"IT'S NOT PERSONAL, IT'S ABOUT NATIONAL SECURITY"

August 16, 2000 Youngstown, OH– U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant, Jr. (D–OH) today issued the following statement: "Some people are questioning why I have pursued the Janet Reno issue. It is not personal, it is simply a matter of national security. Attorney General Reno has appointed independent counsels to investigate everyone except Mickey Mouse. The only exception has been very credible evidence that Communist China contributed money to the Democratic National Committee and attempted to influence the 1996 election. She has repeatedly refused to appoint an independent counsel to investigate this critical national security issue – overruling the head of the FBI, Louis Freeh, who along with the FBI's lead investigator, Charles LaBella, strongly recommended the appointment of an independent counsel. Why has Janet Reno defied the FBI and refused to appoint an independent counsel? Everybody said I was crazy when I announced that John Demjanjuk was not Ivan the Terrible. At the time, there were five eyewitnesses and a Nazi guard who swore that Demjanjuk was the infamous Ivan. Yet, in the end, the evidence clearly showed that Demjanjuk was not Ivan and two federal judges concluded that the Justice Department perpetrated fraud on the court. The evidence I uncovered, through numerous FOIA requests, led to the truth in the Demjanjuk case. Evidence that the Justice Department had in their possession before they initiated the Demjanjuk case. Once Congress reconvenes next month, I will be presenting my evidence to the appropriate committees in Congress and will be requesting hearings. I do not expect the Justice Department to do anything because I believe that the Justice Department has, for the past seven years, covered up the fact that Janet Reno, the Attorney General of the United States, is highly vulnerable to blackmail. Janet Reno has defied the head of the FBI and refused to appoint an independent counsel to investigate China. She has ignored a wealth of evidence – including evidence that a high ranking general in the Chinese Red Army contributed to the Democratic Party. Again, one must ask the question: why? Her refusal to appoint an independent counsel has endangered our children and grandchildren. While the politicians talk about children and families, they are passively sitting by and allowing one of the greatest threats to America's security go unchallenged. This is not personal. It's about national security. Period."

Back