Attorney Says First Lady Opposed ‘Unfettered Access’ To Foster Office Republicans Latch Onto Testimony As Proof White House Had ‘Something To Hide’

A White House attorney said Thursday he learned shortly after the suicide of deputy counsel Vincent Foster in 1993 that first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton did not want police to be given “unfettered access” to Foster’s office.

The testimony of Stephen R. Neuwirth was greeted by Republicans on the Senate Whitewater committee as evidence the first lady may have been part of what they believe was an effort by top White House officials to obstruct the investigation of Foster’s death on July 20, 1993.

Hillary Clinton’s actions were discussed repeatedly during Thursday’s hearing, which also focused on perplexing discrepancies in the recollections of White House witnesses. Judging from these unexplained conflicts, Sen. Robert F. Bennett, R-Utah, said he was forced to conclude that the White House “was acting as if there was something to hide.”

Republicans have long suspected that White House officials interfered with the suicide investigation because they feared police would uncover an embarrassing personal secret about the Clintons - perhaps relating to their investment in the Whitewater land deal.

At the time of his death, Foster, a childhood friend of the president and a former law partner of the first lady, was working on a number of issues involving the Clintons’ personal finances, including the creation of a blind trust for their holdings.

Both Neuwirth and Clifford Sloan, a former White House attorney who also testified Thursday, were extremely combative when questioned by Republicans.

Under intense questioning, Neuwirth said he did not know whether his boss at the time, then-White House Counsel Bernard Nussbaum, was acting on orders from Hillary Clinton when Nussbaum barred police from inspecting documents in Foster’s office two days after the suicide. He said he did not know whether Nussbaum discussed it with her.

But he said he and his boss had a brief conversation shortly after Nussbaum talked by telephone with the first lady’s friend, Susan Thomases, a New York attorney. As a result, he said, “my understanding was that Mr. Nussbaum felt that Ms. Thomases and the first lady may have been concerned about anyone having unfettered access to Mr. Foster’s office.”

Both Nussbaum and Thomases are expected to tell the Senate panel next week that they recall talking together on the telephone on July 22, 1993, but they are expected to say they do not remember discussing the first lady’s views on giving police access to Foster’s office.

At least two of the discrepancies in the testimony involved the first lady’s role.

Neuwirth said that Hillary Clinton was summoned to the White House counsel’s office on July 26, 1993, shortly after he discovered a so-called suicide note torn up at the bottom of Foster’s briefcase. He said he could not remember what she said or whether she read the note.

“I recall she looked taken aback,” he said.

He also could not explain why a memo based on his interview with police investigators a few days later did not mention that the note had been shown to Hillary Clinton. According to the memo, Neuwirth named five people who saw the note, but excluded the first lady.