Justice Department Lying in the Gonzalez Case, May 25, 2000

This page will, once it is finished, contain a list of lies by Justice Department officials. This is important because much of the Justice Department's position in the Elian Gonzalez case, both in the asylum question and the legality of the raid, depends on the unsupported word of the Justice Department.Examples:

1. The INS says that it interviewed Juan Gonzalez and determined that he was not subject to coercion by the Cuban government.

2. The INS says that it knocked before battering down Lazaro Gonzalez's door.

3. The INS says that it had a search warrant at the time of the raid, even though it did not produce it till late the next evening.

4. The INS says that it has made a general rule determination that minors cannot apply against their parents' wishes without strong presumption that the parents have adverse interests, rather than being motivated by political considerations arising from this particular case.

5. The INS claims that Elian is happy with his father in Maryland.

6. The INS claims that no drugs are being used to brainwash Elian in Maryland.

7. The INS claims that violent people with guns were threatening to shoot INS agents if they came to take Elian.

It has been charged that Elian's Miami relatives have lied also (about whether a door was knocked down, for example). That is quite possible, but their veracity has less legal significance. Their claims depend on independent evidence rather than on their own assertions.

1. Janet Reno and Doris Meissner both claim that in the famous Diaz photo, the gun is not pointed at Elian. The photo contradicts this, by any reasonable definition of "pointed at". Janet Reno: "One of the beauties of television is that it shows exactly what the facts are. And as I understand it, if you look at it carefully, it shows that the gun was pointed to the side, and that the finger was not on the trigger." (April 22 press conference.)

2. Eric Holder and Janet Reno had said there would be no night-time raid. Holder later said that dawn doesn't count. "QUESTION: Ms. Reno, earlier on it was said, I think by you, that Elian would not be removed from the house in the night. This operation took place in the dark before dawn. What was the reasoning in doing that, as opposed to taking him out in daylight, as earlier was said?

   RENO: Earlier we had hoped that the matter could be worked out, that it could be done in an appropriate way."(April 22 press conference.)

3. Doris Meissner says that no threats to shoot anybody and no bad language was used in the raid. "They would not have said anything like that. Their use of force, their use of firearms, is only allowed in self-defense or to protect the lives of others. They don't use that kind of language. They are to speak very crisply." (Sunday on CBS-TV's "Face the Nation,") It's unclear whether anyone seriously says bad language was used (M. Gonzalez said it in a press coverage, but she was excited and that may well have been hyperbolisting paraphrase). The NBC cameraman says that threats were made, however. "We got Maced, we got kicked, we got roughed up," Cuban-born NBC camera man Tony Zumbado told MSNBC. He said that as the incursion began, federal agents kicked him in the stomach and yelled,"Don't move or we'll shoot." (National Review website, 4/28/00 10:45 a.m. Jackboot Reno Stomps NBC News Crew ...while the media snooze. Deroy Murdock, Senior Fellow, Atlas Economic Research Foundation)

4. Bill Clinton, was, of course, impeached and held in contempt by a judge for perjury and is currently being disbarred. His Administration has lied both criminally and politically so often as to become an object of humor.

5. Janet Reno held that there were no credible grounds to believe a crime *might* have been committed, which would require an independent prosecutor to be appointed, in the case of Al Gore's illegal fundraising telephone calls. This is a peculiar example, because the facts are not in question and the burden of proof so slight-- for an independent prosecutor to be appointed does not require that she think Gore was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, or even probably, but only that there was a plausible case that he might be.

6. Janet Reno said that people were trying to tie up the INS agents with ropes. I see no mention of this in the Miami Herald's account of the video footage from various sources. (April 30, 2000, Miami Herald, RECONSTRUCTING THE RAID, Agents' gaffes heightened chaos, BY CAROL ROSENBERG, [email protected])
7. About 15 people were allowed inside Mrs. Gills's yard behind the Gonzalez house. Federal agents infiltrated the group, arrested two, and released (without naming names) what they said were the arrest records for 8 others. They said they didn't know about convictions. The Miami Herald got 11 names from people who said they were there, but only 1 had an arrest record, "mostly for minor offenses, and no convictions." The Miami Herald cleared 10 people, and the Feds say that at most about 5 were clear, so we have a contradiction.

   The answer may be that

   "Lopez and his group believed that many of those criminals identified by police were among those on the sidewalk, and said they were never allowed inside the house... 'A lot of people wanted to volunteer,' Anrrich said. 'It was a judgement call...'"(Andres Viglucci, May 24 Miami Herald article, "Makeshift Force Disputes INS's Cause for Concern")

   Note that "When the agents arrived shortly after 5 a.m., there was no one with a criminal past at Mary Gills' house." Be on the lookout for what the INS says about this.

   It could be that the Miami Herald got some of the facts wrong. In the same article, however, it is said, "The agents said they were unaware that in the group were many with no arrest records." This, of course, is preposterous. The Herald reports that the group included people such as a social worker and a tutor for autistic children. If the INS discovered the names and arrest records of 10 people, it is hard to believe they did not have them for the others, and it is usually easier to get names for people with clean records than for those with something to hide.