The Two Volume Report On The Foster Death Investigation

The the first of these documents was written by Kenneth Starr or by people working for Kenneth Starr.  We will call this document the "Starr Portion of the Official Report". 

The second document was written by John Clarke, the attorney for Patrick Knowlton a grand jury witness in the Foster matter.  We will call this document the "Knowlton Portion of the Official Report".

Kenneth Starr, coauthor of the official report on the Foster death

The Knowlton Portion of the Official Report contains information from the  prior investigations into the Foster death that casts serious doubt on the suicide finding.  

The Knowlton Portion of the Official Report raises questions that the Starr Portion avoided answering, showing quite clearly  that there is a cover-up of the facts surrounding the Foster death.  

Kenneth Starr did not like the Knowlton Portion of the Official Report and  vigorously attempted to suppress it.  The court overruled Starr and forced the Knowlton Portion of the Official Report be published along with the Starr Portion. 

Most people are surprised to find that there are two documents in the official report, and very surprised to hear that one of the documents contradicts the findings of the other.  They never knew the second document existed, much less had an inkling of its content.  

The reason few people know of the Knowlton Portion of the Official Report is because it's existence has never been reported on the news nor in any national newspaper.  The journalists who lauded the Starr Portion of the report for it's throughness and completeness never mentioned the other document.  

Here is an example: if you click here, you will be taken to a page on the Washington Post web site which has this lead in to the Starr Portion of the Official Report (emphasis added): 

This is the full text of the report on the 1993 death of White House counsel Vincent W. Foster, Jr., compiled by Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth Starr. After an exhaustive three-year investigation, Starr reaffirmed that Foster's death was a suicide. This file does not contain the report's footnotes or appendix. 

Kenneth Starr was very interested in the Knowlton Portion of the Official Report.  Starr was so interested in it that he made three attempts to quash the Knowlton material.  

The court overruled Starr and mandated that the Knowlton Material be included. 

Starr's objections to the inclusion of the Knowlton material was never reported either -- not surprisingly, as reporting on Starr's objections of including information in his report without mentioning what the information was would be a tough assignment. 

So how did the Knowlton material come to be in the official report? 

By law, "interested parties" may petition the court to obtain the sections of a report by the Independent Counsel which deal with them, then review and comment on those sections.  

The comments are then filed with the report itself. 

Since Patrick Knowlton was a grand jury witness in the Starr investigation into the Foster death Knowlton's attorney obtained portions of the Starr report, and he and Knowlton made comments on them.  Their comments consisted of material, most from official records, which they had gathered in the pursuit of Knowlton's lawsuit alleging that a cover-up occurred in the investigation of the Foster death. 

Starr was unhappy with the material submitted by Knowlton and his attorney, so unhappy that he objected to its inclusion in the official report. 

Starr personally objected by saying that Knowlton had not even been named in the report.  Starr's reasoning was that since Knowlton had not been named in Starr's report, he couldn't be considered an "interested party".  

Evidently the court found this a poor argument.  The courts reasonsing could be that it was Starr who had decided not to use Knowlton's name, not Knowlton.  

In his portion of the report, Starr referred to Knowlton via the moniker "C2".  The reason Starr gives for using monikers like "C1" and "C2" for witnesses was to protect the privacy of the witnesses.

Patrick Knowlton and attorney John Clarke at a press conference announcing the Knowlton Lawsuit.

However, since Knowlton had held a press conference announcing his lawsuit alleging a cover-up in the Foster death investigation months before Starr completed his report, Knowlton clearly had no concern for his name being known.  

Starr's objection to the inclusion of the Knowlton material based on keeping Knowlton's name confidential was clearly a ruse by Starr to keep the Knowlton material hidden. 

The court evidently saw through this charade and mandated that the Knowlton material be included in the official report. 

As of this writing, the national media still has made no mention of the existence nor content of the Knowlton Portion of the Official Report on the Investigation of the Death of Vince Foster. 

1: The report is available as a two-volume set consisting of a 114-page report and 23-page appendix for 
    $12.  (Price includes regular shipping and handling.)  The report and appendix may be ordered from 
    the Superintendent of Documents by phone, fax, or mail and may be purchased at either of the two  
    U.S. Government Bookstores located in Washington, D.C. (732 North Capitol St. and 1510 H St.  
    NW).  

    Orders for Report on the Death of Vincent W. Foster, Jr. should reference the 12-digit stock 
    number 028-004-00095-8 and include $12 payment. 
 

Citations in brackets are to page numbers of the two 1994 Senate Whitewater Hearings Volumes [S. Hrg. 103-889, Volumes I & II] and of the 1994 Report Volume [Rept. 103-433, Volume I].

 

 jc huntington

 11/98