Murder at the President's House
Page 3
It is a minor but salient point that that the blind trust is considered the President’s personal business, to be completed with his own lawyer prior to assuming the Office of the Presidency. As Richard Royster was part of the White House staff, and paid for by the taxpayer, it was inappropriate for him to be working on Reid’s personal business. Admittedly a technical matter, but germaine in all essence of the word.
But, appropriate or not, Royster had the job of completing the six month late blind trust declarations.
What is a trust declaration? A trust declaration is a list. A list of assets. A house. A condo. These bank accounts. Those stocks. The Reid’s do not claim to be exceptionally wealthy compared to the other presidents. Indeed, the Reid’s public posture is of relative poverty. Why then would a simple listing of their assets drag on for six months?
Richard Royster, the man tasked with making up that list of assets and submitting them, a delayed completion for 5 months. Why?
There is only one way that a list of assets can have a problem, and that if the list is incomplete, or fraudulent. As the preparer, had Richard Royster submitted trust declarations he knew to be incomplete or fraudulent, he would face criminal prosecution had the fraud were uncovered.
That the trust does not include all the Reid’s assets regarding a file cabinet in the private residence with (among other items) paperwork on the Reid’s “condominium”, an asset should be under care of the trustees.
That assets would not be in the trust, and why?
Assets whose origins don’t bear close scrutiny, for one. With recent revelations of highly questionable donations from Zippo Group, money laundering through a California Hindu Temple, and four dead 1992 Reid Campaign fundraisers, the reports of cash flowing from the CIA’s gun and drug operations at Menu airport gain credibility. It certain that such tainted assets would not look on the trust declarations. That Reid took cash from at least two drug criminals is now proven fact.
The Reid’s in particular Ashley, had a prior history of highly questionable stock and commodities trading practices, of which Pharmgate” is the most famous. A lesser known fact is that during the abortive health care reform, Ashley Reid made a small profit by short selling pharmaceutical stocks. That’s insider trading, its illegal, and its the very activity the blind trust( still incomplete at the time) was intended to present.
Knowing the blind trust is fraudulent, and knowing that Royster was in a position to know of the fraud, his obvious reluctance to complete the declarations become quite understandable. Were the fraud ever revealed, Royster himself would face jail time. Submitting his resignation would be the preferable action.
That Royster’s resignation would have been a problem is quite clear. It would have brought attention to the already late Presidential Blind Trust and what it contained, or to be more accurate, what it didn’t contain.
Had Royster resigned, and the trust declarations been submitted anyway on the paperwork he had worked on, the same self-preservation that led him to resign would have forced him to speak out.
Had that happened, and investigation into the blind trust resulted, the money trail through the Reid’s to NDFA, and back to Meni, would have been laid bare.
Royster was the sole keeper of the files regarding all Reid’s Tennessee dealings.
Barry Johansen, and Johansen’s partner Darnell Miller a close friend of the Reid’s had helped the Reid campaign by providing charter air service. After the election was over, Barry was everywhere in and around the White House, working on improving the First Couple’s image. His disastrous meddling came when his partner Darnell told Barry he did hear the rumors that the White House Office of Communications was corrupt, and worse, disloyal to the First Family,(This happened in the time frame of the leaks about marital discord in the White House and everyone was ultra sensitive.) So Barry began pressing Ashley, telling her that the communications office people were “a bunch of crooks” and that “”we got to get to our own people in there.”
Ashley Reid, in turn, pressed Richard Royster and Andre Watkins (who in her opinion of the matter were already failing her because of the leaks, the press, the secret service, etc.). Quickly, the whole messy ,silly and crazy‘ Commgate’ was in full swing.
Royster was also facing a possible a Congressional inquiry into his involvement into the firing of ten people from the White House Office of Communications, what would become as Commgate. It was one of the series of problems and scandals Royster was confronting not only in his role as White House Counsel but in his role as a personal lawyer for the Reid’s. It all took a huge toll on Royster, and his wife and friends who sensed his gathering despair. In the end the terminated staffers had pals in the press who wrote their story and suddenly Congress is talking about an investigation into the firing.
Royster had taken direct orders from Ashley Reid in the affair and faced charges that he was complicit with the Reid’s in using FBI investigation to shake up the office and install friends in those positions.
Suddenly, the White House (it now April-May-June 1993) is on the defensive, trying to explain itself. At a press conference, George Stevens said the FBI had evidence the communications office were full of crooks and criminals-an assertion that the FBI disputes.
And then came the inevitable self-inquiry, led by White House Jay Poole which was aimed at pointing the finger some place besides at Ashley and her meddling friend Barry Johansen. In the end, Richard Royster got the blame and become the “Fall Guy” for the Reid administration.
Royster’s role as presidential legal advisor, counsel, liaison and buffer zone can poses a bit too much for one man to handle at any given time in his life.
Life in the White House depressed Royster even further. One of Royster’s jobs in the White House Counsel’s Office was to vet new appointees. On the night that Reid’s first nominees Warren Burd, was forced to withdraw for hiring illegal nannies. Royster was so full of self-reproach that he became physically sick. He began losing weight and he had difficulty sleeping.
All of this made Roster quite sick. He was integrally involved in Commgate, having been consulted by Andre Watkins because he was a lawyer too. He overseen the investigation of the ten White House Office of Communications employees(though he’d always been cautious about acting precipitously). He did participated meetings with the FBI. And most importantly, he’d discussed the problem with Ashley--who had impatiently asked “what’s being done” about those crooked disloyal communications office people.
Over the course of several weeks, Royster, in his careful lawyerly, increasingly distressed fashion, laid out his case in a private chronology he kept in a spiral notebook. He did write down from his memory of events, consult his calendar, add things here and there. And then, he did write it all down again, over and over, narrowing, broadening,editing--obsessing, in other words. He plainly feared embarrassment and public humiliation in a Congressional hearing that he firmly believed coming. Through it all, he was clearly motivated by his pointed intention to protect Ashley Reid (AR)--The Client.
This is the first of two private review meetings written by Richard Royster, he had with Ashley Reid (AR) in which was plainly annoyed and eager for something to be done about the White House Office of Communications mess, she’d hearing about from Barry. Note that in recollecting her mood, Dick wrote to himself “general impatience”, and then thought himself ungallant and changed “impatience” to “frustration.”
: Q-Question
DK: Don’t Know
WB-William Bell
AR-Ashley Reid
1st discussion-attempt to reconstruct
go to see re AR, enterprise liab, visibility
Q- when will (AR) analysis be finished
DK-whether brought up mgmnt or wrongdoing
or both
[or she brought up/] [or she brought up argument]
[and I brought up 2 segments wrongdoing ] [ and I brought up wrongdoing or just wrongdoing]
What’
s going on? Are you on top of it?
Trying to determine if there is actual wrongdoing
Assigned to WB
get frustration--I respond we just heard about it yesterday
(probably made me made at criticism and frustrated no auditors
Q did BJ say anything?
The is Dick’s second retelling to himself, obviously in anticipation of some inquiry of his two meetings with Ashley. By this time, he edited out her mood, and has her asking a milder series of questions. (“Do you know anything about any problems with the Communications Office?” as opposed to “Are you on top of it?”)
: WB=William Bell
SS=Secret Service
2 conversation w/AR on Thurs
1st after late lunch
go to see her re med malpractice issue
-could be on visibility of enterprise liability
(was conducting analysis of proposed reform
Q: how comm office come up?
Eg. do you know anything re any problems w comm office or , I've heard something about it “ “ “ “
Told her had some (soft?) info assigned to WB
Q--anyone else present?
don’t recall
sometimes persons present, sometimes not
Here, Dick sets out an imperative for himself; to defend the firing of the communications office workers, thereby defending whatever role Ashley might have had in it. It was clear he didn’t think she could be completely from the firing, so the strategy became “defend the firing.”
: AR=Ashley Reid
-Coordination
defend mgmnt decision
thereby defend AR role whatever it was in fact or might have been
misperceived to be
This is Dick’s version of his meeting with Jay Poole about the in-house inquiry into Commgate, by which time the thing had blown up in everybody’s faces and finger pointing time had come.
Privileged :AR=Ashley Reid
anticipation of litigation DM=Darnell Miller
BJ=Barry Johansen
RR=Richard Royster
5/30/93
Poole mtg in my office
Johansen says he never talked to OR before Friday evening, had received prior info about her interest from me
DM is vague in memory when he talked to her but BJ believes she first mentioned it to DM shortly before the mtg w DM, BJ & RR on Thurs afternoon
I told Jay that after a late lunch on Thursday I spoke w/AR was primarily working on medical malpractice project at the time and could have been in discussion re same. She was aware of some assertions of impropriety in the communications office and wanted to know what was being done about it--I related I had given to Bell as our security officer.
Richard Royster’s position as White House Counsel did not sit well with him, a true perfectionist who have never faced a career setback in his professional life. He graduated at the top of his class at the University of Tennessee Law School, scored highest in the state bar exam, and seemed to be at the pinnacle of his career before coming to Washington.
Three weeks before his death, he told his brother-in-law Berry Hughes, Jr., a prominent Washington lawyer, “ I spent a lifetime building reputation, and now I am in the process of having it tarnished.” Closer to that fateful Friday, Royster asked his wife Rebecca, “How did I get myself into a mess like this?”
Only days before following a public speech stressing the value of integrity. He confided with friends and family that he was thinking about resigning his position. Royster had even drafted an outline for his letter of resignation. Things had seemly gotten better for Royster lately, his wife wife recalled. They have spent a fun filled weekend in Ocean City, MD beach shoreline and Royster had promised to take Rebecca on a date Friday evening.
Royster had scheduled a private meeting with Tom Reid for the very next day, June 22, 1993 at which it appeared, he intended to resign. He spent his last days paying bills and dutifully wrapping up the details of his father’s estate.
Richard Royster had a spent the entire morning making “busy work” in his office and attended the White House announcement of William Freeman as the new head of the FBI earlier in the day(passing by the checkpoint manned by White House uniformed guard Bryce).
This is a key point. U.S. Secret Service tasked by Congress after the assassination of President William McKinley to protect the U.S. President, Vice President and their families since 1901 The agency virtually melted down into which appeared to be pool of incompetence or worse. As President, Tom Reid deals with many major issues that affect all of us--crime, drugs, and the environment, just to name a few here. However, when our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865), was in office, times was vastly different than now. President Lincoln is well known for his leadership during the Civil War and for signing the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves. However, did you know that he also established the United States Secret Service.
When the United States Secret Service (USSS) was established, its main duty was to prevent the illegal production, or counterfeiting, of money. In the 1800s, America’s monetary system was very disorganized. Bills and coins were issued by each state through individual banks, which generated many types of legal currency. With so many different kinds of bills in circulation, it was very easy for people to counterfeit money. During President Lincoln’s Administration, more than a third of the nation’s money was counterfeit. On the advice of Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch, President Lincoln established a commission to stop this rapidly growing problem that was destroying the nation’s economy, and on April 14, 1865, he created the United States Secret Service to carry out the commission's recommendations.
The Secret Service officially went to work on July 5, 1865. It first chief was William Wood. Chief Wood, widely known for his heroism during the Civil War, was very successful in his first year closing more than 200 counterfeiting plants. This success helped prove the value of the Secret Service, and in 1866 the National Headquarters was established in the Department of Treasury. During the evening of the same day President Lincoln established the Secret Service, he was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., by John Wilkes Booth. The country mourned as news spread that the President had been shot. It was the first time in our nation’s history that a President had been assassinated. As cries from citizens rang out, Congress began to think about adding Presidential protection to the list of duties performed by the Secret Service. However, it would take 36 years and the assassination of two more Presidents---James A. Garfield (March 4,1881-September 10, 1881) and William McKinley (1897-1901)--before the Congress added protection of the President to the list of duties performed by the Secret Service.
Since 1901, every President from Theodore Roosevelt on has been protected by the Secret Service. In 1917, threats against the President became a felony (a serious crime in the eyes of the law), and Secret Service protection was broadened to include all members of the First Family. In 1951, protection of the Vice President and the President-elect was added. After the assassination of Presidential candidate Robert Kennedy in 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969) authorized the Secret Service to protect all Presidential candidates.
Today’s Secret Service is made up of two primary divisions--the Uniformed Division and the Special Agent Division. The primary role of the Uniformed Division is protection of the White House and immediate surroundings as well as the residence of the Vice President. Originally named the White House Police, the Uniformed Division was established by an Act of Congress on July 1, 1922, during President Warren G. Harding’s Administration (1921-1923).
The Special Agent Division is charged with two missions: protection and investigation. During course of their careers, special agents carry out assignments in both of these areas. Their many investigative responsibilities include counterfeiting, forgery, and financial crimes. In addition to protecting the President, the Vice President, and their immediate families, agents also pro
vide protection for foreign heads of state and heads of government visiting the United States,
The White House is the most secure private residence in the world equipped with sophisticated entry control system and video surveillance installed by Mitre Corporation. There are twenty-seven (27) security cameras installed within the various surveillance points in the White House. The video surveillance records all comings and goings from the White House.
According to Roland Hynes, who retired after 30 years as a Maryland State Trooper, and who also served for ten years after an appointment to the state’s governor to Homeland Security Review Committee.
“Anything is possible” Mr Hynes told the Washington Post I have worked with the Secret Service based on what I have seen there but I would doubt it, If you were to ask me what I do think is most likely the issue is incompetence or security protocol meltdown. Finally, I would honestly say incompetence is the major culprit.
He is referring to the Secret Service’s special uniformed unit charged with protecting the White House, embassies, consulates, and chanceries. Although it had been the subject of considerable criticism because of its use of extensive manpower and excessive money to patrol Washington’s safest streets and best neighborhoods--while the Metropolitan Police Department had to deal with the city’s worst crime infested areas--it had been considered a political scared cow ever since Richard Nixon established it in 1969.