Mueller orders review of bombing investigation 2004-02-27 -- OKC Bombing

WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI on Friday ordered a formal review of some aspects of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing investigation, reopening the question of whether Timothy McVeigh may have had more accomplices in the worst domestic terrorist attack in U.S. history, The Associated Press has learned.

Reacting to an AP story earlier this week, the FBI ordered agents to determine why some documents did not properly reach the bureau's Oklahoma City task force during the original investigation or get turned over to McVeigh's lawyers before he was executed in 2001, officials said.

The review of evidence and documents will also try to determine whether FBI agents in a separate investigation of white supremacist bank robbers may have failed to alert the Oklahoma City investigation of a possible link between the robbers and McVeigh, and allowed some of that evidence to be destroyed.

AP reported Wednesday that documents never introduced at McVeigh's trial showed FBI agents destroyed evidence and failed to share other information that raised the possibility that a gang of white supremacist bank robbers may have assisted McVeigh.

The evidence includes documents showing the Aryan Republican Army bank robbers possessed explosive blasting caps similar to those McVeigh stole and a driver's license with the name of a central player who was robbed in the Oklahoma City plot.

The documents don't prove additional accomplices were involved - blasting caps are plentiful and the gang was expert in document fraud. But the FBI agent who ran the investigation, Dan Defenbaugh, said his team never got the chance to investigate the evidence and he called for the probe to be reopened.

The April 19, 1995, bombing killed more than 160 people and McVeigh was put to death for it in 2001. His co-defendant, Terry Nichols, will stand trial in Oklahoma next week on state charges that could carry the death penalty.

Nichols' attorneys asked Thursday for the trial to be delayed in light of the AP story, but the judge refused.

FBI officials and Nichols' attorneys declined comment Friday night, citing a gag order in the case.

Government officials, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said the review will be handled by the FBI's inspection division, a unit of senior agents that routinely conducts reviews to ensure the bureau follows its own rules and conducts investigations properly.

The officials said the review was ordered ``out of an abundance of caution'' to ensure that any questions about additional conspirators be put to rest.

It is not the first time issues in the McVeigh case have had to be reopened. In 2001, the Justice Department was forced to conduct an internal investigation to determine why 4,000 pages of documents from the case were belatedly turned over to defense lawyers just days before McVeigh was supposed to be executed. The revelation prompted a one-month delay in the investigation.

Peter Langan, one member of the ARA robbery gang, told AP he plans to testify at Nichols' trial that federal prosecutors several years ago offered and then withdrew a plea deal for information he had about the Oklahoma City bombing.

Langan said he plans to testify that at least three fellow gang members were in Oklahoma around the time of the bombing and one later told him that they had become involved.

Agents who worked both the McVeigh bombing and the bank robbery spree - two of the FBI's highest priority cases of the 1990s - said they suspected a link between the two because of physical evidence as well as statements made by the robbers and a girlfriend.

The agents said they ruled out a connection when the bank robbers denied their involvement and provided an alibi showing they left Oklahoma three days before McVeigh's bomb detonated outside the Alfred P. Murrah federal building on April 19, 1995.

That alibi, however, was contradicted by information Langan offered prosecutors and by car sales records that showed the bank robbers were still in the Oklahoma area after they claimed to have left, FBI documents show.

McVeigh in 1994 stole from a quarry hundreds of construction blasting caps, some which he used to explode the Oklahoma City bomb. The FBI spent months unsuccessfully trying to locate many of the other stolen caps.

Agents collected witness testimony that McVeigh had placed some of the extra caps in two boxes wrapped in Christmas paper in the back of his car along with mercury switches and duffel bags.

One electric and five non-electric blasting caps were found in the Aryan Republican Army robbers' Ohio hideout in January 1996, along with mercury switches, a duffel bag and two items described as a ``Christmas package,'' FBI records show. The FBI allowed firefighters to destroy the caps at the scene, and they were never compared to the Oklahoma case.

FBI agents in the robbery case also determined that the bank robbers had an Arkansas driver's license in the name of Robert Miller, the alias name used by Arkansas gun dealer Roger Moore.

The government contended at McVeigh's trial that Moore was robbed at his Hot Springs, Ark., home in November 1994, and the proceeds were used to fund the Oklahoma City bombing.

One of the bank robbers, Mark Thomas, claimed in a newspaper in 1997 that one of his gang was involved in the Oklahoma bombing. And Thomas' ex-girlfriend told FBI agents her boyfriend stated shortly before he traveled to an Oklahoma white supremacist compound in spring 1995 that a federal building was about to be bombed.

the Denver Post named two

I'll see your Denver Post 'claim' and raise you one 'trumping' Michael Fortier - state's witness against McVeigh and one who filled in a number of details - no mention of 'others' in his testimony either apparently:

Michael Fortier's Statement

Michael Fortier read the following statement during his sentencing hearing, although some of his testimony differed from the written statement. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison for failing to warn authorities of the bombing plot, transporting stolen weapons, and lying to FBI agents when he was questioned after the bombing.

Note: Every effort has been made to precisely duplicate the content of the six-page handwritten statement of Michael Fortier. Spelling and style errors have been left intact.

Your Honor, I'd like to thank the Court for giving me this opportunity to speak.

I would also like to express my gratitude towards the U.S. Attorneys. It was clear to me, at times, that they were working under a heavey burden and yet they always treated me with respect and gave me fair treatment.

I have heard complaints that the F.B.I. have not done their job well. I have even complained about their treatment. This was before I got an inside look at how hard these people work. I know, by the questions that have been asked of me, that the F.B.I. has completely and thoroughly investigated the Oklahoma City bombing. They deserve all of our thanks.

My appreciation goes out to the U.S. Marshalls for their protection, transportation, and concern for my well being.

My lawyer, Mr. McGuire, has done so much for me. He always goes the extra mile and is, without a doubt, an excellent attorney. He is a caring and compassionate human being who I will forever be in debt.

Most importantly, my special thanks to the U.S. taxpayers. They have provided me, at no little cost, a level of legal representation I otherwise would not have had. Thank you all.

Your Honor, I shamefully admit that I have broken many laws. My actions and inactions have hurt a great number of people. I apologize to the good people of Oklahoma, Mr. Moore of Arkansas, my family, and the general public. You have all suffered for what I have done and what I failed to do.

In the fall of 1994, I was first asked by Tim McVeigh to help him and Terry Nichols blow up a building. I considered it an outlandish request and gave an equally outlandish and negative response.

Later, Tim explained to me how and why they wanted to do this. Very specific threats were made and, although I should have, I did not notify the police.

In December of 1994, I conspired to transport and then I did transport stolen weapons. I had to travel from Arizona to Kansas to get them. I was motivated by greed and did not care that they were stolen.

On the way there, I was shown the building in Oklahoma City that was being plotted against. I had neither the intent nor the desire to exit the highway that morning and I say for all to hear that I did not case the Murrah building. I did not and have not ever looked at any building with malice. Yet, I must add, I still did not take the information I had to the police.

In the spring of 1995, I was asked again by Tim to help with the bombing plan. I was told that Terry no longer wanted to help and then asked if I would do this or would I do that. I replied that I would not help in any way.

In another, later, conversation, I was told that we were no longer friends. Tim said he was on the high road and I was on the low road. Clearly we were both on the low road.

When I last saw him I thought his plan would never bear fruit. I thought he was heading to another part of the country to find people more like himself. I was terribly wrong.

I deeply regret not taking the information I had to the police. I should have let th epolice judge his intentions. Clearly I could not. I sometimes daydream that I did do this and I became a hero, but reality is that I am not.

The F.B.I. first spoke with me on the 21st of April. This day I proved beyond any doubt how self-centered and cowardly I could be. In the face of ungodly destruction and an ocean of grief I put myself first. I did not want anyone to know that I knew what had happened. I lied to the F.B.I. repeatedly and I concealed evidence I thought they would want.

My actions were terrible and I am so completely ashamed that I did not come forth with my knowledge right way.

In May of 1995, I was subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury in Oklahoma City. I decided to drive there from Arizona and it was this drive that was a turning point for me. After much consideration, I decided to tell what I knew.

I was appointed a lawyer and I started to cooperate with the authorities. I have been honest in my testimony and eager to help in any way.

Your Honor, I understand there is nothing I can say or do now that can make up for what I did an didn't do then. Cooperating with the authorities now does not change the facts. When I should have been thinking of the safety of my fellow man I was only thinking of myself. Nothing I say will change the past but maybe I can say something to affect the future.

I have paid close attention to the testimony given by the bombing survivors. I do this in an effort to understand what they went through and indeed are still going through. The stories are so horrifing, so heartbreaking, and so full of human suffering that I cannot bear them. I am too weak to contemplate them for long. I feel as if my mind will break and I'll cry and cry and never stop. I cannot say that I understand the depth of their grief but I try.

What I have come to understand is their strength. For them to deal with this horror on a daily basis and not let it destroy them shows strength of charactor that is unsurpassed. I have found a deep respect for these people.

Dear people, please, I offer my apology and I ask you to forgive me. I offer my apology in the hope that if you will accept it the pain I have caused you will be reduced. Let the anger you feel towards me drain from your hearts and be replaced with feelings of peace. Please, please, don't let thoughts of me continue to hurt you.

Your Honor, for the last three years I have done my best to correct my behavior. My mind is clear and drug free. I no longer crave crystal-meth and have gained thirty pounds while in jail. I am cleaned up on the inside as well as the outside. I have helped the Oklahoma City bombing victims and survivors by helping the Federal prosecutors and will continue to due so on a state level.

Thank you, Sir, for allowing me to speak.

I assert that these words are my own and have come solely from within.

Michael J. Fortier

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