American Conspiracies: The Clinton Body Count

The recent return of Monica Lewinski has everyone reminiscing about blue dresses, impeachment trials, and the Starr report.

But it's also got me thinking about another rumored Clinton scandal, the so-called “Clinton Body Count.”

If /When Hillary finally gets serious about running for president, this theory will almost certainly make the rounds once more.

So if you're not familiar...

The Clinton Body Count is a list of about 50–60 associates of Bill and Hillary Clinton who died "under mysterious circumstance." That is, none died of old age, and some died violently or by suicide.

Perhaps the most infamous name on the list is Vince Foster...

The Man Who Knew Too Much

Vince Foster was the Clintons' personal lawyer and the Deputy White House Council.

Foster's roots with the Clintons stretched all the way back to Hope, Arkansas, where he partnered with Hillary at the Rose Law firm during Bill's stint as governor.

More than a business partner, Foster was a close friend. Some have even suggested he and Hillary had an affair – an accusation fervidly denied by Foster's wife, Lisa.

Whatever the relationship, as the Clintons' chief counsel, Foster was responsible for shielding the First Family, and keeping all the skeletons stacked neatly in the closet.

This was a challenging task, since depending on who you talk to, the Clintons had a lot of skeletons.

One of the biggest was the Whitewater scandal.

You see, back in the late 70s Bill – Arkansas Attorney General at the time – and Hillary formed the Whitewater Development Corp. with James and Susan McDougal.

The group bought 220 acres of riverfront land, intending to sell lots off for vacation homes, but the partnership failed. Shortly thereafter, the McDougals were convicted of participating in a $3 million conspiracy to defraud two federally backed financial institutions. David Hale, whose company issued the loan said Bill Clinton pressured him to do so, but this was never proven.

Ken Starr was enlisted to investigate and a huge crop of attorneys sprouted up to launch personal investigations (more on that later).

Whitewater wasn't the only case keeping Foster busy, either.

Madison Guaranty, a bank owned by James McDougal was another problem. Allegations were made that funds from the bank had been illegally diverted to Bill Clinton's campaign for governor in the mid-Eighties - and that Bill and Hillary had intervened with state regulators to help keep the bank solvent.

Things got even worse once the Clintons were entrenched the White House.

That is, another flashpoint of controversy arose when Hillary Clinton demanded Foster fire seven employees from the travel office that served the White House press corps. There was an immediate uproar and accusations of cronyism (a distant cousin of Bill was to be put in charge of the office).

Foster was made the lightening rod and was racked with guilt and anxiety over the entire situation. Many of his friends, family, and coworkers say the work exacted such a heavy toll he was taking anti-depressents and intended to resign.

The official version of what happened next is what many observers contest.

A Suspicious Exit

Foster was last seen on July 19 at the White House as Louis Freeh was being named the new head of the FBI.

The next night he was found dead of an apparent gunshot wound in Fort Macy Park. The death was offically ruled a suicide, and Starr's investigation backed that conclusion.

However, certain details didn't quite add up. For instance, the gun Foster supposedly used to kill himself was reported to be still in his hand, but the person who first found the body said that there was no gun at all. His pager's memory had been erased, as well. And there was even a question of whether or not his body had been moved entirely.

Hence the theory that the Clintons had Foster killed.

Even if they didn't, they were at least concerned by what authorities might find in his office. Indeed, shortly after Foster's death, Margaret Williams, Hillary Clinton's chief of staff, and others carried boxes of papers out of Vincent Foster's office before the Park police showed up to seal it.

It was soon discovered that key papers thought to be in Foster's possession had gone missing. The records were not retrieved for more than two years, when a few finally showed up in the private quarters of the White house, with Hillary Clinton's fingerprints on them.

The Body Count Rises

In addition to Foster, other Clinton associates met untimely ends, as well.

Here's a short list of other suspsicious deaths:

James McDougal: Clinton's aforementioned Whitewater partner died of an apparent heart attack while in solitary confinement. He was to be a key witness in Ken Starr's investigation.

Jerry Luther Parks: Head of Clinton's gubernatorial security team in Little Rock, Parks had compiled a dossier of Clinton misdeeds. It was stolen from his home in a robbery. A week later, he was shot seven times while driving in his car. His murder was never solved. This was two months after Vince Foster's death. When news hit that Foster had died, Parks reportedly said, "Bill Clinton is cleaning house."

Stanley Huggins: Partner at a Memphis law firm Investigating Madison Guaranty. He's reported to have succumbed to viral pneumonia, despite no obvious signs of ill health. His wife has tried to get the hospital records, but they were sealed by Janet Reno under presidential orders from Clinton. During the weekend of his death Huggins's Memphis office was broken into and his files stolen. His 300-page report was never released.

Neil Moody: After her husband's death, Lisa Foster married James Moody, a judge in Arkansas.
Around the time Susan McDougal first went to jail for contempt, Judge Moody's son, Neil, died in a car crash. There were reports that Neil Moody had discovered something very unsettling among his stepmother's private papers and was allegedly talking to Bob Woodward of the Washington Post about a blockbuster story. Witnesses said they saw Neil Moody sitting in his car arguing with another person just prior to his car suddenly speeding into a brick wall.

Ed Willey: Died of a shotgun blast to the head (judged self-inflicted) on the same day his wife, Kathleen, says she was sexually assaulted in the White House by Bill Clinton.

Suzanne Coleman: Allegedly had an affair with Clinton when he was attorney general of Arkansas and was reportedly seven months pregnant with his child. Death determined to be a suicide with gunshot wound to the back of her head.

Judy Gibbs: A Penthouse model and call girl, gibbs worked at a bordello near Mena, Arkansas. Gibbs's family says Bill Clinton was a regular customer. In a sworn statement, Clinton bodyguard Barry Spivey said he had been with the governor in a plane. When it flew over Judy Gibb's house, Clinton pointed it out and told him who it belonged to. The house would later be burned down with Judy inside.

Fight on,

Jason Simpkins

@OCSimpkins on Twitter

Jason Simpkins is Assistant Managing Editor of the Outsider Club and Investment Director of Wall Street's Proving Ground, a financial advisory focused on security companies and defense contractors. For more on Jason, check out his editor's page. 

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