Kenneth Starr Claims Credit
For Dissipating Controversy In Foster Death
Starr
before the House Judiciary Committee November 19, 1998
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In his prepared remarks before the House Judiciary
Committee regarding the Lewinsky matter, Kenneth Starr told the committee
and the American people that he and his office were "uncompromisingly thorough'
in their investigation of the Foster death, and claimed credit for dissipating
the "controversy" regarding the Foster death investigations.
On November 19th, 1998 Kenneth Starr said
this to the House Judiciary Committee:
.
. . in investigating matters relating to the death of Vincent Foster
Jr., we were painstaking in examining evidence and questioning witnesses,
and in calling upon experts in homicide and suicide. We were criticized
throughout that investigation for being too thorough, for taking
too long. But time has proved the correctness of that approach. After an
extensive investigation, the office produced a report that addressed the
many questions that confronted the difficult issues, it laid out new evidence,
and it reached a definitive conclusion.
Over
time, the controversy over the Foster tragedy has dissipated, because we
insisted on being uncompromisingly thorough both in our investigation and
in our report.
Listen To Ken Starr
Interested readers may listen to Kenneth Starr
claim that he insisted on being "uncompromisingly through" in his investigation
of the Foster death.
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Click on the image below to hear Kenneth
Starr claim he insisted on being "uncompromisingly through" in his investigation
of the Foster death. You will then be able to hear Ken tell
about his "uncompromisingly thorough" investigation into the Foster death
while you simultaneously read the incomplete list of Starr's failures which
follows.
Click
on Ken to hear him tell you that he insisted
on being
"uncompromisingly thorough" in his
Foster
death investigation
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Actions
Speak Louder Than Words
The
Two Volume Report On The Foster Death Investigation; the top document is
the report Kenneth Starr unsuccessfully attempted to quash
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While Kenneth Starr claims to have dissipated
the controversy over the Foster death, by being "uncompromisingly thorough"
the record shows exactly the opposite. Starr's failures in the Foster investigation
include, but are not limited to the following:
-
Starr failed to investigate the maintenance
records which show the x-ray machine was working at the time of the Foster
autopsy, contrary to Starr's report that the machine was broken
-
Starr falsely reported the time that Dr. Haut
was at Fort Marcy Park.
-
Starr failed to explain the alteration found
on Dr. Haut's Death Investigation Report.
-
Starr failed to investigate the cause of the
ruined photographic evidence
-
Starr failed to investigate why the FBI asked
Mrs. Foster to identify a different gun than the one recovered from Foster's
hand
-
Starr failed to explain why the FBI exhibited
a silver gun to Ms. Foster, telling her that the silver gun was the official
death gun and asking her to identify it, when the official death gun is
a black gun.
-
Starr unsuccessfully attempted to suppress the
official records contained the Knowlton appendix, which indicate a cover-up
in the investigation of the Foster death
-
Starr willfully attempted to mislead his readers
that 'gunshot residue' was found in the soil from the area where Foster's
body was found by calling particles of an unknown substance 'gunshot residue'.
-
Starr willfully omitted from his report the
fact that the soil where the "gun powder-like" particles were found had
been dug up, hand-sifted then replaced years before Dr. Lee made his discovery.
-
Starr willfully omitted the fact that the "gun
powder-like" particles could have been deposited any time in the two or
more years between the death and the discovery of the particles
-
Starr failed to explain the how Dr. Lee found
bloodstains on Foster's eyeglasses that the FBI lab was unable to find,
thereby raising the specter of evidence tampering in the Foster death investigation.
-
Starr failed to explain how Dr. Lee found a
bone fragment that the FBI lab was unable to find, thereby raising the
specter of evidence tampering in the Foster death investigation.
-
Starr failed to explain the location of Foster's
eyeglasses at the scene. The eyeglasses were found 19 feet from Foster's
face, suggesting that persons other than Foster were present at the death
scene.
-
Starr failed to explain the fact that the entrance
wound described in the autopsy report contradicts the finding that Foster
placed the gun in his mouth.
-
Starr failed to explain why the panel of forensic
experts appointed by Fiske to review the autopsy (Drs. Luke, Stahl, Hirsch
and Reay) changed the location of the entrance wound from the back of the
throat, as reported in the autopsy record, to the roof of the mouth.
-
Starr failed to explain why Drs. Luke, Stahl,
Hirsch and Reay described a bent wound path through Foster's head, contradicting
the autopsy photographs which purportedly show a straight trajectory rod
through this would path.
-
Starr failed to explain the fact that the exit
wound in Foster's skull contradicts the finding that the bullet exited
Foster's head.
-
Starr failed to explain why the typed version
of the FBI interview with Leslie Rutherford contradicts the FBI handwritten
notes of that same interview, as well as the Park Police notes of that
interview.
-
Though Starr's report quotes extensively from
Dr. Lee's report, Starr refused to release Dr. Lee's report to the public.
-
Though Starr's report quotes extensively
from Dr. Blackbourne's report, Starr refused to release Dr. Blackbourne's
report to the public.
Starr
Fails To Sign His Report
An indication of Starr's thouroughness lies
in the fact that he did not put his name on his report of his investigation
into the Foster death. Neither Starr's name nor any of his deputies
appears anywhere in his report.
Robert Fiske's name and that of his deputies
appears on his report.
Starr's
anonymous report on his investigation into the Foster death
(click
for larger view)
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Fiske's
signed report on his investigation into the Foster death
(click
for larger view)
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jc
huntington
11/98
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