Post by Gil Jesus on Dec 9, 2021 9:39:21 GMT -5
The Sins of the FBI
by Gil Jesus (2021)
One of the ways the FBI was able to control what the witnesses said was to threaten those who were positive about things they had seen with "federal charges" if the things they were reporting ended up not being the truth.
Witnesses were then faced with choosing between what they knew to be true and risk a prison time of 5 years, or go on the record as having been "unable to identify" or unsure.
It was a tactic that was successful in coercing witnesses to change their minds about what they saw and getting on the record evidence that was not necessarily true.
W.W. Litchfield
One example that witnesses were coerced comes from the testimony of W.W. Litchfield II, who told the FBI that he saw a man who looked like Oswald in the Carousel Club.
He told the Commission that the FBI threats definitely had an effect on how he answered their questions:
Mr. HUBERT. I gather that you were more positive of the identity of Oswald as being the man in the Carousel on the occasion we have been speaking about at one time than you are now?
Mr. LITCHFIELD. I was; yes.
Mr. HUBERT. What has caused your opinion in the matter to weaken?
Mr. LITCHFIELD. The fact that they gave me the polygraphic test, that showed when they asked me--was it definitely him, it didn't show up right, and the fact that I had told Don when I called him, I said, "It sure as heck looks like him," and when the police were questioning me, they said, "Are you positive, are you positive, are you positive?" I said, "It looks like him, it looks like him, it looks like him." And they come back, "Are you positive, are you positive?" And then the fact that when the Federal agents talked to me, they said, "You know, if you say you are positive and it wasn't him," it's a Federal charge, and I said, "Well, I'm not that positive."
Mr. HUBERT. The Federal agent told you if you gave an opinion----
Mr. LITCHFIELD. No; they said, "If you give false information as to an exact statement--" not an opinion, but if I say I'm positive, that's a statement.
Mr. HUBERT. Well, are you conveying to me that you really were positive, but that----
Mr. LITCHFIELD. In my mind.
Mr. HUBERT. You were scared off of it?
Mr. LITCHFIELD. No, sir; no, sir. I said in my mind I was positive that it looked like him, but I'm just as fallible as anybody else. I could be 100 percent wrong. I said, "In my mind, the man that I saw looked just like him," but then again, I can't say 100 percent.
Mr. HUBERT. And that is still your opinion?
Mr. LITCHFIELD. I said it bears a close resemblance, but not having come in contact with Oswald at all or having never met him or anything, and just seeing him for a fleeting glance, the back of his head and when he walked by me; no, I can't be 100 percent pure positive.
Mr. HUBERT. But you knew all of that the first time you told it to Green?
Mr. LITCHFIELD. Well, like I said, "It sure does look like him--the man I saw there sure does look like Oswald," those are my words.
Mr. HUBERT. But, what has caused you to weaken in your opinion it was Oswald, as you tell it to me, is the fact that you got the impression that if you gave a positive identification and it proved to be false, that it would be a Federal offense, is that correct?
Mr. LITCHFIELD. Yes; they said giving false information to the FBI, and I'm not 100 percent pure positive. I say, "It bears a close resemblance," and this is all I can say.
Mr. HUBERT. And that's all you did tell them?
Mr. LITCHFIELD. Yes, sir; that's the statement I signed. (14 H 107-108)
The FBI used threats against witnesses who were sure of what they saw to make them appear less sure in the official record.
This same tactic was used on witnesses who said they were "positive" that the man they saw was not Oswald.
Why were Federal agents present at the School Book Depository building, the Tippit murder scene, The Dallas Police station and the Texas Theater, when the FBI had no legal jurisdiction in any of these crimes ?
They were there to hear, question and intimidate witnesses.
These tactics seemed to work. Original stories like the one of Charles Givens, who at first said he saw Oswald on the first floor at 11:50 and then said he hadn't seen Oswald all morning.
Or Domingo Benavides, who was 15 feet away from the Tippit killer but was afraid of not being able to identify the killer if he said he could, so he declined to view a lineup.
But in the case of Marina Oswald, the threat was to deport her if she didn't "cooperate" with the "investigation". Deportation would have meant that she would have gone back to Russia without her kids, who were American citizens by birth. She'd go, they'd stay. The threat of losing her children would have been enough to make ANY mother tell them what they wanted to hear. True or not.
Marina Oswald
Had Oswald gone to trial, anything Marina Oswald said would have been inadmissible. Once he was dead, she could testify about anything "EXCEPT oral and written communications from her husband". (Mosk memo to Belin, March 11, 1964)
More evidence of FBI intimidation and threats of witnesses comes no less from Oswald's brother Robert, who told the Commission that he overheard the FBI threaten to deport Marina Oswald if she did not cooperate with them.
Mr. OSWALD. In my presence. And the tone of the reply between this gentle man and Mr. Gopadze, and back to Marina, it was quite evident there was a harshness there, and that Marina did not want to speak to the FBI at that time. And she was refusing to. And they were insisting, sir. And they implied in so many words, as I sat there--if I might state--with Secret Service Agent Gary Seals, of Mobile, Ala.--we were opening the first batch of mail that had come to Marina and Lee's attention, and we were perhaps just four or five feet away from where they were attempting this interview, and it came to my ears that they were implying that if she did not cooperate with the FBI agent there, that this would perhaps--I say, again, I am implying--in so many words, that they would perhaps deport her from the United States and back to Russia. (1 H 410)
The FBI even brought an agent from the Immigration and Naturalization Service into the Inn at Six Flags to talk to Marina and advise her to "help" the FBI:
Mr. RANKIN. Did you see anyone from the Immigration Service during this period of time?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know who that was?
Mrs. OSWALD. I don't remember the name. I think he is the chairman of that office. At least he was a representative of that office.
Mr. RANKIN. By "that office" you mean the one at Dallas?
Mrs. OSWALD. I was told that he had especially come from New York, it seems to me.
Mr. RANKIN. What did he say to you?
Mrs. OSWALD. That if I was not guilty of anything, if I had not committed any crime against this Government, then I had every right to live in this country. This was a type of introduction before the questioning by the FBI. He even said that it would be better for me if I were to help them.
Mr. RANKIN. Did he explain to you what he meant by being better for you?
Mrs. OSWALD. In the sense that I would have more rights in this country. I understood it that way. (1 H 80)
Not only did the FBI intimidate, coerce and threaten the witnesses, they flat out lied in their reports about what the witnesses said.
In this youtube video I did years ago, I give three examples of FBI reports that lied about what the witnesses said.
Influencing what the witnesses said was not the only sin of the FBI. They actively participated in the framing of Oswald's ownership of the rifle.
How would they have done this?
With the help of the Postal Inspector in Dallas, very easy.
I don't believe that any rifle was ever ordered or shipped. I believe that the paperwork is all faked. The FBI had the 40" rifle serial number C2766 in their possession on the night of the assassination and I believe they made up the paperwork AFTER the assassination to match the rifle.
It wasn't necessary for Klein's to be involved in the framing, all they had to do was whatever the FBI requested they do. If the FBI wanted blank order forms, they'd get them. If they wanted order forms filled out or partially filled out, they'd get them. All they had to say was that they wanted them for comparison. Under the circumstances, Klein's would have complied with whatever the FBI wanted.
They could very well have filled out the form and left the control number and the serial number blank. Examination of the Waldman 7 indicates that more than one person filled out the form.
In order for Oswald to have used the rifle before the attack on General Walker, he had to have ordered it in March, 1963. But the only rifle Klein's had in stock at the time was the 36" rifle. So they produced the paperwork from a 36" rifle and filled in the serial number of the 40" rifle.
This would have been very easy for the FBI to do, using blank or partially filled out forms from Klein's and filling in the serial number by hand. Then microfilm the records and destroy the originals.
The only record they couldn't change was the one from Crescent Firearms, that said that the 40" rifle was sold in June of 1962. They simply ignored this.
That would explain why the 36 " rifle with bottom sling mounts they "shipped" had the same serial number as the 40 " rifle with side sling mounts.
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was against the forming of a Presidential Commission. He wanted his report of December 5, 1963 to stand as the final word on the assassination. Unable to prevent the forming of the commission, he was determined to control it by controlling the information it got.
The FBI did this by coercing and intimidating witnesses into saying what they wanted to hear, they lied in their reports, they ignored witnesses and, in the end, controlled who would testify for the public record and who would not.
Witnesses who were among the closest to the President, like Charles Brehm and William Newman, were purposely kept off the witness list because they believed at least one shot came from the picket fence to the right and in front of the President.
By ignoring these witnesses, the FBI controlled what information the Commission and the public would get.
But the framing of how Oswald PAID FOR and ORDERED the rifle required the help and cooperation of the FBI's friend and informant, the Dallas Postal Inspector.
Next week: Part III, the sins of the Dallas Postal Inspector
by Gil Jesus (2021)
One of the ways the FBI was able to control what the witnesses said was to threaten those who were positive about things they had seen with "federal charges" if the things they were reporting ended up not being the truth.
Witnesses were then faced with choosing between what they knew to be true and risk a prison time of 5 years, or go on the record as having been "unable to identify" or unsure.
It was a tactic that was successful in coercing witnesses to change their minds about what they saw and getting on the record evidence that was not necessarily true.
W.W. Litchfield
One example that witnesses were coerced comes from the testimony of W.W. Litchfield II, who told the FBI that he saw a man who looked like Oswald in the Carousel Club.
He told the Commission that the FBI threats definitely had an effect on how he answered their questions:
Mr. HUBERT. I gather that you were more positive of the identity of Oswald as being the man in the Carousel on the occasion we have been speaking about at one time than you are now?
Mr. LITCHFIELD. I was; yes.
Mr. HUBERT. What has caused your opinion in the matter to weaken?
Mr. LITCHFIELD. The fact that they gave me the polygraphic test, that showed when they asked me--was it definitely him, it didn't show up right, and the fact that I had told Don when I called him, I said, "It sure as heck looks like him," and when the police were questioning me, they said, "Are you positive, are you positive, are you positive?" I said, "It looks like him, it looks like him, it looks like him." And they come back, "Are you positive, are you positive?" And then the fact that when the Federal agents talked to me, they said, "You know, if you say you are positive and it wasn't him," it's a Federal charge, and I said, "Well, I'm not that positive."
Mr. HUBERT. The Federal agent told you if you gave an opinion----
Mr. LITCHFIELD. No; they said, "If you give false information as to an exact statement--" not an opinion, but if I say I'm positive, that's a statement.
Mr. HUBERT. Well, are you conveying to me that you really were positive, but that----
Mr. LITCHFIELD. In my mind.
Mr. HUBERT. You were scared off of it?
Mr. LITCHFIELD. No, sir; no, sir. I said in my mind I was positive that it looked like him, but I'm just as fallible as anybody else. I could be 100 percent wrong. I said, "In my mind, the man that I saw looked just like him," but then again, I can't say 100 percent.
Mr. HUBERT. And that is still your opinion?
Mr. LITCHFIELD. I said it bears a close resemblance, but not having come in contact with Oswald at all or having never met him or anything, and just seeing him for a fleeting glance, the back of his head and when he walked by me; no, I can't be 100 percent pure positive.
Mr. HUBERT. But you knew all of that the first time you told it to Green?
Mr. LITCHFIELD. Well, like I said, "It sure does look like him--the man I saw there sure does look like Oswald," those are my words.
Mr. HUBERT. But, what has caused you to weaken in your opinion it was Oswald, as you tell it to me, is the fact that you got the impression that if you gave a positive identification and it proved to be false, that it would be a Federal offense, is that correct?
Mr. LITCHFIELD. Yes; they said giving false information to the FBI, and I'm not 100 percent pure positive. I say, "It bears a close resemblance," and this is all I can say.
Mr. HUBERT. And that's all you did tell them?
Mr. LITCHFIELD. Yes, sir; that's the statement I signed. (14 H 107-108)
The FBI used threats against witnesses who were sure of what they saw to make them appear less sure in the official record.
This same tactic was used on witnesses who said they were "positive" that the man they saw was not Oswald.
Why were Federal agents present at the School Book Depository building, the Tippit murder scene, The Dallas Police station and the Texas Theater, when the FBI had no legal jurisdiction in any of these crimes ?
They were there to hear, question and intimidate witnesses.
These tactics seemed to work. Original stories like the one of Charles Givens, who at first said he saw Oswald on the first floor at 11:50 and then said he hadn't seen Oswald all morning.
Or Domingo Benavides, who was 15 feet away from the Tippit killer but was afraid of not being able to identify the killer if he said he could, so he declined to view a lineup.
But in the case of Marina Oswald, the threat was to deport her if she didn't "cooperate" with the "investigation". Deportation would have meant that she would have gone back to Russia without her kids, who were American citizens by birth. She'd go, they'd stay. The threat of losing her children would have been enough to make ANY mother tell them what they wanted to hear. True or not.
Marina Oswald
Had Oswald gone to trial, anything Marina Oswald said would have been inadmissible. Once he was dead, she could testify about anything "EXCEPT oral and written communications from her husband". (Mosk memo to Belin, March 11, 1964)
More evidence of FBI intimidation and threats of witnesses comes no less from Oswald's brother Robert, who told the Commission that he overheard the FBI threaten to deport Marina Oswald if she did not cooperate with them.
Mr. OSWALD. In my presence. And the tone of the reply between this gentle man and Mr. Gopadze, and back to Marina, it was quite evident there was a harshness there, and that Marina did not want to speak to the FBI at that time. And she was refusing to. And they were insisting, sir. And they implied in so many words, as I sat there--if I might state--with Secret Service Agent Gary Seals, of Mobile, Ala.--we were opening the first batch of mail that had come to Marina and Lee's attention, and we were perhaps just four or five feet away from where they were attempting this interview, and it came to my ears that they were implying that if she did not cooperate with the FBI agent there, that this would perhaps--I say, again, I am implying--in so many words, that they would perhaps deport her from the United States and back to Russia. (1 H 410)
The FBI even brought an agent from the Immigration and Naturalization Service into the Inn at Six Flags to talk to Marina and advise her to "help" the FBI:
Mr. RANKIN. Did you see anyone from the Immigration Service during this period of time?
Mrs. OSWALD. Yes.
Mr. RANKIN. Do you know who that was?
Mrs. OSWALD. I don't remember the name. I think he is the chairman of that office. At least he was a representative of that office.
Mr. RANKIN. By "that office" you mean the one at Dallas?
Mrs. OSWALD. I was told that he had especially come from New York, it seems to me.
Mr. RANKIN. What did he say to you?
Mrs. OSWALD. That if I was not guilty of anything, if I had not committed any crime against this Government, then I had every right to live in this country. This was a type of introduction before the questioning by the FBI. He even said that it would be better for me if I were to help them.
Mr. RANKIN. Did he explain to you what he meant by being better for you?
Mrs. OSWALD. In the sense that I would have more rights in this country. I understood it that way. (1 H 80)
Not only did the FBI intimidate, coerce and threaten the witnesses, they flat out lied in their reports about what the witnesses said.
In this youtube video I did years ago, I give three examples of FBI reports that lied about what the witnesses said.
Influencing what the witnesses said was not the only sin of the FBI. They actively participated in the framing of Oswald's ownership of the rifle.
How would they have done this?
With the help of the Postal Inspector in Dallas, very easy.
I don't believe that any rifle was ever ordered or shipped. I believe that the paperwork is all faked. The FBI had the 40" rifle serial number C2766 in their possession on the night of the assassination and I believe they made up the paperwork AFTER the assassination to match the rifle.
It wasn't necessary for Klein's to be involved in the framing, all they had to do was whatever the FBI requested they do. If the FBI wanted blank order forms, they'd get them. If they wanted order forms filled out or partially filled out, they'd get them. All they had to say was that they wanted them for comparison. Under the circumstances, Klein's would have complied with whatever the FBI wanted.
They could very well have filled out the form and left the control number and the serial number blank. Examination of the Waldman 7 indicates that more than one person filled out the form.
In order for Oswald to have used the rifle before the attack on General Walker, he had to have ordered it in March, 1963. But the only rifle Klein's had in stock at the time was the 36" rifle. So they produced the paperwork from a 36" rifle and filled in the serial number of the 40" rifle.
This would have been very easy for the FBI to do, using blank or partially filled out forms from Klein's and filling in the serial number by hand. Then microfilm the records and destroy the originals.
The only record they couldn't change was the one from Crescent Firearms, that said that the 40" rifle was sold in June of 1962. They simply ignored this.
That would explain why the 36 " rifle with bottom sling mounts they "shipped" had the same serial number as the 40 " rifle with side sling mounts.
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover was against the forming of a Presidential Commission. He wanted his report of December 5, 1963 to stand as the final word on the assassination. Unable to prevent the forming of the commission, he was determined to control it by controlling the information it got.
The FBI did this by coercing and intimidating witnesses into saying what they wanted to hear, they lied in their reports, they ignored witnesses and, in the end, controlled who would testify for the public record and who would not.
Witnesses who were among the closest to the President, like Charles Brehm and William Newman, were purposely kept off the witness list because they believed at least one shot came from the picket fence to the right and in front of the President.
By ignoring these witnesses, the FBI controlled what information the Commission and the public would get.
But the framing of how Oswald PAID FOR and ORDERED the rifle required the help and cooperation of the FBI's friend and informant, the Dallas Postal Inspector.
Next week: Part III, the sins of the Dallas Postal Inspector