Lawrence Schnapf

Guys- this is my last post on this topic. FDR broke bread with an evil man (Stalin) to defeat another very evil man (Hitler). It does not matter if Carlson has a source. what matters is we need his help to get an oversight hearing. EVERY NEGATIVE COMMENT YOU GUYS POST UNDERMINES THIS EFFORT. So how about being like FDR and hold your nose until May when it comes to TC. This is a strategic arrangement. All you are doing with these posts is indulging yourself while hurting the greater cause-which is to get an oversight hearing.

@Tom Gram Zaid is my attorny on my FOIA lawsuit which is different and distinct from the MFF lawsuit. Personally, I dont think trying to publicly shame or out the source will be productive. there are other backchannels way to accomplish this but Jeff and Mark so loathe Carlson that the task has fallen to me. Matt Allison- I understand your animus towards Carlson but on the JFK Assassination, he geninuely believes there was a conspiracy. It has nothing to do with "whiteness" or "rooting for Russia" which he is not doing. If you truly believe that, you're delusional.

There could be a basis to get Whistleblower protection for Tucker's source or congressional immunity if we get an oversight hearing. working on these ideas behind the scenes.

Mark Zaid is not part of the MFF legal team. Bill Simpich and I are co-counsel. no one else. Mark is my attorney on my FOIA lawsuit against NARA for the underlying documents associated with the Trump 2017 and 2018 postponements. This is a separate lawsuit where I am the plaintiff.

Gil Jesus- if you want to persist on this exposition, go ahead but you risk undermining any chance of getting an oversight hearing. Do you want that on your hands. Please go back to your strength which is examining evidence in the case. You have no idea the damage you could be causing to this very delicate balancing act.

Gil- this is all fine and good but now that we have a new opening with the right that could possibly lead to an oversight hearing and a true bipartisan effort to enforce the JFK Act. I dont see the value of rehashing this old news that could only serve to undermine this effort. -IMHO. You do great work with the evidence and hope you continue to focus on that effort.

Steven- why dont you send a note to Rex at info@maryferrell.org.

@Lori Spencer I do not know the specifics of how the Sheridan papers were originally donated to the JFK Library and had been a separate collection within the JFK Library. I am in the process of obtaining the papers filed in the ARRB lawsuit against the Sheridan estate which was filed in 1997 and is closed. From your background, you are probably aware that individual libraries can use differing types of deeds of gift forms ( I have reviewed and amended the deeds of gifts provided to some researchers planning to donate their papers to libraries to strengthen their rights.). Some of the RFK private papers that had been subject to a deposit agreement with the JFK Library were accessioned to NARA as part of the ARRB process. In 1996, the ARRB agreed not to identify certain RFK papers as assassination records and agreed not object to the JFK Library keeping custody of the RFK Cuba-related records, provided that the JFK Library agree to release the records. The JFK Library processed these records as part of the mandatory review declassification process required by the presidential executive order then in effect. However, there were other private papers that were in the possession of the library and had been the subject of negotiations with the trustee of the RFK donor committee when ARRB went out of business. See page 93 of chapter 6 of the ARRB Final Report for more detail.

@Gil Jesus curious why you chose to post this now when we are trying to build a bipartisan coalition for oversight hearings. what was the point bringing this up now. It is not helpful given the momentum Tucker Carlson has given us.

Fabulous! MFF is in the process of doing this and it should be on the website next week

@Lori Spencer@Joseph Backes In the spirit of the holiday, I will not characterize Joe Backes comments about the RFK family trust except to say he is not a lawyer and he is wrong. And yes Joe- RFK took files and tapes from the oval office after the assassination just like Donald Trump did when his presidency ended. I suggest others read the ARRB final report for more information about the RFK Family Trust papers. The ARB was negotiating a deposit agreement with the RFK Trust under an arrangement where the ARRB would decline to identify those materials as assassination records. The agreement was not finalized because the arrangement was not finalized at the time the ARRB went out of business The Walter Sheridan records were identified as assassination records and were not part of the RFK Family Trust. they were his papers donated to the JFK Library. The ARRB asked the JFK Library to turn them over. To prevent this from happening, Sheridan removed them from the JFK Library and gave them to NBC which has refused to give them to NARA. This is not my interpretation. Judge Tunheim explained this situation at the December 6th MFF press conference. ARRB sued the Sheridan estate but the lawsuit was closed after the ARRB went out of business. I am in the process of obtaining these court papers. And yes Joe, a court could order that that assassination records be turned over to NARA so long as they are not subject to the section 10 or 11 exemptions. The Sheridan materials do not fall into within the exemptions. I cannot discuss legal strategy involving the MFF complaint but can assure you we have a plan.

of course, when dealing with a criminal proceeding, the evidentiary standard is "beyond a reasonable doubt" which can often be thought as 90% of the weight of the evidence. preponderance of the evidence-on the other hand refers to a mere majority of the evidence (more than 50%) which is typically used for civil actions. The term "substantial evidence" is a higher level of certainty. The JFK Records Act requires "clear and convincing evidence" to justify postponements. As chapter 5 of the ARRB Final Report explains, this standard is more exacting (i.e. stringent) than the preponderance and substantial evidence standards. The Board determined this more exacting standard was to be applied an document-by-document basis.

@Kirk Gallaway- Yeah- I knew to be wary of Matt Whitaker when I saw him in the green room so i went into reporter mode and asked him lots of questions about his tenure at DOJ. It was interesting conversation.

@Lori Spencer- the Walter Sheridan materials were not a subject of a deed of gift. He simply donated his papers to the JFK Library. he then withdrew them when the ARRB requested them and delivered them to NBC. As I explained on the Carlson show, after NBC refused to turn them over to the ARRB, a subponea was prepared but DOJ declined to serve it. ARRB later sued Sheridan's estate but the lawsuit was closed after the ARRB went out of business. As far as the RFK materials (which I believe include the documents and tapes he removed from the oval office an hour after the assassination), they also are not subject to a deed of gift. They are stored at the library and remain the property of the RFK Family Trust. ARRB was negotiating for their release at the time it went out of business. The ARRB Final Report recommended following-up with the Trust to release these materials. I am not aware of NARA doing this though I believe certain RFK papers have been added to the Collection.

Kirk Galloway, thanks for your questions. Sorry for sounding sanctimonious. I am excited by what looks like an opening we have been waiting for years and when I take on a task, I proceed with confidence. I'm also very tactical so I will work with people i otherwise dont have much in common where we agree on a common goal. As to your first quesition, I often do watch Carlson for particular topics but I watch programs from different stations to gain better perspectives on what others are thinking. I dont agree with Tucker's particular theory that the CIA as an organization was involved in JFK's assassination (if that is what he means). I believe it was probably some rogue elements at the operational level who had been running the exiles in combination with Carlos Marcello who were behind the assassination. Of course, given the overlap, it can be difficult to discern where the exiles ended and the mafia started. But it is not important what I believe. With the GOP taking control of the House, Tucker's charges may increase the likelihood that we will get a hearing. Others are also contacting the incoming chair. We were never going to get an oversight hearing as long as the Committee was controlled by the same party as the president. BTW- During the past few days, the MFF team has discovered that 677 documents dropped on the 15th that had never been part of the JFK Collection including those from NSA and Army Intelligence. we know there were outstanding record searches requested by ARRB that NARA had not follow-ed up on and this latest dump reinforces our belief that there are important records not in the JFK Collection.

Tom Gran- it seem that you are repeating Jeff Morley's line in JFK Facts CIA influencing elections which he then used to question Tucker's credibility. But as I mentioned in my reply to Jeff's blog, Jeff was misconstruing Tucker's comments. Tucker was not saying that the CIA directly interfered with the electoral process but that the CIA like other parts of the permanent federal bureaucracy often frustrate the efforts of presidents to carry out their policies where the agency permanent leadership disagrees with the policy direction. There are so many ways to slow walk policy changes. Indeed, had an interesting conversation with Matt Whitaker, the last acting attorney general under Trump, while we were sitting in the green room waiting to speak on the Kennedy show on Fox Business Network. I asked him about the level of resistance that they encountered at certain agencies and why it was really hard for any president to push through their agenda. It was a fascinating peek into the distribution of power in the federal governent. But I digress

Simon- I'm not saying that Tucker " just wants to get back at the CIA as he thinks they stopped Trump and his white nationalist agenda". Again, that is you being unable to turn off your partisan bias but I can certainly understand why you might be inclined to believe that his is only motivation. A good majority of the early doubters in the lone gunman theory believed it was the CIA/military complex who was behind the assassination. These early doubters were principally liberals who believed JFK was taken down as part of some noble battle to change the direction of the foreign policy of this country as well as his support of civil rights. These beliefs were intensified by Vietnam, Watergate and the findings of the Church Committee. Lately, the tables have been reversed and it is now the liberals who seem to be supporting the FBI and CIA because they are the parts of the federal government that did not bend to the will of Trump while conservatives are now re-assessing their prior support for those agencies. Tucker is genuinely interested in the assassination of JFK. There is alot of stuff going on right now behind the scenes that I am not allowed to publicly discuss at this time but these things would not be happening if Tucker was just interested in getting back at the CIA.

this highlights another problem with the JFK Records Collection. Documents that are released under FOIA that are not part of the JFK Collection are not automatically placed into the Collection. Either the agency or the FOIA requestor has to decide to send the records to NARA. Otherwise, these records do not become part of the Collection. Since the ARRB went out of business, NARA has been a passive recipient of additional records even though it stated in its rulemaking shifting the ARRB regulations to NARA's portion of the code of regulations that it was assuming ARRB's functions. Apparently, NARA has not interpreted those functions to include pursuing the outstanding ARRB search requests. Interesting that this seems to be released as a result of schweiker's investigation.

Simon- i will tell you again in case you missed my last post to your prior thread. YOU ARE DEAD WRONG ABOUT TUCKER ON THE JFK ASSASSINATION. I had multiple conversations with his team before appearing on his show. He is genuinely interested in the assassination not because of JFK's values but because of who killed him. There has already been an important development as a result of Tucker's shows that I am not yet at liberty to share. What I can say is that Tucker's two shows were an important next step to get Congressional attention on the failure of two presidents and the intelligence agencies to comply with the law. So suspend your disbelief on Tucker about the JFK assassination. if you continue to question his motivations after my two explanations, then i will consider you are so politically biased, stubborn or close-minded to understand how the ground is changing beneath our feet on this topic. we have an opportunity that we have not had since 1992.

Eddy- Biden's role was basically to add his signature to the executive memorandum. Based on my FOIA litigation involving the Trump postponements, the NSC coordinated the response and drafted the order which was then reviewed by White House counsel, NARA and the agencies. The NSC would have advised Biden why the documents should be postponed and he, like Trump, was going to disagree with claims of harm to national security. The agencies do not think they have to comply with the JFK Act. There is no ARRB to hold their hands to the fire. In fact, the CIA talking points to its secret media briefing basically claimed the records being withheld were not really assassination records-- even though the ARRB ruled they were back in the 1990s.

Ben- the operative sections regarding postponements are section 6 of the act and section 5(g)(D) The reasons both Trump and Biden have allowed postponements is that they are reluctant to push back against the security agencies. From my FOIA litigation, it appears that the NSC coordinates the response for the JFK Act compliance. NARA sends out letters to the agencies asking if they plan to seek further postponements. They notify NARA. Documents that they disagree on are then elevated to the NSC level. The NSC makes the recommendations to the president. Meanwhile, NSC and white house counsel office draft order. President's only role is to sign it. During the Trump postponements, the narrative was that he was talked out of releasing the records at the last minute by Pompeo. But my FOIA litigation reveals that is not the case. By the time Trump had tweeted his intention, the 12th version of the order postponing record release for another 3.5 years had been approved by NSC, the agencies and NARA. I suspect the same procedure was used this time. Pat- MFF has a rapid response team working over the holidays doing OCR scanning of the 2022 release so that it will be page searchable. we should have better idea about any nuggets in another week or so.

let's avoid a fire drill next time and do some ground-truthing before making such a claim or at least add a question mark?

Litwin is doing a great impression of Sergeant Schultz "I see nothing". Or he reminds me Mark 8:17-18 where Jesus admonishes his disciples: "Do you still not see or understand? Do you have such hard hearts? ‘Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear?’..."

some of the factoids are getting thru the smokescreen

Jimmy- Tucker has the most viewed show in that timeslot- 3.4 million viewers- and deep influence within the conservative (and independents as I discovered when my cell phone lit from friends who call themselves independents after my appearance). Tucker's two episodes were like Nixon going to China. Only he could have done this and only he could have produced impact that we needed. We may finally be on the verge of a bipartisan consensus which could not have happened without Tucker- as the aphorism goes "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"