From: Shawn, Eric [Eric.Shawn@FOXNEWS.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 1:25 PM
To: Jesse Trentadue
Subject: Transcripts

 

Jesse Trentadue, Esq. appearance with Fox News Anchor/Senior Correspondent Eric Shawn, Sunday November 9, 2008.  

 

Eric Shawn: To the Oklahoma City bombing now, and new details that could come out. If you recall it was the worst terrorist attack on our soil, a truck bombing killing 168 people and destroying the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in 1995. Timothy McVeigh was executed for it, his accomplice, Terry Nichols is serving life in prison and he says he wants to speak out. A federal judge has allowed a Salt Lake City lawyer to depose Nichols on videotape about the plot, but the Justice department and the F.B.I. want to stop it. That attorney, Jesse Trentadue, joins us now from Salt Lake City. Mr. Trentadue, welcome and thanks for joining us this morning.

 

JT: Thank you Mr. Shawn for having me.

 

ES: What do you think Terry Nichols will say?

 

JT:  He’s told me that he wants to tell the whole story about the bombing.  He wants to tell about the others involved, including possible F.B.I. informants.

 

ES: We have a statement, let me give you this statement, this is from your paperwork of Terry Nichols, as you say he wants to speak out.  Here’s the statement, he says (Terry Nichols) “I want to acknowledge my poor judgment and culpability in having assisted Timothy McVeigh. I am also now prepared to identify others who played a role in the bombing. My purpose in doing so is to bring closure not only to myself but especially to the survivors and families of the victims of the bombing.”

Now you say F.B.I. informants, what does he, what do you mean by that?

 

JT: It appears, and this has been a long fight, it appears that the F.B.I. had at least four informants who were involved in this operation, or this plot. And one of the things that Mr. Nichols wants to do, in addition to bringing closure, is to bring out the truth.

 

ES: Now the F.B.I., though, for years, has said certainly they were not involved.  I called the F.B.I. on Friday, they did not have a statement on this, and their paperwork and their appeals, some people say this is just a fishing expedition and that Nichols wouldn’t have any credibility, that he wouldn’t know this first hand if there were criminal informants that perhaps could have or may have, allegedly, informed authorities before hand. What do you say about that?

 

JT: Well, I say two things. He recognizes that and he’s prepared and has compiled the proof to establish what he is going to say. And I’ll give you two examples.

The explosives that were found a couple of years ago in his Kansas farmhouse, and were turned over to the F.B.I., he says on that box of explosives, will be the  fingerprints of an informant who provided the detonators for the bomb.  And the second point, and this is most important, some of the evidence that Nichols compiled, I presented to a Federal Judge, who reviewed that evidence and agreed with me, and ordered these depositions. Now, this isn’t a case of me just pulling this out of the air.

This was taken before a Judge, fought and resisted vigorously by the F.B.I., and the Judge ordered that deposition. And I would add one other thing. You have to ask yourself, if he isn’t credible, if no one would believe him, why, why is the F.B.I. and the Department of Justice fighting so hard to keep this man from telling what he knows?

 

ES: Well, they may not want, they may say he has no credibility and that there is no evidence to support anything that he says, and that he’s full of it.

 

JT: Well, I can say this. Its been three years in this fight, for this deposition. Not once has the F.B.I. appeared in court and denied the accusations. They have fought to keep the deposition from going forward, they have fought to keep documents from being produced by claiming that, one of the arguments they made is that they had  promised at least four people anonymity and it would compromise their security if this information came out.

 

ES: You know, we have seen, I must say and it just happened this week, with the conviction of a former top F.B.I. agent in Boston, in the Whitey Bulger case, who was convicted of involvement in this and misdeeds in the past. What is your next step as you try to continue this fight even though the government is so vigorously against it?

 

JT: The next step will be the appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, It’ll be hard fought. And indeed, as I said, everything about this case has been hard fought.

 

ES: Jesse Trentadue, who will continue in court. And you already have one federal judge on your side saying you can go interview him and we’ll see if the appeals court sides with you or with the government.  Thanks very much for joining us on the Fox News Chanel.

 

JT: Thank you for having me.

 

ES: Right.  

 

(end)

 

 

 

November 16, 2008 Fox News Channel update reported by Eric Shawn:

 

NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE 1995 OKLAHOMA CITY BOMBING CASE… THE FEDS GOING TO COURT TO TRY AND STOP A VIDEOTAPED DEPOSITION OF TERRY NICHOLS, WHO WAS CONVICTED OF CARRYING OUT THE DOMESTIC TERRORIST ATTACK ALONG WITH TIM MCVEIGH.

            A FEDERAL JUDGE GAVE SALT LAKE CITY LAWYER JESSE TRENTADUE, WHO WAS ON WITH US A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO, PERMISSION TO INTERVIEW NICHOLS IN PRISON... NICHOLS REPORTEDLY CLAIMING HE WANTS TO TELL ALL ABOUT THE ATTACK.

            WELL NOW THE TRENTADUE FAMILY IS PUTTING UP A QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLAR REWARD FOR NEW INFORMATION.

TRENDTADUE’S BROTHER, KENNETH DIED IN AN OKLAHOMA CITY PRISON AFTER THE BOMBING.   THE FAMILY THINKS THERES A CONNECTION TO THE ATTACK, THEY CLAIM HE WAS MURDERED, THE FEDS INSIST HE COMMITTED SUICIDE. BUT THE GOVERNMENT DID SETTLE A ONE MILLION SUIT IN CONNECTION TO THE DEATH.             THE REWARD WILL BE POSTED IN NEWSPAPERS TOMMOROW, WE WILL KEEP YOU UPDATED ON THE CASE AND WHAT NICHOLS MAY NOW BE WILLING TO REVEAL.