Judge Refuses to Order Release of CIA Records in Oklahoma City Bombing Probe
A Salt Lake City lawyer who believes his brother died during an interrogation by FBI agents probing the Oklahoma City bombing has lost a request for CIA records in the probe.
U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups ruled that the agency was justified in withholding the records because of the government’s assertion that their release could jeopardize national security, according to stories in the Deseret News and the Salt Lake Tribune.
Although lawyer Jesse Trentadue lost his Freedom of Information request, he is buoyed because the judge confirmed the CIA was cooperating in the investigation that led to the conviction of Timothy McVeigh.
“This documents that the CIA was, in fact, involved,” Trentadue told the Deseret News. “The CIA is a foreign intelligence agency. It’s illegal for it to engage in intelligence activities in the U.S. That means there was some foreign involvement into the case.”
Trentadue’s brother, Kenneth Michael Trentadue, was found hanged in prison after being arrested on a parole violation in 1995. The death was ruled a suicide, but Jesse Trentadue believes his brother was mistaken for a bombing suspect and strangled with handcuffs during an interrogation, the Salt Lake Tribune says.
Jesse Trentadue has also filed a motion asking Waddoups to order the government to release videos from surveillance cameras on the morning of the bombing.
