ASSASSINATION INQUIRY STUMBLING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01315R000200200004-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 27, 2004
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: October 4, 1976
• Content Type: NSPR

AT
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Approved For Rel a 4,
not know of CIA involvement with the "I am on the payroll," he said-
-
King Jr. has already run into major raised the possibility of previous ties any kind.
difficulties. between McCord, a former CIA Downing, who called Fensterwald
The' problems in the fledgling in- agent, and Fensterwald. a "good source of information .. .
qoi-y stem from the selection of a Alch, a former associate of Boston extremely knowledgeable." said he
staff director and the .role a well- attorney F. Lee Bailey, told the Sen- was aware of vague accusations of
known Warren Commission critic has ate committee that the first time he the link between Fensterwald and
played in the investigation so far. ever heard of Fensterwald was when others having CIA connections. But
The controversy has focused on. McCord, his client, told him to "call the congressman has discounted
By Dill Choyke firms. However, when pressed, he said he
capitol.-Oil4ew? service The questions surrounding Fen- had "nothing to do with the CIA."
The two-week-old House investi- sterwald are intensified by little-no- "There is absolutely no reason to
Lation into the assassinations of for- ticed Senate Watergate committee think I am a member of the CIA," he
mer President John F. Kennedy and testimony in May 1973, when emphasized, adding that there was
civil rights leader Dr: Martin Luther McCord's first attorney, Gerald Aich, "absolutely no vestige of evidence of
"
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any role on the committee, even as sions of the two attorneys today re- He met, for example. with Gonzalez-
an unofficial adviser. calling those Watergate conversa-. on Sept. 4, 1975, in the House restau-.
IS AN INTERVIEW; . Downing tions three years ago sharply clash. rant in an attempt to reconcile dif-?
merely acknowledged that Fenster- F;E~hiST-9RWA ,D SAYS that Aich ferences between the two congress-
wald was one of a dozen persons con- called him to ask for assistance be- men.'
sidered to head the panel's staff. cause.. knew Jerry.._Alch.:':. The - Gonzalez. who had introduced his
However, ...the Virginia lawmaker, Boston :attorney, meanwhile, still original House resolution in Febru-
who is retiring after 18 years in the maintains that he had never heard of .'ary 1975, calling for an investigation
house, said Fensterwald has asked Fensterwald until.the day McCord of political assassinations, had want
that his name be withdrawn from directed him to call for bail. - . ed the probe to cover the deaths of
consideration. Fensterwald's committee on . President Kennedy, Robert. F.
Opposition to Fensterwald is based investigations is one of a number Of Kennedy and King,. as -well as the
partly on-his affiliation with convict- independent groups. 'which have shooting of Alabama' Gov. George
ed King assassin James Earl Ray, sprung. up. around the country in re- Wallace. whom Fensterwald defended, and the cent years but is set apart from the But some months later, Downing
belief that any committee role would others because of fears that it.is a introduced. his resolution, which
be in conflict with the privileged CIA front. called for an investigation of the
lawyer-client relationship. More-. In a telephone interview, Fenster- presidential assassination only.
over, Fensterwald has -- as another wald first acknowledged that he had . The final resolution included both
Warren Commission critic termed its connections with the CIA and then the Kennedy and King assassins- I STAT
--- some serious "image problems"
scoffed at the suggestion. lions.
dealing with his assassination-relat-
ed activities.
Fensterwald heads a citizen's
group called the Committee to Inves-
tigate Assassinations. The Tennessee
native was also the attorney for
Watergate burglar James McCord.
Additionally, observers close to the
Kennedy-King House probe are con-
cerned?with circumstantial evidence
on the public. record that raises ques-
tions about connections between
Fensterwald and the CIA.
l";~NSTERWALAppNoWraFdrtlg Rel base 2004/10/13 CIA-RDP88-0 5R000200200004-0
law partner with Robert McCandless,
whose former law firm even Fen-
.?+e..,,~r,a rnnrryrlP4 renresented
has closely advised probe chairman very helpful in raising bail." - while feaster Taald and fellow War-
Rep. Thomas Downing, D-Va., on the Alch, who was subsequently fired ren Commission critic Mark Lane
political assassinations. Fenster- and replaced by Fensterwald; said were both at one time considered for
Wald; said one source, has been the Washington attorney had- told. the top staff position, current specu-
"fairly close to him (Downing) every him that he could probably meet the lation - about the job is centering
step of the way." $100 000 bail in a few days., Then around Philadelphia attorney Rich-
Committee members 'involved in about two- weeks later,. when. Alch and A. Sprague. As a special prose
the House investigation report that. conveyed to Fensterwald his client's cutor, Sprague helped convict former
Downing had tentatively selected thanks for the effort on his behalf, . United Mine Workers President Tony
Fensterwald as the committee's staff Fensterwald replied, according to . Boyle for the 1969 murder of Joseph
director, only to back away from the Aich: "I don't see how he can send Yablonsk'iandhis family.
choice after ,two congressmen and his thanks to me because I never met -. (Sprague is not to be confused with
others keenly interested in the assas- the rnan." another Richard Sprague, a former
sinations raised a fuss. Testifying under oath, Aich then colleague of Fensterwald on his
Committee Vice Chairman Rep.- told the Senate committee that he assassination committee.) '
Henry Gonzalez, the Texas Democrat. never, was certain whether McCord Besides advising Downing on the
who introduced they first House reso- and Fensterwald knew each other assassinations, Fensterwald has also,
lotion calling for an assassination in prior to his making the, initial phone 'served as an intermediary between
quiry, has privately voiced his strong call. the Virginia congressman and ether
Fensterwald having In telephone interviews,' the ver- lawmakers
opposition
to
Washington attorney Bernard Fen- a man by the name of Bernard Fen- these claims.
sterwald, who for more than a year sterwald, whom he said might be