FBI to probe tampering claims in OKC bombing records case

A federal judge on Monday ordered the FBI to investigate an allegation of witness tampering in a July trial on Utah attorney Jesse Trentadue’s lawsuit seeking Oklahoma City bombing records.

U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups — who rejected arguments by an attorney for the FBI that an email from witness John Matthews declaring that he was never threatened settles the matter — scheduled a Nov. 13 hearing to hear testimony on the allegation, which he said goes to the integrity of the court process.
Lawyer Jesse Trentadue seeks documents and videotapes from the FBI probe of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing ó he believes the records will provide information about the death of his brother, Kenneth Trentadue, in a federal prison.


"I would like very much to have all this resolved," Waddoups said.

The trial focused on whether the FBI has done an adequate search for bombing records requested by Trentadue under the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). On the second day of trial, Trentadue said he had just learned Matthews was backing out of testifying.

According to court documents, Matthews planned to testify that he believed the FBI was monitoring bomber Timothy McVeigh in the run up to the 1995 detonation at the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City — information that Trentadue believes the agency wants to suppress.

Trentadue, a Salt Lake City attorney, alleges that Matthews — who he describes as a former undercover operative for the government — was threatened by the FBI with the loss of his disability and other veteran benefits if he took the stand, and told that he should get a case of the "I-don’t-remembers" if he did testify.

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