MFF/Jeff Morley Press Conference — JFK Files Response

[Lori Spencer]

Jeff Morley announced late last night that The Mary Ferrell Foundation will be holding a presser at 10 a.m. Eastern today to respond to the JFK Files release. 
 

I asked Jeff if there’s going to be a livestream link where reporters can join in from afar. I live too far away to attend in person. Will keep ya posted. 
 

 

[James DiEugenio]

Well,that should be good.

I thought it was going to be on tonight.  Guess it was postponed.

[Lori Spencer]

Morley using words like "sham" are a sign that even the most temperate and mild-mannered among us have run out of patience with this mockery of the JFK Records Act.

Two presidents in a row now (of both political parties) have said, in essence, "as soon as the CIA says it's okay for us to release this stuff, we will release it."

That's NOT an answer. That wasn't the intent of Congress when they passed the act in 1992. They never intended for the CIA to decide what gets released and what doesn't. 

It's time to hold their damn feet to the fire. I hope Morley and MFF give 'em hell today!

[Matt Allison]

I suspect this all would be a lot easier if there was a person of integrity like Richard Schweiker in Congress right now.

[James DiEugenio]

Dick Schweiker and Tom Downing were really amazing.

If you go back and look at Downing's speeches to get the HSCA passed, they are really inspiring.

He was a lawyer and he used ever rhetorical  device in the book to shame the congress to do what he thought was right.

According to Fonzi, when Schweiker learned about the CIA Mafia plots, that sent him off the edge.  He simply decided that hey, was there a possible connection between those plots and a possible plot to kill JFK?

So he then got permission from Frank Church to open up his own inquiry with Hart.  And that is what convinced him that there was a connection.

The story that Tanenbaum tells about his meeting with Schweiker is priceless.

He had heard about what Schweiker had done, so him and his detective Cliff Fenton went over to see him.   After they talked a bit, Schweiker requested that Fenton step outside the door.  Schweiker closed the door and then gave Bob the files that he and Hart had developed.  He told Bob, the CIA was involved in the assassination of Kennedy.  Tanenbaum said, quite naturally, this had a big impact on him.  So he and Fenton went back to his apartment and they read the whole compendium.Which took until dawn the next day.  When it was over, and Fenton was about to leave, he turned to Bob and said, "You know we are in over our heads.  This is not a murder case in Manhattan."  Bob told him to go home and get some sleep, and they had to get to work on it later that day.

Gary Shaw told me that Tanenbaum was in that office until 9 - 10 PM each night.  And then he would offer anybody still there a ride home.

Cliff Fenton would never talk  about anything dealing with the HSCA at all.

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by James DiEugenio

[James DiEugenio]

I should add, Deke Deloach told the Church Committee that he was told by Chief of Staff Marvin Watson that after LBJ read the IG Report on the plots, he told him that the CIA was likely involved in Kennedy's death.

 

Johnson was the only person that Helms let read that report while he was guarding it.

You had to live through those days to recall the excitement.  People were thinking, "Hey we're really going to find out who killed JFK!"

Edited December 16, 2022 by James DiEugenio

[Joseph Backes]

No, there was a press something last night.

And there will be another today.  It's too soon for anyone to do a proper, professional analysis of the release.

I suspect it will merely be about how docs Morley wants were not in this release.