WASHINGTON – Judicial Watch filed a petition yesterday with the three-judge panel overseeing the independent counsels to continue an investigation of the late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, which was under way at the time of his death in a plane crash last April in Croatia.
At the time of his death, Brown was a material witness in Judicial Watch’s lawsuit against the Commerce Department. It was this case that uncovered the role of John Huang in the 1996 presidential campaign and sparked the campaign finance scandal. Brown was under investigation by an independent counsel and an indictment was expected.
“According to his business partner and confidant, Nolanda Hill, Brown had told President Clinton days before he was asked unexpectedly to travel to Croatia that he would negotiate a plea agreement with the independent counsel, which would entail telling the independent counsel what he knew about alleged illegalities in the Clinton-Gore administration,” said Larry Klayman, head of Judicial Watch. “Clinton, according to Brown, responded badly.”
Following his death in Croatia, the Pentagon abruptly announced that the death was accidental before a standard safety investigation was undertaken. Later, the Armed Force Institute of Pathology discovered a hole in Brown’s skull the size of a .45-caliber bullet. No autopsy was conducted, despite the fact that several pathologists insisted that no cause of death could be established without one.
Neither the Brown family nor any of the families of the victims of the crash were notified of the unusual circumstances of Brown’s death. Last November, several officers of the AFIP went public with their concerns. Judicial Watch now represents one of the pathologists and a military photographer involved in the death probe. In its petition, Judicial Watch submits sworn affidavits from the U.S. military officers involved in the Brown death probe.
“Judicial Watch has learned that the independent counsel who had been investigating Secretary Brown at the time of his death never closed the inquiry,” said Klayman.
Judicial Watch is calling for a continued probe of Brown’s death and the death of Barbara Wise, a Commerce Department employee found dead in the office shortly after Huang was deposed in the lawsuit. Wise reportedly worked in the same section of the Commerce Department as Huang.
“Judicial Watch is taking this action because (Attorney General) Janet Reno has refused to investigate,” said Klayman. “While Judicial Watch makes no accusations that Brown was murdered, his death raises questions about why an autopsy was not performed, particularly since he was a Cabinet secretary and a material witness and putative defendant in legal proceedings at the time. The independent counsel clearly has jurisdiction to investigate Brown’s death, since, if his fate was not accidental, it could amount to criminal obstruction of justice and witness tampering.”
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