03-11-2019, 12:32 AM (This post was last modified: 03-11-2019, 02:40 AM by Richard Booth.)
The OKC Bombing: Week Before The Bombing, 3 Suspects Visited Club
by Richard Booth
November 1st, 2019
(abridged excerpt from 'John Doe #2 and the Oklahoma City Bombing' by R. Booth)
April 8th, 1995 (Saturday)
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Lady Godiva's Gentleman's Club
Approximately 9:00 PM to Midnight
Saturday, April 8th, 1995, Timothy McVeigh and two other men paid a visit to a Tulsa strip club called Lady Godiva's. The club's owners were Floyd Radcliffe and his wife, Julie. They had an audio/video security system in the dancer's prep room and the surveillance system captured a cocktail waitress, Tara, talking to a dancer about her encounter with Timothy McVeigh that very night. On video, Tara can be overheard telling the dancer all about it:
"One of them said, 'I'm a very smart man.' I said' You are?' and he goes 'Yes, I am. And on April 19, 1995, you'll remember me for the rest of your life!' I said 'Oh really?' and he says 'Yes, you will.' (see this footage here: https://youtu.be/6vnAW_875aA)
Owner Floyd Radcliffe, upon discovering the footage, phoned the FBI who showed up a week or two later and confiscated the film. Investigative reporter J.D. Cash had begun his investigation of the event before the FBI arrived. Cash made a copy of the security tape before the FBI got it, knowing that once the FBI got their hands on it, it would probably disappear. Cash provided the tape to Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's news program 'The Fifth Estate' and together they carried out an investigation, interviewing the staff at at the club.
The dancers identified Timothy McVeigh from a photo spread as the tallest of the three men, the one who boasted to the cocktail waitress about April 19th. One of the other men with McVeigh was identified from a photo spread of over a dozen men as Andreas Strassmeir. Strassmeir was described as quiet, but easily identifiable due to his buck teeth and German accent. Owner Julie Radcliffe told journalist Jon Ronson that all "the girls identified Strassmeir. They all did identify that gentleman."
Likewise, the other man was also identified. He was described as the man paying for the drinks that night, flashing a wad of $100 bills and talking a lot to the girls. That man, described as 5'8 - 5'9, 170-180 pounds, muscular, dark hair, brown eyes, tan complexion, fitted the description of the FBI's 'John Doe #2' suspect. One dancer, Cassie, told Washington Post reporter Peter Carlson that the man looked just like the John Doe #2 sketch. Upon seeing the sketch she said "I recognize him; he's the one who was sitting in a back booth, talking with other girls." He too was identified out of a dozen men in a photo spread, described by the dancers as "very good looking, but full of himself." The dancers all picked a photograph of Michael Brescia, identifying him as the third man, the one who did the most talking. At the time, Brescia was Andreas Strassmeir's roommate and a member of a domestic terrorist organization called 'The Aryan Republican Army' which had enriched themselves through a spree of 22 midwestern bank robberies, perhaps explaining the unemployed Brescia's wad of $100 bills.
What's more, Dale Culpepper, the club's bouncer, remembers spotting a faded older model Ryder truck in the parking lot with its logo painted over. This was before McVeigh had rented the 'bomb truck' on April 17th, but it aligns with other witness sightings who spotted an older, faded yellow truck at Geary Lake between the 10th and the 13th--later that week--and again at the Dreamland motel on the 14th, 15th, and Easter Sunday the 16th -- all before McVeigh rented the larger 20-foot Ryder truck from Elliott's body shop on Monday the 17th.
J.D. Cash published a piece about this story on September 15th, 1996, and the CBC aired the results of their investigation on the CBC news program 'The Fifth Estate' in the fall of 1996. By that time, one of the dancers who had identified McVeigh had been found dead in her apartment. Dancer Shawntelle Farrens was found dead in Tulsa the week Cash had begun his investigation, her death ruled a suicide by accidental or intentional drug overdose. However, former Tulsa police officer Craig Roberts, who examined the police report, noted that there was a bloody palm print found at the crime scene, leaving unresolved questions: was Shawntelle Farrens murdered? The other dancers and cocktail waitresses, however, had already gone on record: the men seen with Timothy McVeigh that night were Andreas Strassmeir, and his roommate, Michael Brescia. Both would later become central figures in investigative reporters' efforts to track down just who McVeigh's accomplices might have been. This encounter, just over a week before the bombing, fits into that puzzle and may shed light on who at least two of those accomplices were.
Sources: * Cash, J.D. "Is A Videotape From A Tulsa Topless Bar The "Smoking Gun" In Oklahoma Bombing?" McCurtain Daily Gazette [Idabel, OK], 15 September 1996. Print. * Cash, J.D. "Canadians Air Club Film" McCurtain Daily Gazette [Idabel, OK], 23 Oct 1996. Print.
* Ronson, John. "Conspirators." The Guardian, 4 May 2001. Web. 13 Feb 2013.
* "The Company They Keep." The Fifth Estate. The Canadian Broadcasting Company. 22 October 1996. Television.
* Carlson, Peter. "The Shadow - Did He Ever Really Exist?" Washington Post Magazine. 23 March 1997. Print.
* Jason Van Vleet. "Terror From Within." MGA Films, 28 August 2002. Television documentary, VHS.
* Evans-Pritchard, Ambrose. The Secret Life of Bill Clinton: The Unreported Stories. Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing, 1997. pp 87-88
Re: Strassmeir and Brescia w/ McVeigh:
"they also picked out Michael Brescia and Andreas Strassmeir from a montage of photos" … "Brescia, they recalled, was very good looking, but full of himself. He was the one paying for the drinks and flashing hundred dollar bills."
* Ridgeway, James. "Beyond McVeigh: What the Feds Won't Tell You About Oklahoma City." The Village Voice, 15 May 2001. Print
Video: Footage from Lady Godiva's April 8th, 1995 where cocktail waitress 'Tara' talks about McVeigh's bragging to her: https://youtu.be/6vnAW_875aA
Was 'John Doe #2' in the OKC bombing Michael Brescia?
Good stuff, keep it coming! OKC was practice run for WTC take-1 and 911 take-2. IMHO.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
Peter Lemkin Wrote:Good stuff, keep it coming! OKC was practice run for WTC take-1 and 911 take-2. IMHO.
Thanks! I have enough material and sources to produce dozens of articles on specific topics. My archive has over 1,000 newspaper and magazine reports on the case, McVeigh and Nichols federal trial transcripts, affidavits, FBI 302 and FD-192 reports, misc. reports and documents, and grand jury testimony (Which I should not have, but I do, and i'm sticking to my constitution 1st amendment press association mantra of not revealing sources and not directly quoting what people in the grand juries said. I can paraphrase it, but I can't repeat it word for word...)
I've got another couple articles I'm working on, and in the bigger picture, a book that's about 3/4 finished.
Richard, are there print sources that describe the DOJ/FBI investigation of OKC from top down, as in how the investigation was handled from DC, and who at Justice and FBI was put on it, and how they interacted with FBI field offices and local law enforcement?
I'm interested in the involvement of John O'Neill, FBI, deceased. Even the barest or most incomplete (or falsified) procedural accounts would be of help. Gee, somehow none of this has made it into the standard literature on OKC, even those works with a CT slant. THANKS
David Andrews Wrote:Richard, are there print sources that describe the DOJ/FBI investigation of OKC from top down, as in how the investigation was handled from DC, and who at Justice and FBI was put on it, and how they interacted with FBI field offices and local law enforcement?
I'm interested in the involvement of John O'Neill, FBI, deceased. Even the barest or most incomplete (or falsified) procedural accounts would be of help. Gee, somehow none of this has made it into the standard literature on OKC, even those works with a CT slant. THANKS
Good question. The investigation was handled by a number of high level FBI agents who were micro-managed by Louis Freeh. Agents involved include BOB RICKS, WELDON KENNEDY, DANNY COULSON.
There are not any books that I am aware of that talk about the investigation from the viewpoint of the FBI.
What I know about the FBI investigation comes from a large amalgamation of sources. For example, there is some talk of the investigation in Roger Charles' book 'Oklahoma City: What the Investigation Missed and Why It Still Matters'. So, you'd want to read that. Additional bits of information can be gleaned from news reports--very little of value though.
Then, you pick up some things just by reading FBI 302 reports. For example, it became clear to me that JON HERSLEY and LARRY TONGATE were mid level agents who would be brought in to browbeat witnesses. HERSLEY was a hatchet man his name would come up from time to time in 302s from witnesses who we know from news reports and books were interviewed dozens of times. For example, JEFFREY DAVIS delivered chinese food to McVeigh's motel room and he said the man was absolutely NOT Timothy McVeigh, said he had longer hair "tousled about" and a "regional accent." Davis has said in interviews he was interviewed by the FBI over 20 times and that they were essentially angry with him and just wanted him to say "darn it, it was McVeigh." So you'll pick up bits and pieces here and there from different sources where you'll learn that Davis was pressured. Then you go look at the list of 302 reports and find the name of the agents who interviewed him, and sure enough HERSLEY is there. Then there is another witness at a motel in Oklahoma who had a story that the FBI did not care for. That guy, RANDALL COLLINS, was also interviewed by HERSLEY who, according to Collins, put stuff in the 302 that was incorrect and NOT what he said. There is handful of at least six witnesses who had things done to them like they were forced to take a polygraph, they were told "you did not see that", some people were really offended by the way the FBI treated them. Davis is a good example of that. The head of the Ryder rental office, ELDON ELLIOTT also said he was pressured. CONNIE SMITH was forced to take a poly and told "you did not see that" and she was very upset about that. So you look at the 302s and see who interviewed these people and you get an idea which agents were assigned to certain witnesses.
Then there are a few quotes in the newspaper from DANNY COULSON about the investigation. Circa 2004 or so, you have COULSON saying that "some improper" things happened during the investigation and he believes that an independent prosecutor should investigate.
Then you see quotes from the FBI's defenders. That would be DANNY DEFENBAUGH who was put in charge of the investigation largely because he was viewed as someone who could be controlled by people like BEAR BRYANT or TOM PICKARD. He would be a yes-man and do whatever he was told. Info about that is in Roger Charles book.
As for John O'Neill, I know who he is and I have never once seen his name come up in the Oklahoma City bombing. He was not an agent who was involved, I don't think, because the investigation was handled by 'FOL' or 'Friends of Louis' [Freeh]. People who could be controlled by Louis Freeh and who were loyal to him.
I think that DANNY COULSON knows a lot and likely is aware of specifics when it comes to improper conduct but he has not gone on record saying what that is, specifically, only that there was improper conduct.
Coulson also goes on record regarding 'John Doe #2' in a mid 2000s BBC broadcast where he talks about how the guy exists, how 24 witnesses all saw him. That documentary then puts on-screen JON HERSLEY and his job is to poo-poo any witnesses the FBI didn't care for so he says things like "some people wanted to be on TV" and "they tried to help but they didn't see anything" -- just totally offensive things that I'm sure many of these witnesses would strongly disagree with. I don't think it's fair to characterize all witnesses who saw McVeigh with others as people who "want to be on TV" -- that was a slam and intentional insult from agent HERSLEY and it's what I've come to expect from him after having read how he muddled with COLLINS' 302, and how he re-interviewed lots of people, you get the impression he's a hatchet man for the investigation whose job is to suppress witnesses the FBI doesn't find convenient.
So your question is difficult to answer as there are not any good books to read that will answer those questions.
Another agent who has spoken about the investigation is RICARDO OJEDA. He investigated a number of leads relating to a white supremacist compound in Oklahoma called ELOHIM CITY. OJEDA has gone on record saying that his reports were buried, they were never passed on to certain investigators or the defense team.
For doing that, agent OJEDA is defamed, in one documentary you have DANNY DEFENBAUGH saying "shame on you, there's a hidden agenda" if you have anyone saying anything negative about the bureau. OJEDA also filed an affidavit in the 2004 Nichols state trial which discussed how the FBI would hide certain witness reports in what is called the 'zero file' -- a process by which reports the bureau found inconvenient would be buried in an administrative filing system. Agent OJEDA also has an interview with the defense team where he told them that the FBI assigned a pair of agents to a few different witnesses that the FBI did not want the media finding out about, people that were considered "hot" so the FBI assigned specific agents to "handle" them and ensure that the media and defense team don't find out about them.
So you can learn a few things from listening to agent OJEDA's comments on History Channel program, reading his affidavit, and reading the defense team memo that talks about FBI dispatching agents to ensure certain witnesses remain out of touch to the media.
Sorry I don't have a better answer for you or a specific place you can look for what you are looking for. In this case, you learn a few things about the FBI investigators but usually it's from little small things mentioned here and there and over time it accumulates and you get an idea how the bureau worked -- intimidating witnesses, shaming any agents who speak up, dispatching Hersley or Defenbaugh to tout the official line, etc.
The FBI's 'dissidents' in this case would be Danny Coulson and Ricardo Ojeda. Coulson isn't defamed for his comments because he has too much prestige---founded the FBI hostage rescue team and was involved in many high profile cases so he never does get defamed by other agents like they did to Ricardo Ojeda. Ojeda was trashed for speaking up. The most the FBI has said about Coulson's statements is "I didn't know Danny had said that."
David Andrews Wrote:Richard, are there print sources that describe the DOJ/FBI investigation of OKC from top down, as in how the investigation was handled from DC, and who at Justice and FBI was put on it, and how they interacted with FBI field offices and local law enforcement?
I'm interested in the involvement of John O'Neill, FBI, deceased. Even the barest or most incomplete (or falsified) procedural accounts would be of help. Gee, somehow none of this has made it into the standard literature on OKC, even those works with a CT slant. THANKS
There is a 300 megabyte file that is a list of FBI 302 reports that's on the UT Austin website. You can't actually read the 302s online, but I have cross referenced that list before to find out which agents interviewed which witnesses. That might be of some help.
All you'll really learn is "okay so JOHN ELVIG" interviewed him... "okay so HERSLEY" interviewed him". I don't think I saw Agent O'Neill's name on any of those reports.
I've never seen Agent O'Neill mentioned in relation to the OKC bombing.
David Andrews Wrote:Richard, are there print sources that describe the DOJ/FBI investigation of OKC from top down, as in how the investigation was handled from DC, and who at Justice and FBI was put on it, and how they interacted with FBI field offices and local law enforcement?
I'm interested in the involvement of John O'Neill, FBI, deceased. Even the barest or most incomplete (or falsified) procedural accounts would be of help. Gee, somehow none of this has made it into the standard literature on OKC, even those works with a CT slant. THANKS
One thing worth noting: the investigation's on-scene commander, Danny Coulson, is real similar to John O'Neil insofar as he did things his own way and didn't give a damn what others thought.
He went where his nose told him to go. He was a cowboy, a former operative/sniper on the HRT (Hostage Rescue Team). He negotiated the peaceful surrender of the Covenant, Sword, and Arm of the Lord in 1983. He was there the year before when THE ORDER was taken down in the pacific northwest. Coulson was also on the undercover operations committee that had to sign off on programs like PATCON and other Major Case UC/O. So he would have been in a position to answer a great deal of questions about who the players in that investigation were.
The difference between Coulson and O'Neill in terms of being a maverick: Coulson had developed enough prestige by the time of the OKC bombing that he could not be defamed or alienated like O'Neill was. No one dared try to defame Danny Coulson. He was Special Agent in Charge of the Dallas Office and the street agents loved Danny Coulson. They respected him, not feared him. So he was a maverick on the inside. Had Coulson ran the investigation I believe all of the accomplices would have been captured.
As far as I know the investigation was controlled top-down by Louis Freeh, he put Danny Defenbaugh in charge because Defenbaugh would do whatever Freeh told him and was ineffective, he had no power to get anything done on his own. The investigation should have been put in the hands of Danny Coulson but when Freeh saw he couldn't control him it was given to someone else who was largely thought of as ineffective. I believe that if Coulson had been in charge he would not have said "John Doe #2" doesn't exist and he would have pressed for the guy's arrest even if he was an informant. The working theory among most OKC researchers is that John Doe #2 was an asset, an informant, or a cooperating witness and as a result the FBI made him disappear. So the bureau couldn't be embarrassed. Defenbaugh would do that. Coulson would not do that, he would go wherever the leads went even if it meant embarrassing the bureau. What happens if, for example, John Doe #2 was a provocateur, part of an FBI major case undercover operation that fell under Bear Bryant? (PATCON for example) Coulson would not have cared and would have probably exposed it. Defenbaugh would have covered it up.
Another agent who would have been at the top, on Freeh's phone or in Freeh's office every day was BOB RICKS. He would have been Freeh's go-to man in Oklahoma (even though Coulson was on-scene commander in OKC, Freeh would have gone to RICKS.) RICKS would have interfaced with local law enforcement in Oklahoma and Kansas. There would be some crossover there with RICKS doing that and COULSON doing that, but Freeh I am sure trusted Ricks but did not trust Coulson.
I wish there were a good org chart for this investigation, I think it would be revealing.
I would want to know if, anywhere on that chart, you would find LARRY POTTS. I suspect you would find him there.
Others I am curious about would be TOM PICKARD and BEAR BRYANT. I suspect Bear Bryant was involved as some mention is made about how Danny Defenbaugh was loyal to him, that Defenbaugh was a proxy for Bear Bryant. That was in Roger's book. As you probably know, Bryant and Pickard had it in for John O'Neill and they were bad actors, they were cutthroat, office politics types.
I think you present a very good angle for research. Someone needs to produce a top-down list of the people who ran this investigation and who their contacts at justice were. That person isn't me, I don't know enough about the structure at the FBI in 1995 to be able to produce that, nor would I know "who to talk to" to get sources on this.
I know the first person anyone wanting to find out more about the investigation would want to talk to is DANNY COULSON. He was _NOT_ a "Friend of Louis" and was very much totally a straight shooter and independent. He won't lie for anyone and he won't shut up about John Doe #2, or, for example, he said in 1999 "we had videotape of the truck pulling up a few minutes to nine." --- Danny might not realize it but he should NOT have said that. The FBI's official position is "those tapes do not exist" because, well, the tapes all show McVeigh with another person. But Danny doesn't care about Louis Freeh's talking points, or what the "official story" mandates. He would be inclined to speak the truth.
So anyone wanting to find out the stuff you're asking about would need to talk to Danny Coulson, and they'd probably also do well to identify local agents who were treated like shit who have stories to tell. Anyone who came in conflict with the Friends of Louis would probably have a story to tell. Through those stories from people inside, a framework of who the players were could emerge.
I think I'm going to ask Roger Charles if he knows whether or not JOHN O'NEILL had any involvement in the case. If anyone of my contacts would know that, it's him. But I suspect that O'NEILL would have been sidelined because this case was tightly controlled by Louis Freeh and his surrogates and proxies were the people running things at Headquarters and at the regional level he had his people installed there.
This is a book that essentially tells the FBI's sanitized version of the investigation: McVeigh and Nichols built the bomb on 4/18, McVeigh drove to OKC the next day by himself and delivered it.
Of course, this is not the truth. Dozens upon dozens of people saw Timothy McVeigh in OKC on April 19th and every single one of them saw him with another person. So I have not bothered to read Simple Truths because I know it will be an exercise in omissions. The story presented in it will be in spite of the evidence not because of it.
I plan to buy a copy, eventually, so I can produce a write-up on the book--like was done w/ Gerald Posner's book 'Case Closed' and as was done by Jim DiEugenio on Bugliosi's book.
It is notable that one of the agents who wrote the book, Jon Hersley, was an agent who was always dispatched to browbeat witnesses. If a witness was a problem to the FBI, had an account that didn't 'fit' their narrative, they'd send Hersley in to conduct a hostile interview. Hersley is also the guy who always gets quoted by news media when discussing the case--Hersley is the P.R. man for the bureau regarding the Oklahoma City Bombing, he can be relied upon to provide quotes supportive of the Bureau and dismissive of anything that doesn't fit with their narrative. He was interviewed extensively in a 2007 BBC production on the bombing (which was very good.)
The last thing I have to say about Simple Truths:
"The truth is rarely pure and never simple."
--Oscar Wilde
This book is a memoir by Coulson and does not focus exclusively on the OKC bombing, but it is possible worth parsing to see what Coulson has to say about the investigation.
I have not read this book, except for a small section. There is a section in the book where Coulson says that he refused to be interviewed by FBI agents, producing 302 reports, relating to an investigation (Ruby Ridge) because he knew that FBI agents will omit details or otherwise produce false information in 302 reports. Coulson stated that he would submit notarized affidavits outlining his answers to questions or any statements rather than submit to an interview that produces a slanted 302 report by one of Louis Freeh's sycophants.
So, I have read that section of the book as it relates to a practice I have found is really endemic in the FBI and that is how they refuse to record interviews and instead take notes and then the FBI agent, sometimes days or weeks later, will produce his written version of the interview in an FD-302. The weakness in this, of course, is that the agent producing the 302 can omit whatever details he wants, and can make things up if he wants to. It relies on the 'honor' system and in the FBI the prevailing notion is "agents never lie" and "agents never make mistakes" so they think this honor system is appropriate. Of course, it is not appropriate, and the FBI should instead record all interviews on tape and have those recordings transcribed and have that put into a 302 report.
So, these are two sources that are both written by FBI agents and probably do speak to elements of the investigation.
Some comments on my area of expertise:
My primary focus on OKC is witnesses--what the witnesses all saw. So in that respect I have gathered a large amount of FBI 302 reports and other things (transcripts of testimony at trial, transcripts of grand jury proceedings) that relate directly to the eyewitnesses. The chapter in my book detailing in chronological order what the witnesses saw is 80 pages long, so you can see that this is my primary area of focus.
Here is quote about the investigation by Danny Coulson from 2004:
"There are some unanswered questions here. A lot of things happened that were inappropriate." Coulson said. "I think it needs to be reopened, but I don't think it should be reopened by the FBI. It needs to be a special investigator, a lawyer, totally independent. He needs to have subpoena power and the ability to use a grand jury"
Here is another quote from Coulson from a few years later, 2007:
"We have victims here and we have victims' families and we don't even know the answers. And the answer is frankly for a federal grand jury."
"It wasn't until after I had left the investigation, some months later, that I know FBI headquarters told them to close down the investigation in Elohim City which has some very significant connections to Mr McVeigh and previous bombing attempts. Never in my career did I have FBI headquarters tell me not to investigate something"
Then the report has agent Jon Hersley quoted (surprise surprise), towing the FBI company line:
"There was none of that whatsoever. In fact, in this investigation I feel like we uncovered more rocks than have ever been uncovered in the history of the FBI and at times we over-investigated parts of the case."
--Richard
Some documents relative to things I have talked about here:
April 15th, 1997 memo from Roger Charles to Stephen Jones & defense team re: SA Ojeda's information that the FBI dispatched pairs of agents to prevent certain witnesses from being interviewed https://app.box.com/s/dkgho9jpflee9jxm2dpxdjt3nxn38m81
2004_02_26-Arizona_Daily_Star-FBI_destroyed_evidence_that_may_have_tied_McVeigh,_Aryan_robbers-[ARA,_Langan,_Coulson,_Defenbaugh]-OCR.pdf Coulson and Defenbaugh comment on the case https://app.box.com/s/yispkhzfotdpa4mx6imgt3tcj18g7vj9
"The veteran official who has directed the Oklahoma City bombing investigation--but who was censured recently for his role in a controversial shootout with separatists in Idaho--was named the FBI's second-ranking official Tuesday."
"It is because Larry Potts has such great skills that I placed him in personal charge of the FBI's priority investigation into the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City," Freeh said Tuesday.
"He has been in the command center at FBI headquarters in Washington every day since the bombing, directing all aspects of our investigation."
"Under pressure from Congress, FBI Director Louis J. Freeh removed his friend Larry Potts as the bureau's No. 2 official Friday because of growing controversy over Potts' role in a deadly 1992 FBI siege at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
"Both the Idaho and Waco incidents were managed from FBI headquarters by Potts while he was an assistant director of the FBI."
"The demotion of Potts came only two days after it was disclosed that a ranking FBI official had admitted destroying a document describing the Idaho action against armed white separatist Randy Weaver, a siege that left Weaver's wife dead. She was shot by an FBI sniper."
"The destroyed document dealt in part with whether Potts, before the unarmed woman was killed, had approved changes to the "rules of engagement" allowing agents more freedom to fire their weapons.
The official who admitted destroying the document, Michael Kahoe, was placed on leave Tuesday from his post as special agent in charge of the FBI's Jacksonville, Fla., office.
Potts has denied approving the change in the rules of engagement, but two other FBI officials, who received heavier punishment, have sworn that he did, sources close to the investigation said. One of the two officials, Eugene Glenn -- whose role in the Idaho siege led to his removal as special agent in charge of the FBI's Salt Lake City office -- complained that the investigation was a cover-up. His complaint has prompted the Justice Department's office of professional responsibility to reopen it's investigation"
Terry Nichols, 51, claims an angry McVeigh identified Larry Potts as the high-ranking FBI official "who was apparently directing McVeigh in the bomb plot."
Nichols claims McVeigh was upset because the official had changed the target.
"It's just nonsense and ridiculous," said Potts, a former deputy director, the No. 2 position at the FBI.
I do not believe that Timothy McVeigh ever, at any time, identified Larry Potts as someone who was directing him.
This is Terry Nichols just saying something to try to hurt the FBI, I think.
Terry Nichols knows that Larry Potts was a chief official in charge at both Waco and Ruby Ridge, and he's got this axe to grind there, so he's naming this guy claiming the OKC bombing was some kind of FBI plot with Larry Potts at the top. That, to me, is not credible. It's ridiculous.
I do believe it to be possible that informants within the FBI's PATCON ('Patriot Conspiracy') operation might have had contact with McVeigh at a white separatist community called Elohim City. But CWs or CIs making contact with McVeigh is a far cry from "he's taking orders from Larry Potts."
I don't know if Potts was in a position to be involved in the FBI's PATCON program but I do know that Danny Coulson would have been aware of PATCON. Coulson was on a committee at the FBI that oversaw approval for various major case undercover operations and PATCON would have been one of the operations he would review and make determinations as to whether to extend funding and so forth.
So, to me, the question I would ask with Larry Potts would be: did he know about or have any hand in PATCON?
And a follow-up question would be: did any PATCON informants or undercover operatives have contact with McVeigh?
