AARC Attorney Jim Lesar
Journalist and author Jefferson Morley through his attorney Jim Lesar argued before a three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on March 19.
Journalist and author Jefferson Morley through his attorney Jim Lesar argued before a three judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on March 19.
The
issue before the court was whether attorneys fees and costs should be awarded
for Morley's long-running FOIA case seeking records from the CIA related to CIA
officer George Joannides. '
The
judges actively engaged in questioning the attorneys throughout the thirty
minute oral argument held at the U.S. Courthouse at 3rd and Constitution Ave.
NW in Washington, D.C., including questions about how Morley's FOIA request
sheds light on the circumstances of the assassination of President
Kennedy.
Morley's
attorney Jim Lesar explained to the court that Joannides was the CIA liaison
officer in 1963 to the Cuban exile student group DRE, who had contact with Lee
Harvey Oswald prior to the assassination.
Lesar told the court that DRE
contacted Joannides in the hours after the Kennedy assassination seeking his
permission to release a tape recording DRE had made of Oswald before the
assassination. Lesar told the court that Joannides responded to DRE that
he would check with CIA headquarters, and DRE went ahead and released the tape
recording the evening of November 22, 1963 and published a story that became
the first published story attempting to link Oswald to Castro's Cuba.
The Court's decision in the case will be issued in a written opinion in the next weeks or months.
The Court's decision in the case will be issued in a written opinion in the next weeks or months.
Jefferson Morley
Audio of the oral argument is available on the court website at the following link:
https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/recordings/recordings.nsf/
USA TODAY
covers the story:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2018/03/19/jfk-files-15-year-lawsuit-over-mysterious-cia-agent-drags-final-files-await-release/435989002/For more see JFKFacts.org
CIA official George Joannides was the case officer for the DRE anti-Castro Cuban activists who were arrested with Oswald in New Orleans and backstopped the HSCA investigation of the DRE.
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