There is a small audience of around 6 people and many empty chairs. The screen's transparent window shows the CSPAN2 logo and the words: NEXT: FBI & Terrorism Investigations Judicial Watch Announcer: "...television on CSPAN2. For the past 45 minutes here on CSPAN2 you were watching yesterday's briefing on FBI reorganization with Bureau Director Robert Mueller. This afternoon, he and Attorney General Ashcroft will hold another briefing on new investigative guidelines for the FBI. And Our coverage of this issue continues now with a news conference with Robert Wright, a special agent from the FBI's Chicago division. Mr. Wright is a client of the group Judicial Watch, and is expected to talk about what he sees as problems with the FBI's terrorism investigations. We'll also hear from a counsel from the group. Our live coverage is starting momentarily from the national press club." A man walks to the podium and tests the microphone. Tester: "1 2 1 2 1 2" Now the transparent window reads "Judicial Watch News Conference" and the header is changed to "Starting Shortly". Announcer: "While we're waiting for this briefing sponsored by Judicial Watch to start, let me tell you what's on the other networks. On CSPAN at this hour, the last few minutes of today's Washington Journal, then at at 10 o'clock this morning in a half an hour line coverage of a report on housing, that will be on CSPAN. And on CSPAN3 this morning, live from New York City, the ceremony marking the end of the recovery efforts at the World Trade Center site. That will be live at 10:30 on CSPAN3. Both houses of Congress are out of session continuing up to the Memorial Day recess, the Senate is back next Monday to consider its version of supplemental spending, and the House returns next Tuesday. Again, starting momentarily, a news conference on the FBI and the terrorism investigation sponsored by Judicial Watch, starting in just a few moments here on CSPAN2." The transparent window now reads: Washington, DC National Press Club This changes back and forth from: Starting Shortly: FBI and Terrorism Investigations Judicial Watch News Conference Larry Klayman: "Good Morning. My name is Larry Klayman, I'm chairman and general counsel of Judicial Watch, a public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and abuse. Standing at my right is the President of Judicial Watch, Tom Fitton, standing at my left is special agent Robert Wright of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Chicago Field Office. We are here today to conduct this press conference because Special Agent Wright has material information about FBI negligence and recklessness with regard to not investigating terrorism leading up to the events of 9 11. He is the first active FBI agent to appear before the cameras to speak directly to the American people about the breakdown of the FBI. Special Agent Wright is an American Hero. Special Agent Wright is coming forward on behalf of the American people at great risk to himself and to others that work with him and are around him. We first met Special Agent Wright several weeks, in fact months, before 9 11. We met him in the office of David Schippers, you might remember David Schippers of the law firm of Schippers and Bailey, he was the House of Representatives' Impeachment Counsel during the impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton. He asked us to participate as co-counsel on behalf of Robert Wright because of the important information that Special Agent Wright had to provide to the American People. From the very beginning, Special Agent Wright asked Judicial Watch and asked Dave Schippers to do everything that was appropriate under FBI procedure and policy to allow him to speak to the American people, and again this was before 9 11, to alert them that our government was not doing enough to fight terrorism in the United States. As a result, we wrote a series of letters to the FBI, and we are going to make these letters available to you today, under their policies and procedures asking for clearance for Special Agent Wright to be able to speak. He had written a book. His book is called "Fatal Betrayal with Regard to the Intelligence Mission of the FBI". He wanted to get this book out to the American people so they could read it, so they could demand change, so perhaps things like 9 11 would never happen. But it did happen, and after 9 11 happened, I was instructed to contact Attorney General John Ashcroft on behalf of Special Agent Wright, and to offer Special Agent Wright's assistance to the US Department of Justice of which I'm a proud alumnus. Unfortunately, we were met with resistance. The chief of the criminal division, Michael Chertoff, responded "We've had enough of conspiracy theories. We're not interested in talking to Special Agent Wright." In addition, we contacted members of Congress, both the Senate and the House, and we offered Special Agent Wright's assistance in trying to reform the FBI, this is nine months ago right after 9 11, to prevent further terrorist attacks and to shore up the lack of national security apparatus which had left us so exposed. Instead of being allowed to talk to Congress, the FBI threatened Robert Wright from coming forward, effectively threatened him with his job, and to this date has never responded to our letters allowing him to testify, to come forward to Congress or to speak to the American people, that has not responded positively. The most recent letter came at 5PM yesterday evening. It was addressed to Dave Schippers, our co-counsel, and was also faxed to Larry Klayman of Judicial Watch, that's me. And it's a very interesting letter and it's a very troubling letter in addition to being threatening. Just yesterday, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert Mueller, undoubtedly in a cover-your-derriere type of public policy pronouncement, a PR pronouncement, said that in fact he was very grateful for agents coming forward, agents like Colleen Rowley in Minnesota, who we applaud. She was a very brave lady, and she a did a lot of good in this country, by being able to expose the breakdown with regard to Zacharias Moussaui and the lack of following up on this individual getting training at flight schools, as other FBI memos suggest, to crash planes into the World Trade Towers and other national monuments and buildings. We applaud Agent Rowley. Bob Wright wanted to come forward long before Agent Rowley even thought of it. But instead of praising Robert Wright, and let me read you the praise that was given to Colleen Rowley, this is by the Director of the FBI, Robert Mueller, quote "Let me take a moment to thank Agent Rowley for her letter," Mueller said in front of cameras Wednesday, quote "It is critically important that I hear criticisms of the organization, including criticisms of me. In order to improve the organization, we must be open to criticism from within and from without, and to admitting and learning from our mistakes," unquote. Instead of following this new policy of openness at the FBI, an FBI who hid from the American people for nine months that they in fact they did have intelligence that there were Islamic radicals training to crash planes into the World Trade Towers and other monuments, this new policy of the FBI obviously was not sincere because at 5PM we got this letter, and I'm going to read it to you, this letter from the US Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Investigation, John E. Collingwood, Assistant Director, Office of Public and Congressional Affairs. As a past Department of Justice alumni, I can assure you that this was cleared by the Director of the FBI. "Dear Mr. Schippers: This is in response to your correspondence to Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Kneir dated May 22, 2002, concerning the intent of your client, Special Agent Robert G. Wright, to comment publicly about his duties and responsibilities. I would like to thank you for providing the FBI with advance notice of your client's intentions so we can provide appropriate guidance concerning his rights and obligations. Your letter indicates that you and Special Agent Wright believe that the value of his speech outweighs the interests of the FBI and is therefore protected under the 1st Amendment. The FBI's prepublication review process recognizes that employees have 1st Amendment rights and attempts to appropriately balance those rights with the sensitivity of information in FBI files that an employee may aquire by virtue of being employed by the FBI. Unauthorized disclosure of this type of information could impair national security, place human life in jeopardy, deny subjects of FBI investigations due process, or otherwise prevent the FBI from effectively discharging its responsibilities." In effect what they're writing here is is that what Special Agent Rowley of Minnesota has revealed would have put lives in jeopardy and jeopardize national security, yet the Director of the FBI is praising her for coming forward but writing a letter to Special Agent Wright effectively threatening him, and listen to hear these threats as I read this letter. "As the FBI's manual of administrative and operational procedures makes clear, an employee is obligated not to disclose any information within the scope of his employment agreement without written permission to do so. Neither the employee nor his lawyer," therefore they're talking to us, at Judicial Watch, and Dave Schippers at Schippers and Bailey, "may decide what information otherwise prohibited from disclosure may be publicly disseminated." The FBI is threatening not just Robert Wright, the FBI is threatening his counsel as well at the same time that Mueller is praising Colleen Rowley for coming forward after FBI gross negligence and recklessness has been exposed and the public is in an outcry. The letter continues: "please note, no objection to the disclosure or publication is being interposed solely because Special Agent Wright's comments may be disparaging of the FBI, the government, or its employees. Instead, our focus has been on advising Special Agent Wright that there is certain information which he is prohibited from disclosing pursuant to his employment agreement and FBI policy. As we have detailed in correspondence dated March 29th and May 10th, 2002, the review the FBI and the US Attorney's Office has conducted of Special Agent Wright's submissions indicate that the material concerns an open investigation," Rowley was talking about an open investigation, they're still investigating Moussaui, "matters occurring before a federal grand jury," certainly there are criminal proceedings under way with regard to Moussaui, "sensitive law enforcement techniques, intelligence information, and additional material otherwise prohibited from disclosure. Because his request was so intertwined with protected information, we were unable to authorize him from publicly disseminating this material." He can't disseminate it, that's what they're telling to Special Agent Wright. "The same hold true for any oral public comments Special Agent Wright may make regarding the subject matter described in our March 29th and May 10th 2002 letters" Yesterday, we blast-faxed all over creation information that we were going to hold this press conference, including right in to the Attorney General's office, we wanted him to know. "Pursuant to his employment agreement and FBI procedures, Special agent Wright is still not authorized to disseminate information we have previously advised is prohibited from disclosure at this time. As the guidelines further indicate, and we feel obligated to inform you," and this is key, "Breach of an employee's employment obligations may be grounds for disciplinary action, a civil suit, or both. In some instances, unauthorized disclosure may also constitute cause for revocation of a security clearance or be a criminal offense. We sincerely hope that this sort of action will not prove necessary. We want you to know that the FBI does take Special Agent Wright's allegations seriously and we have encouraged him to report any concerns he might have to an investigative entity with appropriate jurisdiction," so you the the media, the members of the Fourth Estate are not entitled to know anything, the FBI gets to decide what is the appropriate jurisdiction, "such as the Office of Professional Responsibility, the Office of the Inspector General, or the relevant Congressional committees that are investigating the terrorist attacks of September 11. Sincerely yours, John E. Collingwood, Assistant Director, Office of Public and Congressional Affairs." What unbelievable hypocrisy, if not illegality, for threatening Special Agent Wright for coming forward and talking to you just like Special Agent Rowley of Minnesota talked about Zacharias Moussaui. Our client, Special Agent Wright, and what he has to say is even more damning of the FBI than the testimony of Colleen Rowley because Special Agent Wright had 10 years of experience in dealing with the FBI. And as you're going to hear from him-- [coughs] -- he was thwarted, thwarted from doing his job and investigating Islamic money laundering in the United States -- [coughs] -- which monies went to finance terrorist activities here and overseas. The monies primary were laundered by Hezbollah, Hamas, groups which had been protected by successive American administrations because of administrations' coziness with Yasser Arafat, these are the groups that support Yasser Arafat. These are the groups which support a man favored by our Secretary of State, Colin Powell, to lead the negotiations on behalf of the Palestinian Authority in the Middle East. Now we have tried before now, before this press conference, to get this information out. Special Agent Wright had gotten to know a reporter of the New York Times, and that reporter was actually wanting to write a story about what he had to say many months ago. And it was in that context that we asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation not only to clear the manuscript, the book, that Special Agent Wright is writing about betrayals of the intelligence community, but also to clear certain questions. The FBI would not clear those questions, and the article was never written. But we are in front of you today to make as much disclosure as we possibly can without jeopardizing Special Agent Wright, without subjecting him to criminal prosecutions, without subjecting him to further threats and intimidations by the Director of the FBI who simply, and this is my opinion, did not do his job and let the country down, by an administration which despite being elected on the basis of restoring national security slept for nine months and did virtually nothing to shore up the inadequacies of the FBI, and by administration which comes forward yesterday only to cover their backside after it becomes apparent that they hid information from the American people for nine months, material information as to how in the new admission of FBI director Robert Mueller, the 9 11 attacks could have possibly have been prevented. But rather than allowing Special Agent Wright to come forward and speak like Colleen Rowley, who is now being disingenuously praised by the FBI director, our client is being threatened. But he is going to say as much as he's can. And we've produced certain materials to you which are public. And we're available to answer questions to the extent we can, particularly counsel. And we thank you for coming and the support that you as members of the media, members of the Fourth Estate, get the information out, to make this story as important as the Coleen Rowley story because it is complementary of that story, and to hear about what Special Agent Wright has to say about the so-called reorganization of the FBI, because all it is is cosmetic, it's simply putting icing on an otherwise stale cake. There needs to be a total reorganization, there needs to be a new agency, you'll hear, the FBI is incapable of fighting terrorism. And in fact we're now hearing predictions, on almost a ten minute basis, of new terrorist attacks, statements by the Vice President himself that we're powerless to prevent nuclear and biochemical attack, just this morning statements by the US Customs Service that we will not be able to restrain containers containing nuclear devices coming into the country. And I ask, as chairman of Judicial Watch and as representative of the American people, what have you, the Bush Administration, been doing for the last nine months that just now you're advising the American people that we don't have the defenses, even after having lost 3000 lives. I'll now introduce you to Special Agent Robert Wright. I want to also introduce you to our co-counsel David Schippers, who has been instrumental, a true American hero in his own right, in bringing, no pun intended, Special Agent Wright to the attention of the American people. David Schippers has some comments, he's in his office in Chicago, Illinois, I'll turn you over to Dave Schippers and then Bob Wright. David Schippers: "Good morning everybody--" Klayman: "Dave--" Schippers: "I'm not going to take much time, but I have not seen that letter that Larry read, just read, because I have been out of town, I just got back last night, I talked to Larry and he told me about the letter, and about the same threats that we've been getting from Day One. This young man, Robert Wright, is in my opinion a great American because he has the courage to come forward. We have dotted every I and crossed every T, we've done everything that the FBI requires before an individual comes out and talks publicly, and every stage we've been completely dismissed, we've been dismissed by the Congress, we've been dismissed by the Attorney General, we've been dismissed by the FBI, indeed we've been threatened by the FBI and by the Attorney General's office. At one point, when Mr. Wright was going to talk to a Representative of the Congress, he was told that he and his lawyer would find themselves in great difficulty if they made one wrong statement. This is the type of thing and this is the way the FBI has over the years has checked people from any kind of criticism. Now, you will note at the end of that letter, we were told that with there are appropriate people that we could go to with our complaint. What was it, Bob could tell you, I think it was 6 or 8 months ago, Bob had before 9 11 Bob filed a formal complaint with the Inspector General's office against the FBI and against the manner in which they were conducting or not conducting their terrorist--antiterrorist activities. Very recently, within the last two weeks, I finally received acknowledgment from the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General. The individuals charged by statute and by Executive order with investigating any complaints by FBI agents or other whistleblowers within the department. I was told that the Inspector General's Office, quote, "does not have the facilities to conduct an investigation of this scope. Therefore we are going to send it over to the Joint Committee of the Congress, the Senate and House Joint Committee." Now, I don't know if they've sent it over or not, but I haven't heard word one from the Senate or the House about Robert Wright or what he has. It seems to me that this is just a typical method. Throw it over to the Congress, tell the Congress that they can investigate, and then tell Agent Wright that he's not allowed to divulge anything to the Congress. When I heard Agent, er, Director Mueller yesterday congratulate an agent for coming forward, I thought perhaps that maybe there is a new aura in the bureau and maybe things are going to change. They may change in Mr. Mueller's mind but the bureaucracy will never change, and by adding to that bureaucracy all it does is give them more individuals that they can hide stuff with and places to place the blame. I'm going to let you talk to Bob. Bob, be very careful because you're in their crosshairs, as am I, again, and just don't go into any specifics, any particulars into any case, even though both you and I know that there is no case, but they claim there is so we'll follow their guidelines, the same guidelines that put three thousand people on the street dead in New York. Go ahead." Klayman: "Let me add, Dave, before we get into that, that despite the fact that Bob is being prevented from speaking specifically just like Agent Rowley has being praised for doing, look at Rowley's letter. If you were to take the letter that we received yesterday evening from the FBI, and it had to have been reviewed by the FBI Director at this point because they knew Bob was out there, if you had taken this letter and juxtaposed it with Rowley's letter, Rowley would likely be criminally prosecuted, be put away for life. You could see the hypocrisy in what they're saying. And the double hypocrisy is that when Bob started to try to get his story out to the New York Times, a reporter by the name of Judith Miller, a Pulitzer Prize award winning reporter I might add, one of the top reporters on terrorism, is that the FBI flew people in to meet with her and gave her whatever information, of course in a twisted way, that she desired, but yet Bob was not allowed to talk with her, and that's why, ultimately, one of the reasons she didn't write the story. So you can see the hypocrisy here in what Director Mueller said yesterday, was just words. It was not in fact the reality of the FBI--" The picture becomes black, probably technical troubles. Klayman: "--again, in the words of Special Agent Rowley, and this is Larry Klayman talking, he was not honest and candid with the American people." The picture is replaced by the Channel 3 logo and the words Washington Journal Segment Curran L26377 5-30-2002 KAW-EDT The picture becomes a woman speaking, but there is no sound. It becomes a black screen again. The technical problems last for about 35 seconds. Klayman: "--and we have some corroboration here today, that we're going to provide." Wright: "First of all, I'd like to say I'm not representing the FBI. Anything I say is not supported by the FBI or the opinions of the FBI, these are my own personal opinions. What I am about to read to you, I had submitted for pre-publication review and it was approved, this was back in February. Since August of 1999, I have been working to legally expose the very real and foreseeable Middle Eastern terrorist threats to American citizens at home and abroad. From 1993 to 1999, I was assigned to the Chicago division's counterterrorism task force. In this capacity I became familiar with the techniques used by international terrorist organizations to surreptitiously move money, laundered money, in and out of the United States, and including through the use of domestic financial institutions, in support of terrorist and paramilitary activities and operations in the United States and abroad, including the state of Israel and elsewhere. Against the wishes of some of the FBI, in 1995 when I uncovered criminal violations of several of my cases, I promptly initiated act of terrorism criminal investigations on these subjects. I developed probable cause to believe that some of these transfers or transmissions have been of money intended to be used in the support of domestic and international terrorism activities. The illegal transfers have supported specific terrorist activities involving the extortion, kidnaping and murder of at least one Israeli citizen. The successful investigation, which was code named Bulgar Betrayal, B U L G A R Betrayal, led to the June 1998 seizure of 1.4 million dollars of Middle Eastern terrorist funding. The seizure was the first occasion that the United States government utilized civil forfeiture laws to seize assets in the United States. These funds were linked directly to Saudi businessman Yasin Qadi. On October 12, 2001, approximately 1 month after the attack, Yasin Qadi was designated by the United States government as a financial supporter of Osama bin Laden. Despite the unqualified success of the investigation of the Middle Eastern terrorists, FBI management failed to take seriously the threat of terrorism in the United States. Specifically, FBI management intentionally and repeatedly thwarted and obstructed my attempts to launch a more comprehensive investigation to identify and to neutralize terrorists. The FBI's lack of support for the Bulgar Betrayal investigation was obvious to my new supervisor, in 1998 who after only four months of being on the squad wrote, quote, "Agent Wright has spearheaded this effort despite an embarrassing lack of investigative resources available to the case such as computers, financial analysis software, and a team of financial analysts. Although far from being concluded, the success of this investigation so far has been entirely due to the foresight and perseverance of Agent Wright," close quote. Although the Bulgar Betrayal investigation had been proposed for designation as a major FBI case because of its far reaching scope, in 1999, in an effort to further the terrorism investigation, I had to purchase much needed software, computer software, and a scanner with my own funds since I was unable to obtain the necessary funding from the FBI. I sought to communicate my experiences, as Larry had said and David said, to Congress and others in the public interest following the September 11 attacks, however a threat was leveled by a Department of Justice official against me through my attorneys to prevent me from meeting with members of Congress during the week following September 11." Klayman: "It came from the Attorney General's office." Wright: "In fact, the following morning, an order to prevent me from traveling from Washington DC, err, to Washington DC from Chicago on my own time, I was told by the FBI division that I could not travel outside of Chicago without permission from the FBI. My efforts have always been geared towards neutralizing the terrorist threats focused on taking the lives of American citizens, in addition to harming the national and economic security of America. However, as a direct result of the incompetency and at times intentional obstruction of justice by FBI management to prevent me from bringing the terrorists to justice, Americans have unknowingly been exposed to potential terrorist attacks for years. Since August 1999, I have been working to legally expose the FBI's incompetence and dereliction of duty in the terrorism unit. As a result, starting in August of 1999, I began writing a manuscript. It was single spaced, 500 pages, and it was titled "Fatal Betrayals of the Intelligence Mission." The manuscript outlines the FBI's intentional at times failure to pursue the terrorists and thereby prevent terrorist attacks. Ironically, I completed the text of the manuscript two days after the September 11 attack, on September 10 I had all but the last three pages completed. In addition, on November 5 2001, through my attorneys a 38 page complaint was filed with the United States Department of Justice Office of Inspector General's Office, for, quote, "dereliction of duty by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in failing to investigate and prosecute terrorism, and obstruction of justice in retaliating against Special Agent Robert Wright Junior." Also in January 14, actually February of 2002, through my attorney David Schippers, a 118 page complaint was filed with the United States Department of Justice Office of Inspector General detailing whistleblowing retaliation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation against myself. FBI rules and regulations prohibit me from disseminating these documents to anyone, including President Bush and members of Congress, before submitting the written material to the prepublication review unit of the FBI. Therefore, in a good faith effort to legally share the contents of all these documents with the President, members of Congress, and the American people, I have abided by the FBI's established rules and submitted the manuscript and complaints to the FBI's prepublication unit for review. On June 9, 2001, after questioning by friends, coworkers, and family members regarding my motive for writing this manuscript and for exposing the Bureau's dereliction of duty in the terrorism arena, I drafted a mission statement which was completed 91 days before September 11, and I will read that to you now, that also was reviewed by FBI headquarters and approved. The mission statement reads, "The FBI is America's top law enforcement agency, and as such its mission is to protect America and its citizens at home and abroad. The strength of the FBI has always been in the public's trust and integrity in the quality of the FBI's investigations. However, in light of the many FBI mistakes which have surfaced during the past decade and additional mistakes which will be exposed in future legal actions and a book I'm writing entitled "Fatal Betrayals of the Intelligence Mission," Americans' confidence in the FBI will further erode. However, as a nation we must work together in seeking to regain the confidence level we once had in the FBI to achieve its vital mission of protecting the safety and welfare of its citizens at home and abroad. The FBI is going through a difficult time. However, I am confident the FBI and the American people can overcome these difficulties. Together we can and must resolve the difficult issues surrounding the problems within the FBI. America can not afford to have its top law enforcement agency continue to be lax in areas fundamental to the national security of this country. I love America and I love the FBI, particularly its purpose and its mission. However, the mission has been seriously jeopardized, in my opinion, to the point that American lives have been needlessly lost. Accordingly, I'm seeking a thorough review and complete housecleaning to identify and fix the FBI's problems, whether they be managers, agents, procedures, policies, and/or inadequate laws." Excuse me.." [kneels. someone says "sorry about that"] ""In my opinion, there are a combination of reasons why the FBI has failed to maintain the public trust. These include the lack of quality managers, the lack of program goals and objectives, the lack of modern computer technology, the failure to modernize investigative objectives, the agency is overwhelmed with too many investigative violations, the lack of independent oversight of the agency, and by that I mean incompetent managers are not held accountable for their mistakes, serious, there are serious intelligence versus criminal investigative conflicts which have contributed toward the preventable deaths of American citizens, the FBI's duplication of investigative jurisdiction of other federal law enforcement agencies such as the DEA and the ATF. As an 11 year veteran of the FBI, it is my opinion that the management of the FBI is incapable of resolving these issues on its own. Any cosmetic attempt by the FBI to fix itself is not realistic, in my opinion. Little would actually change, mainly due to mentality of the core FBI leadership." And again, this was written before Director Mueller became the director. "Therefore, in the interests of America's national and economic security, I believe President Bush and Congress should work together to implement a task force made up of experts from outside the FBI to conduct a top to bottom review of the FBI's hiring procedures, investigative procedures, outdated or unnecessary investigative violations, information technology, records management, overall organizational structure, and the FBI's mission." And many of these have been addressed since this was drafted. "The task force should include experts, in my opinion, from state and local law enforcement offices, computer technology experts, management information specialists, and state and federal prosecutors. I believe anyone who is affected by or relies upon the FBI should be involved in this critical and necessary restructuring of the FBI. The information collected by the FBI should be utilized to effectively protect American citizens and the national and economic security of America. I believe a significant portion of the criminal activity investigated by the FBI is linked directly to the sale or the use of illegal drugs. The FBI has even established drug squads throughout the country to investigate drug related matters. However, in my opinion, there is a separate federal agency, the Drug Enforcement Agency DEA which already exists, therefore, I believe such a task force investigating the FBI for restructuring should seriously consider consolidating the DEA into the FBI. More importantly, the task force must seriously consider removing the terrorism investigative matters from the hands of the FBI. For reasons of consistency, reliability, and national security, these responsibilities should be assigned to a new federal antiterrorism agency. Simply switch the terrorism responsibilities of the FBI with the drug enforcement responsibilities. Knowing what I know," and again this was written 91 days before the attack, "Knowing what I know, I can confidently say that until the investigative responsibilities of terrorism are removed from the FBI, I will not feel safe. The FBI has proven for the past decade it cannot identify and prevent acts of terrorism against the United States and its citizens at home and abroad. Even worse, there is virtually no effort on the part of the FBI's international terrorism unit to neutralize known and suspected terrorists residing within the United States. Unfortunately, more terrorist attacks against American interests, coupled with the loss of American lives, will have to occur before those in power give this matter the urgent attention it deserves. Realizing more American lives are going to be needlessly lost, no one should expect me to sit idly by and pretend to forget the things that I know. By sharing what I know, the terrorism problems plaguing America may be corrected. Knowing what I know, I truly believe I would be derelict in my duty as an American, if I did not do my best to bring the FBI's dereliction of duty to the attention of others. Therefore, in an effort to prevent more deadly terrorist attacks against American interests at home and abroad, I have made it my mission, with the legal assistance that of attorney David Schippers, to legally expose the problems of the FBI to the President of the United States, to the United States Congress, and to the American people. You may object to the manuscript, there has been a few people who are going to say that this is for profit, and that's just not the case, it was to be made available to Congress so that changes could be made, and the manuscript outlines in very specific detail what I believe allowed September 11 to happen. " [Klayman whispers something] "Yes, and it was written before September 11 except for the last three pages, so.. and I don't know if Congress is aware of it, if the Bureau has made Congress aware of it, that's part of the purpose of today's press conference so that they are well aware of it. I believe they need to review this, whoever is the investigative arm does need to review this document so the families and victims of September 11, on behalf of John Vincent, Barry Carmody, and myself, we're sorry." Wright leaves the podium, apparently crying. Klayman: "The reference to John Vincent and Barry Carmody are references to other FBI agents who want to come forward to tell the truth. When introducing in a few minutes through Tom Fitton, formerly our president who is going to read a sworn affidavit by Barry Carmody dealing with one aspect of this whole sordid affair and how the FBI failed to do its job. I want to point out that under FBI regulations, after Judicial Watch and Dave Schippers requested clearance for Special Agent Wright to talk to the American people, and you could see that he was trying to make the change inside the FBI before 9 11 happened, the FBI had this information, the Attorney General most likely had this information, John Ashcroft, but they wouldn't even give him clearance, and they had 30 days to give him clearance, that's the regulation. Instead of giving him clearance they jerked him around, and they continue to do more than jerk him around by threatening him with criminal prosecution for coming forward. I now turn it over to Tom Fitton who is going to read you the sworn statement of Barry Carmody, there will be more FBI agents coming forward and they will be doing it in short order because they represent the American people before they represent bureaucratic hacks in Washington, DC." Fitton: "Good morning, my name is Tom Fitton, I'm president of Judicial Watch, before I read Mr. Carmody's declaration I'd like to read a excerpted portion of the sworn statement made by our client, Mr. Wright, that was released to Mr. Wright under the Freedom of Information Act, it's a public document, it was approved for release with some excisions by the Department of Justice and the FBI. "In April of 1999, Special Agent", the name is blanked, "had telephoned and advised me that a friend of his worked as an accountant for a company upon which I had served the company president and vice president with federal grand jury subpoenas. He also advised me that the accountant was concerned about harming his application he had submitted to the FBI to become a translator. Through the course of my investigation, it had been determined that this company had received financing from," the memo is blank, "and the United States designated Hamas terrorist," blank, "Each of the F we mentioned are Muslim. A few weeks later I received another telephone call from this agent. He advised me that he had been telephoned by the accountant who stated that the president of the company was aware of his relationship with this agent. The president inquired that the accountant could arrange a meeting between this special agent and the company president regarding the Chicago investigation. The accountant then mentioned his concerns to Special Agent blank that the funds the accountant was transferring overseas on behalf of the company may have been used to finance the embassy bombings of Africa. In addition, the accountant recounted unusual events following the receipt of the subpoenas. One of the events that was highly unusual to him involved a friend of his coming to the United States from a Middle Eastern country and secretly moving in with the company president and vice president. This special agent asked if I desired him to speak with the president of the company. I advised him that I desired him to have the meeting and to wear a concealed recording device or wire to record what transpired. I then went to the United States Attorney's Office and discussed this matter with them and they agreed that the wire would be of great interest to their investigation, or our investigation. When I returned to the office my supervisor summoned me to the office and advised me that this special agent was not going to wear the wire and that I should forget about it. Later, while at the United States Attorney's Offices on other matters, the question of special agents wearing the wire was brought up by one of the attorneys. The assistant US attorneys still desired the special agent to wear the wire. A conference telephone call was then arranged between three assistant US attorneys, a fellow FBI special agent, and myself calling from Chicago, Illinois, and speaking with this special agent and his supervisor in Dallas, Texas. The assistant US attorneys expressed to this special agent the importance of the investigation and the recorder wire. The special agent stated that he would only record the individual if he told him that he was wearing a wire. One of the assistant US attorneys told the special agent that they would get a meeting location wired so that the special agent would not have to wear a wire. This was not acceptable to that special agent. He then proposed placing a tape recorder on a table and then speaking with the individual. When this was deemed unacceptable by those present, the special agent advised he would meet with the individual and report the meeting on an FB302," which is an official report form, "as he had done before in response to a similar request from the FBI in Tampa. The assistant US attorneys present advised that this was not what they desired and inquired what the group of the objection was to wearing the wire. The special agent advised that he feared for his safety, when he was told the FBI could protect him, the special agent told him he did not trust the FBI to protect him. The assistant US attorneys continued to ask why the special agent would not wear the wire and he stated, "A Muslim does not record another Muslim." Sometime thereafter the US attorneys, believing that this telephone conference would be revisited, drafted a document describing the events discussed. I believe this was done as they felt the decision which would come into question at a later date and they desired to have a record of this position. I believe this document may also have been signed by the United States Attorney and is maintained by this office. Later, while speaking about a different matter to a special agent in the FBI Washington field office, I explained the problems I was having getting this special agent to wear a wire. I was informed that his office had problems with the special agent previously. I was advised that his office had drafted a document and sent it to the FBI Dallas office expressing their concerns about the special agent contacting subjects of their investigations and not disclosing these contacts to the special agents conducting the investigations." Further, I was told to speak with a particular special agent in Tampa's FBI office. And this special agent is a friend of Mr. Wright's and he related that the subject of one of his investigations, who is Muslim, had once reached out to this special agent we're talking about, and he had refused to wear a wire when they requested. We have here the declaration of, in addition to the document I just read from, the declaration of Barry Carmody which is sworn too under oath, and which is signed today. Oh, and Wright's is sworn under oath as well, the document which you all have. "I, Barry Carmody, a resident of Hillsborough County, Florida, hereby declare as follows. I am a retired 34 year veteran special agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. During my service with the FBI, I was charged with conducting criminal and foreign counterintelligence investigations pursuant to Department of Justice regulations and US law. From 1995 through February of 2000, and in a course of conducting a lawful investigation within the jurisdiction of the FBI's Tampa office, I had occasion to seek the assistance of a FBI special agent assigned to the Dallas FBI office. I asked Special Agent blank to record a telephone conversation during a meeting with an individual involved in an open FBI criminal investigation. Special Agent blank refused to record this telephone conversation, saying he would make the call but would not record it. I said this was unsatisfactory, it had been discussed with the United States Attorneys office in Tampa, and we required a recorded conversation. He still refused to record the conversation. His refusal to record the telephone conversation may have had negatively impacted the conduct of the FBI's investigation. I informed FBI headquarters twice about this incident, in 1998 and again in 2000, but I am aware of no disciplinary action being taken against him in this matter. In fact, I have been told that Special Agent Robert G. Wright Junior had a similar experience with Special Agent blank in the course of a subsequent investigation being pursued. Thus done and signed in the presence of undersigned witnesses on May 3 2000," and it's signed here by Barry Carmody." Klayman: "In conclusion, let me thank the excellent work of David Schippers who has become an national advisor to Judicial Watch. Judicial Watch is in the process of opening a Chicago office. We are working together on this matter. As you can see, it's not just a question of Special Agent Rowley, it's not just a question of Special Agent Wright, but there are many FBI agents that are willing to come forward and will come forward to tell the story about what is happening at the FBI. And despite politically convenient statements that the FBI is being reorganized, only after these agents either came forward or it was known that they were going to come forward, and it was known that Special Agent Wright was going to come forward today before Director Mueller decided he was going to announce an FBI reorganization yesterday, not a coincidence at all, despite all of that these are simply cosmetic reforms. As Special Agent Wright has talked about, jurisdiction needs to be removed from the FBI because the corruption is too endemic to allow them to continue to allegedly, allegedly protect the American people. The FBI has not protected the American people. Special Agent Wright was prevented from doing his job. He wished that he could have done his job. You could see the emotion, he broke down in tears at the end of this press conference because he believes that if the FBI had performed as it was supposed to perform it is very likely that we would not have had September 11. And, unfortunately, even the FBI Director and the Attorney General, despite covering up what happened for almost nine months, have been forced to admit the same thing. We look to you, the members of the media, to force the FBI to take action, just make full disclosure, to come forward to allow Special Agent Wright and others to speak freely and fully without threat of criminal prosecution so the American people, we the people by the people, that's the Constitution, have control of their own destiny before thousands, according to predictions by Vice President Cheney millions of Americans, needlessly lose their lives to nuclear, biochemical, and other types of terrorist attacks in this country. Thank you for your attention. We look forward to working with you to get the full information out to the American people." Schippers: "Larry?" Klayman: "Yes?" Schippers: "May I talk to Bob off the speakerphone, please?" Klayman: "Yes. [to Fitton] Go in the other room. He'll call you on the cell phone. [to the audience] Any questions?" The camera shows the audience. There are more people than at the start. Audience Member: "Larry, let me ask for us, you know, how this, what specific thing that Mr. Wright knows about that actually relates with foreknowledge of terrorist activity in the United States?" Klayman: "Yes.." Audience Member: "Things like Hamas is moving, wiring money over to Israel that would help Hamas and he wanted to expand the investigation somewhat not wanting to record something, I'm sure there's more to it, but can you lay that out for us?" Klayman: "Yes. Well, I can lay it out generally. I can't lay out the actual investigations that the FBI has threatened criminal prosecution. The issue here, and we would have laid it out and we're prepared to lay it all out, this press conference is scheduled to last an hour and a half, but in essence what we're talking about here is what this administration has admitted is the foundation of terrorist activities both domestically and internationally, and that is the funding of terrorists. Bob Wright conceived of and was in on the ground floor of investigating radical Islamic money laundering in the United States through Islamic charities, banks, and other institutions. If that investigation had been allowed to run its course and be conducted in a professional manner, the monies to fund terrorist operations such as 9 11 would have been cut off, and that's what he was looking into. With regard to Hezbollah and Hamas, these are the groups which primarily are engaged in the money laundering in the United States, contrary to the statements of our Secretary of State Colin Powell, they are not-- or the implications of Colin Powell, that he is a passive supporter of Yasser Arafat, these are not benign organizations. These organizations that are funding terrorism here and overseas, and if you cut that money off, there's a good chance you would have cut off the monies that ultimately went to 9 11 and other terrorist operations, and you'll see throughout what Bob Wright had to say that 9 11 wasn't the only terrorist event here in the United States, some of them are classified, some of them are not known. The FBI has knowledge about many other terrorist attacks that the American people have never been informed of, in this county, so that's in essence of what we're talking about. And, he wanted to come forward long before 9 11, we were taking those steps beginning last summer to do that, the FBI had 30 days to allow that to occur, they violated their own regulations, they covered it up just like they covered up what was going up in Illinois and Minnesota. And what happened was nine months after 9 11, a brave agent named Coleen Rowley comes forward and says "I don't care what the FBI does to me, I'm going to talk," she created such a groundswell that she brought the FBI Director and the Bush White House to its knees, and are now thanking her, but if they go by the letter that they just sent to Special Agent Wright, they would be prosecuting her, probably asking for life imprisonment, because she did talk about what is going on in her investigations." Audience Member: "[unintelligible] what would be, do you know what the FBI did to thwart this followup investigation, other than being number 1 not providing enough computer technology, and number 2 this special agent refusing to wear a wire when someone interceded, could you tell us what the FBI had--" Klayman: "I can talk generally. I can't get into specifics. The general aspects of this concern obviously, not having adequate resources to conduct terrorism reviews, not having adequate equipment, not having managers who were willing to take strong action, as Bob Wright spoke to you about this, the mentality of the FBI is once you get an investigation you milk it, you keep it going because you're worried that if you don't keep it going in the typical government bureaucratic way the funding may cut off, be cut off, and you may ultimately be demoted or sent to the outer banks of Alaska, not to mention the outer banks of Maryland, for purgatory, and this is the mentality there, and it's what Rowley was talking about as well, a lack of wanting to take risks, a political correctness with this Muslim agent, no question that he's being disloyal to the United States because if you do you might offend Muslims in this country. Well, if that was the case, how would we ever have caught Jonathan Pollard, Jonathan Pollard was Jewish and they used Jewish agents to catch him, and how would you ever catch Asian terrorists or Asian agents if you didn't use Asians? This isn't a question of political profiling or political correctness, this is a question of doing what's effective, and we need Muslim agents to be undercover to do the work, and when those agents say they're not going to do their job because they're more loyal to Muslims than they are to the United Staten then the FBI should be taking action and removing them from their posts, at a minimum. This is the mentality of the FBI. It is the walking wounded of the bureaucratic Washington DC which spends more time on Mondays and Fridays planning their vacations than doing their job, and has created the mentality for 9 11." Audience Member: "Did Agent Wright ever specifically asks for the whistleblower protection status, uhh, Agent Wright?" Klayman: "Yes. No response. He is a whistleblower. As alluded to by Special Agent Wright, Dave Schippers asked for that status, about a whistleblower. I can catch you the date, I don't have it right now." Audience Member: "Why do you care whether the FBI is threatening you with criminal prosecution for [unintelligible] information [unintelligible], isn't that what you do?" Klayman: "I'm a lawyer. I have to follow the instructions of my client, and my client values his FBI career, my client loves the agency, and my client has instructed me not to assist him in releasing information about the investigation. So, as a lawyer, as a lawyer, I have to obey my client's instructions, and what we're asking for you, the media, is to demand that Bob Wright be allowed to come forward just like Coleen Rowley and not be retaliated against so we can say what it is he has to say, and we're prepared to have other press conferences and make you available to Special Agent Wright but we need that media groundswell and the public groundswell to protect this man. His career depends on what he's put into the FBI, and we can't jeopardize that as his counsel." Audience Member: "I'll ask a little bit more, just exactly what it was Agent Wright uncovered, was it a few individuals, an extensive network, and was it clear evidence the monies were being used for terrorist extortions and murders and such?" Klayman: "I can't get into specifics, but there were names mentioned in the recitation of Special Agent Wright, he talked about the Saudi businessman that he obviously had focused on, and this businessman had turned out, the administration had to admit it after 9 11, was actually the right hand money launderer of Osama bin Laden. Bob Wright was focused on this individual years earlier, and they tried to prevent him from doing his job, and investigating and prosecuting this particular person, this Saudi businessman, his name is in the materials." Audience Member: "[unintelligible] the intelligence committees in the House and Senate do most of their work in secret, and I know at least one member who doesn't bother to attend because he doesn't think they'd accomplish very much. There are, however, other committees in Congress, headed by people that I would think would be only too anxious to sink their teeth into this and run with it. Do you have any contacts indicating that somebody up in Congress is going to [unintelligible]?" Klayman: "We have, and in the process of doing that, but remember that Special Agent Wright, when we went to contact Congress because we were bringing him to Washington to meet with a particular Congressman in particular, who would have further reprised interest, right after we did that he was threatened by the FBI not to travel outside of Chicago. This has been a constant threat to him, and he does value his career, and we did get the information out in a press release a number of months ago, but now the fact that he's appearing in front of the cameras, and that's something which even Special Agent Rowley didn't do, she's obviously still quite fearful about what might happen to her, and we sympathize with her and are available to help her if she ever needs the help, Wright is coming forward and I hope that his face on television and in the written press will cause American people to demand Congress to utilize his services. And also, if you didn't hear me, I went specifically, I called the Attorney General's office days after 9 11. I said, "Dave Schippers and I represent a special agent of the Chicago field office who has years of information about how the FBI did not do its job, did not in any way investigate in a meaningful way money laundering in the United States, you're now claiming you want to do this, I'd like to make him available to you, Attorney General Ashcroft." And I was met with a response by Michael Chertoff, head of the Criminal Division, "We're tired of conspiracy theories." Now here's somebody, Chertoff, frankly who bears a lot of the responsibility for not getting the job done since 9 11. And the people in and around John Ashcroft bear that responsibility, including the Attorney General himself who in my opinion has been derelict. Now he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar, he's giving press conferences but up until now, he's been sleeping for the last nine months." Audience Member: "As a follow up, Congressional committees do have subpoena power. Do you know anybody in Congress who might be willing to go up against the FBI on that?" Klayman: "I would guess that someone like Senator Shelby would be interested in that. I have contacted individuals, in the intelligence committee such as Senator Arlen Specter and others, and I hope that they would have the courage to go more strongly at this than they had the courage to go after Chinagate, which wasn't very much courage at all. Audience Member: "[unintelligible] word corruption, you said corruption in the FBI is too endemic. I don't recall that word being used in Mr. Wright's mission statement. How do you define corruption in this [unintelligible]?" Klayman: "Corruption is knowing when something is not being done, knowing when the American people are being left unprotected, and when you made a decision not to do something to protect the American people, which in fact you're required to do under the Constitution of the United States, to protect the American people from tyranny foreign and domestic, and you effectively allow 9 11 to occur, that is the ultimate form of government corruption, dereliction of duty. That is subject in the military to prosecution for courtmartial, and I suggest that some of these bureaucrats should think seriously about whether they have risen to the level of being even liable legally for what they have not done to protect the American people. That's corruption, that's one form of corruption, it's no less than being bribed, it's no less than sharing classified information with the enemy, it rises to the level of significant government corruption, frankly, if not treason." Audience Member: "What exactly are Agent Wright's duties right now?" Klayman: "Right now, he has been demoted to a level, he's not being allowed to work with terrorism investigations, he's working in innocuous meaningless things, that's what he's doing. Yes, he's a paper pusher." Audience Member: "[unintelligible]" Klayman: "He's in the Dirksen, in the Dirksen building. I suggest you check with the FBI and ask them why one of the most knowledgeable people in terrorism is now being demoted to being a paper pusher." Audience Member: "[unintelligible] Who is the Congressman who [unintelligible]" Klayman: "He didn't meet with any Congressmen. We cont... I can't reveal that, that was confidential communication." Audience Member: "What is the status of this lawsuit, this was filed when?" Klayman: "Yes, we filed a lawsuit two weeks ago to force the FBI to allow the manuscript to be made public. Again, they had 30 days to approve it, and they have had many months to approve it, and we're asking the courts to order the FBI to follow its own regulations. It was filed two weeks ago tomorrow." Audience Member: "[unintelligible]" Klayman: "I'll take all the questions." Audience Member: "You suggested that the September 11 terrorist [unintelligible] had been funded by money that has been raised by [unintelligible] to go to people in Indonesia or--" Klayman: "In part." Audience Member: "or, but I don't understand it, if Osama bin Laden had founded the terrorist movement, so are these [unintelligible] workers that you give to them [unintelligible]?" Klayman: "That needs to be investigated, and that was in fact what was hampered from being investigated. It's not in dispute that monies were raised and laundered by Islamic charities in the United States, some of them tied with Saudi Arabia and Osama bin Laden, who have used against Americans and others in terrorist acts. That is not in dispute. In fact, it was Judicial Watch which filed the first complaint against the Islamic charities, you can find it on our web site at judicialwatch.org, with the Internal Revenue Service who spent the last eight years investigating critics of the Clinton administration but would not audit these Islamic charities. Now, after Judicial Watch made an issue of this, and after Special Agent Wright and others issued meager press releases and pressed that onto it, finally the Bush administration got around to seizing some of the assets of these charities both in Texas and the Midwest, most recently in [unintelligible] Virginia, but it's not in dispute." Fitton: "And it's no coincidence that initially the financing aspects of the investigation were run out of the Chicago office of the FBI. Special Agent Wright and his colleagues there laid the groundwork for what now the Administration is attempting to do in going after the financing, and he's been kept out of the loop on that." Klayman: "He was demoted in and around the time period leading up to 9 11 when he was requesting clearance for his book. When he requested clearance for his book, he was yanked off of the terrorism investigations and basically reduced to a cheap cook and bottle washer for the FBI." Audience Member: "What has happened the Muslim FBI agent who refused to wear a wire conceded that a Muslim does record another Muslim. Are these words and actions consistent with FBI policy, [unintelligible] accommodation laws, any oaths or agreements that an FBI [unintelligible]?" Klayman: "To the best of our knowledge, nothing has happened to that agent. Special Agent Wright and others requested action, nothing was taken, and with regard to your second question, if that was the standard of whether one investigates as an FBI agent, then I guess the Jewish agents wouldn't have caught Jonathan Pollard, which they did." Audience Member: "[unintelligible] was he saying that, or was he saying that. Was he wired, or--" Klayman: "There are several witnesses to that statement." Audience Member: "With respect specifically to the Florida request from the Tampa office, and because of the refusal to wear the wire, what were the specific consequences of that, what was lost, what evidence, what part of the [unintelligible]?" Klayman: "We can't get into was was or was not obtained by that, but obviously when the FBI conducts an investigation, it's doing it with the eye on prosecution and it needs evidence for that prosecution and one way that they get that evidence is through wiring people. One way that you get people to talk is to have agents who are wired, individuals who are wired that that target feels comfortable with. So, if you can't get somebody that the target will talk with, you can't get the evidence, and you can't then likely bring a successful prosecution." Audience Member: "[unintelligible] perhaps talk about that aspect of the case in a circumspect way, I mean, there was a case in Tampa [unintelligible]?" Klayman: "That's as far as we can go. The reason we went that far was because we actually had a document that was released under the Freedom of Information Act which set forth the parameters of what Mr. Fitton has read to you. We have to do that because we're representing Bob Wright. These people mean business and unless you play this story up big, and I hope you do, Special Agent Wright is going to wind up behind the 8 ball and Special Agent Rowley is going to wind up becoming Assistant FBI Director." Audience Member: "[unintelligible] part of the story, but not the whole story. None of the story." Klayman: "He's courageous to come forward with the mentality in Washington DC these days when any whistleblower is retaliated against. And let met tell you a little story about, we represent a number of whistleblowers, people who blew the whistle on UN corruption, individuals who blew the whistle on the Los Alamos compromise, we have a lawsuit against Louis Freeh, former FBI director, which the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld, that's going forward against Louis Freeh, and let me tell you what they did to Trulock. They seized his computer, these are FBI agents under the direction of Louis Freeh, broke into his house, hit his dog over the head with a gun butt, thank God he didn't have any children in there at the time, these are the way these people respond, so yes, Agent Wright is courageous, and Agent Wright prays and I pray for him that nothing happens to him." Audience Member: "[unintelligible]" Klayman: "As soon as the FBI will clear it." Audience Member: "[unintelligible]" Klayman: "We don't have; he doesn't have a publisher yet." Audience Member: "If you get a subpoena from a member of Congress or from a Congressional committee, would that free him up, would that override the FBI regulations, would he then be free to talk at least to that committee if not the public?" Klayman: "Technically it wouldn't, but I assure you that the FBI would throw the towel in as quickly as Director Mueller became a believer in Coleen Rowley." Audience Member: "I'm confused by the need for a subpoena. The letter that you read, that threaten letter that you read, indicated the places that he could go, including the Inspector General, and I seem to recall that it also listed the House and Senate Intelligence Committees which is where Agent Rowley sent her information.. Klayman: "That's a good question, that is a new thing that they added into this letter. If you read the letters you'll see that they never before mentioned Congress. This is the first time. Audience Member: "But my question is, Agent Rowley didn't hold a news conference, she sent her information to the House and Senate Congress committees, which are enabled to received classified information, but I'm wondering is why Agent Wright hasn't sent his information to those committees?" Klayman: "Actually, that's something I can't get into, but shall we say that Judicial Watch and Agent Wright are thorough, we don't leave any rock unturned. We have been working on this for months, and you can be assured that there are people in Congress who haven't done their job either. Congress's newfound interest is just that as well. The hypocrisy of Congress equals that of the Bush administration." Audience Member: "Have you come across anything might have pointed to September 11, for instance, any of the hijackers, any sort of plot that there was an act of terrorism [unintelligible]?" Klayman: "Well, you can see this one individual. Qadi. He obviously was implicated in and around Osama bin Laden and the American government was investigating to see whether or not he had any role in September 11, but he was into people like that, you see, they were involved in money laundering, who may have links to bin Laden, who may have, of course we know he did, stand behind the tragedy at the World Trace Center. Audience Member: "[unintelligible] recent indictments of non-profit organizations sending money to--" Klayman: "The FBI became a recent believer in doing that. Wright was urging them to proceed criminally against these organizations, they did not do so until Judicial Watch and others raised a public outcry as to why Islamic money laundering in the United States was not being dealt with. This is a new phenomenon, and part of the reason for this phenomenon, I believe as chairman and general counsel of Judicial Watch, is because these monies were going through some very powerful US banks with some very powerful interests in the United States, these banks knew or had reason to know that these monies were laundered by terrorists, and there are very significant potential conflicts of interest in both the Clinton and Bush administrations with the country primarily responsible for funding these charities, namely Saudi Arabia. We have both Clinton and Bush, and in particular this Bush administration who is as tight with Saudi Arabia as you could get. The President's father used to stay with the bin Laden family when he would go to Saudi Arabia. So, I don't know, I don't know what the exact answer is, but that may help explain why the Federal Government, why the FBI is so nervous about getting into this stuff, when the rich and powerful of Washington DC are in fact doing business with some of these entities." Audience Member: "Larry, in Agent Wright's investigations, did he ever run across any kind of plans for attacks, just general plans, for new kinds of terrorist attacks aimed at the United States?" Klayman: "I can't get into specifics, but you can assume yes." Audience Member: "Larry, was his expertise [unintelligible] he was assigned to cover [unintelligible] particularly Hamas--" Klayman: "That's correct. That was the leading field office." Audience Member: "right, as I know, and after 9 11 there were [unintelligible]" Klayman: "And you're from Chicago. Congratulations." Audience Member: " and after 9 11, you probably know that there were [unintelligible] did he gain expertise because, is this what his focus was on?" Klayman: "That was his focus, and Bob played a, Bob Wright played a significant role in conceiving of these investigations, they're his baby. And you can see, you don't get an FBI agent to break down into tears easily, they're pretty tough people, but this was his life." Audience Member: "[unintelligible] how many years did he specialize in this field? Do you know" Klayman: "He's been doing this for at least a decade. At least a decade." Audience Member: "You see him now spending the rest of his career being shuttered off as a paper pusher, denied all promotion, and perhaps not blatantly fired but encouraged to leave simply by demoting him and isolating him, I mean that's happened but that's the bureaucratic game." Klayman: "Well, the words of Clint Eastwood, make his day, because he is going to be a very rich man if they try that, and that's one of the reasons why Schippers and Judicial Watch are representing him." Audience Member: "[unintelligible] there was a big, one of these investigations involved in a Chicago area, it was probably a charity or something, but it was somehow linked to supporting bin Laden and the main person was just indicted for perjury recently, sorry, I don't know the name but maybe you guys do, is he related to that investigation at all?" Klayman: "I can't say, can't say, but you know what? After you guys get your story out, Wright's going to be able to tell everything, and it's going to be a matter of days." The press conference ends.