Donald Trump: Vince Foster’s Sister Slams Trump’s Comments As ‘Irresponsible’
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, was slammed by the sister of Vince Foster for dredging up conspiracy theories about the former White House counsel to then-President Bill Clinton.
In a Washington Post editorial entitled “Vince Foster was my brother. Donald Trump should be ashamed,” Sheila Foster Anthony went after Trump.
“It is beyond contempt that a politician would use a family tragedy to further his candidacy, but such is the character of Donald Trump displayed in his recent comments to The Washington Post,” Anthony wrote.
“In this interview, Trump cynically, crassly and recklessly insinuated that my brother, Vincent W. Foster Jr., may have been murdered because ‘he had intimate knowledge of what was going on’ and that Hillary Clinton may have somehow played a role in Vince’s death.
“How wrong. How irresponsible. How cruel.”
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On May 23, The Post reported how Trump has invoked scandals that took place when Clinton was president, from 1993-2001. In addition to Whitewater and Travelgate, Trump invoked Foster.
“It’s the one thing with her, whether it’s Whitewater or whether it’s Vince or whether it’s Benghazi. It’s always a mess with Hillary,” Trump said.
Vince Foster’s sister just made sure Trump never again mentions his conspiracy theory about her brother’s suicide https://t.co/WbeCYixmvp
— Salon (@Salon) May 27, 2016
He also called the circumstances surrounding Foster’s death “very serious,” and “very fishy.” The conspiracy theories around Foster’s death were started, Vox reported, when a wealthy donor funded a cadre of journalists to dig up dirt on President Clinton through an operation called the “Arkansas Project.”
But as Anthony stated, five investigations — including one headed by special prosecutor Ken Starr, who was attacked by Democrats at the time as being too hard on Clinton — “concluded that Vince suffered from severe depression that caused him to… take his own life.”
Anthony personally knew this, she said, because her brother lived with her when he came to Washington to serve in the Clinton White House. This was “a grueling job in any administration,” she wrote, “and in the case of the Clinton White House, the counsel’s office — and Vince — were consumed with problems.”
Read Sheila Foster Anthony's powerful oped on Trump & Vince Foster- & ponder craven endorsement by Little Marco https://t.co/9axCCKO3Tx
— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) May 27, 2016
After a few months, Foster’s family was able to join him, and they got their own place. But Foster called his sister three days before his death, saying that he was dealing with serious depression. She found the names of three psychiatrists.
“That list was found in his wallet with his body at Fort Marcy Park in McLean,” Anthony wrote.
“I did not see a suicide coming, yet when I was told that Vince was dead I knew that he had killed himself. Never for a minute have I doubted that was what happened.”
Oped: "Vince Foster was my brother. Donald Trump should be ashamed" https://t.co/qdjrazsnzU
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 26, 2016
While Anthony is a Democrat, she has been joined by Republicans in distancing themselves from Trump’s comments.
Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson is a former speechwriter for George W. Bush. In a recent column, he noted that Trump often engages in conspiracy theories, including his statement that “thousands and thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey were celebrating the collapse of the Twin Towers. Trump has even hinted that the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia may have been murdered, Gerson said.
She also asked, “If Trump were so concerned about the Clintons’ alleged role in Foster’s death, why, then, did Trump continue contributing to Clinton campaigns and causes?”
Conservative radio talk show host Glenn Beck has mocked Trump for engaging in conspiracy theories about the Clintons. According to Salon, he said in a recent interview, “We were joking on the air yesterday, ‘How long before he gets to the list of the people that the Clintons have killed?’ Well, yesterday, he started with Vince Foster.”
What do you think of Donald Trump bringing up Vince Foster’s death? Be sure to sound off in the comments section below.
[Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]
