSBAUM, That's correct. Mr. MURKOWSKI. So you really didn't mean to turn it over immediately because you kept them over night? Mr. NUSSBAUM. I would have turned it over immediately on the 22nd, because that was my agreement with law enforcement authorities if we found something like that to do it. But when it was found on the 26th, and I saw it, I believed that Lisa Foster and the President should have an opportunity to see it because, as I said, common decency, and I didn't see any harm in waiting 24 hours before turning it over and letting them see it before it gets into the press. Mr. MURKOWSKI. Well, but it clearly wasn't immediate, because you found it Monday early afternoon and didn't turn it over until late Tuesday? Mr. NUSSBAUM. Correct, Senator, for the reasons Mr. MURKOWSKI. And finally- Mr. NUSSBAUM. -for the good and sufficient reasons I gave. Mr. MURKOWSKI. I understand. Finally, in your best opinion, knowing Mr. Foster, this in your opinion, the note in question was not a suicide note? Mr. NUSSBAUM. Yes, it was not a suicide note. It doesn't say, goodbye cruel world.