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Why has she not spoken out before, then? Or is it because she was "allowed" to have this interview? Is she really who she says she is? And did it really happen the way she described it?

I saw this story months ago. I know because I specifically remember the unusual name Johnell. A search yields very little, but look at this excerpt from an AP story that appeared in the Sept. 25, 2001, Stockton (CA) Record:

Epling [Robert Epling, president of the Community Bank of Florida] said Monday that his bank, headquartered in Homestead, received a call from the FBI seven to 10 days ago saying that Atta had gone into a USDA office that until recently was in the bank's building. The agents asked if Atta had applied for such a loan from Community Bank, since USDA employees had apparently suggested to Atta that he try Epling's bank. Several USDA employees had recently identified Atta to the FBI, and recalled that he wore Tommy Hilfiger clothes and a lot of cologne, according to the FBI version of events provided to the bank. Epling said one employee had a vague memory of an encounter. ''All he remembers is an inquiry about a loan for buying crop-dusters,'' Epling said of his employee. The employee thought the inquiry was in 2000 and did not remember the customer well enough to identify him as Atta, Epling said. The FBI said Atta may have gone to the USDA offices in April 2000, Epling said. Employees in the USDA's Farm Service Agency, whose local office has since moved to neighboring Florida City, referred questions to a supervisor in the state headquarters. At a reporter's request, Kevin Kelley, state executive director for the USDA's Florida Farm Service Agency, contacted Johnell Bryant, a USDA loan manager in Florida City, to ask what had happened. Kelley said Bryant declined to comment. ''She said she was told by authorities not to speak about it,'' Kelley said. FBI officials said they could not confirm the account.

This story has Bryant refusing to comment, but I think there may have been another story at the time with more details. Does anybody recall this, or have a link?