Death of American Virtue - Ken Gormley [479]
“it was a sad day”: Bill Clinton, interview by author.
“absolutely devastated”: William Kennedy III, interview by author.
But the Office of the Independent: One confidential witness indicated that Hubbell had over-billed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Resolution Trust Corporation in a matter involving Madison Savings & Loan, providing grist for those who speculated that there was some linkage to the now-resurrected Whitewater controversy (Robert B. Fiske, interview by author).
“little blood loss”: Russell Watson, “Vince Foster’s Suicide: The Rumor Mill Churns,” Newsweek, 21 Mar. 1994, 32–33.
Christopher Ruddy, a journalist who wrote: Richard Brookhiser, review of The Strange Death of Vincent Foster: An Investigation, by Christopher Ruddy, New York Times, 28 Sept. 1997, 13; 60 Minutes, CBS, 8 Oct. 1995, transcript, 4–8.
“claims that Vince Foster was”: Watson, “Vince Foster’s Suicide,” 32–33.
“It was absolutely”: Joe Purvis, interview by author.
Contributing to the incessant rumors: Peter Baker, “One Death Altered Path of Presidency,” Washington Post, 20 July 1998, A1. Ultimately, the Supreme Court supported Hamilton’s position, concluding that the attorney-client privilege survived Foster’s death and that Foster likely would never have consulted with his attorney if he had not been assured that the conversations were privileged. Walter Pincus, “Starr Says Dead Men Should Tell Tales,” Washington Post, 24 May 1998, C2.
pledging to complete: Fiske Final Report/ Madison, 12, 19–20, 21–26.
The questioning would take: Robert B. Fiske, interview by author; Woodward, Shadow, 261–62.
“He could have me there”: Bill Clinton, interview by author.
“I don’t think”: Robert B. Fiske, interview by author.
“would pose a severe risk”: James A. Leach, “A Chilling Effect,” Wall Street Journal, 14 Mar. 1994, in Whitewater: A Journal Briefing, ed. Robert L. Bartley, 253, 254.
“I am concerned”: Leach, “A Chilling Effect,” 254; Ann Devroy, “Leach Urges Keeping Focus in Whitewater Inquiry,” Los Angeles Times, 28 Mar. 1994, 16.
likewise chastised: Helen Dewar and Ann Devroy, “Senate Leaders Make Whitewater Hearings Deal,” Washington Post, 18 Mar. 1994, A1.
“congressional hearings on any”: Helen Dewar, “Fiske, Hill Negotiate on Hearings: Whitewater Counsel Gets GOP Senators to Adjust Time Line,” Washington Post, 10 Mar. 1994, 1 (emphasis added).
special prosecutor Archibald Cox had fought: Ken Gormley, Archibald Cox: Conscience of a Nation, 269–74; Ken Gormley, “Impeachment and the Independent Counsel: A Dysfunctional Union,” Stanford Law Review 51 (1999): 309, 338–39.
Cox had gone: Gormley, Archibald Cox, 339. The usual dangers posed by intermingling federal prosecutions with congressional inquiries—pretrial publicity, leaks of grand jury information, and other problems that could sink a prosecution—had prompted Cox to avoid this trap. The fact that Congress had granted Dean “use immunity” made it doubly important for Cox to segregate his own evidence to keep the matters separate. Cox’s successor Leon Jaworski, in limiting his interaction with Congress, worried primarily about the danger of pretrial publicity and securing a fair trial for President Nixon if the embattled Nixon was ever criminally prosecuted (Gormley, “Impeachment and the Independent Counsel,” 339).
Fiske rode: Stephen Brill, “Anonymity and Dignity,” American Lawyer, Sept. 1994, 5.
“committed suicide by firing”: Woodward, Shadow, 262.
“We hope these rumor”: Statement by Special Counsel to the President Lloyd Cutler on the Independent Counsel Report, 30 June 1994.
took to the Senate floor: Toni Locy, “Lunch Among ‘Old Friends’ Causes Latest Whitewater Ripple,” Washington Post, 24 Aug. 1994.
Faircloth also publicly rebuked: Howard Schneider, “Judge Met Sen. Faircloth Before Fiske Was Ousted;