Laura Ingraham not listening: “I never heard Rush Limbaugh say anything of the like” regarding Vince Foster rumors

On the June 27 edition of CNN's Reliable Sources (hosted by Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz), nationally syndicated radio host Laura Ingraham disputed former president Bill Clinton's June 24 assertion on CNN's Larry King Live that Rush Limbaugh had said Clinton deputy White House counsel Vince Foster “was murdered in an apartment that belonged to the Clintons.” In fact, during a 1994 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show, Limbaugh reported “a bit of news ... that claims that Vince Foster was murdered in an apartment owned by Hillary Clinton” -- a rumor he has repeatedly revived since.

On the June 27 edition of CNN's Reliable Sources, Ingraham argued:

INGRAHAM: I never heard Rush Limbaugh say anything of the like. And I'm certain he didn't say that. ... There are people on the right who were saying those things. Those things were reprehensible. I don't know anyone responsible who was saying that.

After being challenged by another guest on the show, Vanity Fair cultural critic James Wolcott, Ingraham maintained her position:

WOLCOTT: Look, there were a lot of people who wanted to believe Vince Foster was murdered. And they kept up with that no matter...

INGRAHAM: It wasn't Rush Limbaugh.

However, according to a report by the national media watch group Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR):

On his March 10 radio broadcast, Limbaugh had announced the following in urgent tones:

OK, folks, I think I got enough information here to tell you about the contents of this fax that I got. Brace yourselves. This fax contains information that I have just been told will appear in a newsletter to Morgan Stanley sales personnel this afternoon. ... What it is is a bit of news which says ... there's a Washington consulting firm that has scheduled the release of a report that will appear, it will be published, that claims that Vince Foster was murdered in an apartment owned by Hillary Clinton, and the body was then taken to Fort Marcy Park.

After he returned from a commercial break, Limbaugh began referring to the story as a “rumor,” but continued to claim that the story was that “the Vince Foster suicide was not a suicide.”

Media Matters for America has also documented two recent instances in which Limbaugh referred to Fort Marcy Park (in Northern Virginia, where Foster's body was found after he committed suicide), resurrecting the long-discredited right-wing claim that Vince Foster was murdered and that the Clintons were involved:

LIMBAUGH: That's why I'm telling you, whoever briefed Janet Reno, start searching Fort Marcy Park, folks. [4/13/04]

LIMBAUGH: They [the Clintons] know that -- they're pretty confident Kerry is going to lose and if Kerry wins there's always Fort Marcy Park. So they're rolling the dice on this. [4/15/04]