HUNT DENIES HE WAS IN DALLAS WHEN JFK WAS SHOT DOWN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100610026-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 23, 2011
• Sequence Number: 26
• Publication Date: January 30, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/23: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100610026-8
71"
PITIN.F APPEARED
MIAMI HERALD
30 January 1985
Hunt denies he was in Dallas..
when.. JFK was shot down
By STEPHEN K. DOIG
Herald Staff Writer
In a long day of cross-examina-
tion, defense attorney Mark Lane
got E. Howard
Hunt to ac-
knowledge
Tuesday what
the nation has
known for at
least a decade:
that Hunt once
was a career
CIA agent and
he later took an
active part in
the Watergate
conspiracy.
It was Hunt's
second day on
the stand in Miami federal court in
his libel trial against the Liberty
Lobby, which published a 1978
article accusing Hunt of being
involved in the assassination of
John F. Kennedy. Hunt was alter-
nately amused and angered as
Lane, author of a book challenging
the findings of the investigations
into Kennedy's murder, rehashed a
past history that Hunt says is long
behind him.
"I wish I had never heard of
Watergate. and I wish I had never
been employed by the White
House," Hunt blurted at one point
as Lane pressed him about his
past.
Lane, hoping to undermine
Hunt's insistence that he knew
nothing of the Kennedy shooting,
spent much of the day reading
from transcripts of Hunt's testimo-
ny during the early investigations
into the Watergate burglary. Key
answers were perjured, Hunt
agreed each time Lane would read
a passage.
"That was false, and I knew it
to be false at the time," Hunt said
repeatedly Tuesday.
But Hunt, who now lives in
Miami, pointed out that he finally
recanted the lies, told the truth
about his activities with the infa-
mous "Plumbers," and served 33
months in prison for his part in the
White House conspiracy and cov-
erup.
The "Plumbers" were the group
of men who in 1972 were caught
breaking in to Democratic Party
headquarters in the Watergate, the
crime that spawned the scandal
that forced President Nixon to
resign.
"This is very embarrassing to
listen to that stuff," Hunt said
with a nervous chuckle as Lane
described several "dirty tricks"
schemes proposed to Hunt by
fellow conspirator G. Gordon Lid-
dy.
One of the statements in. the
article is that Hunt tried to
blackmail the CIA, with which he
served from 1949 to 1970.' After
describing Hunt's demands for
payments from senior Nixon aides,
Lane tried to get Hunt to admit the
statement in the article was true.
But Hunt, though momentarily
flustered, then reminded Lane, and
the jury, that his demands were
made to the White House and not
the CIA.
Hunt also agreed with Lane that
while in the CIA he had conducted
psychological warfare operations
against communist regimes in
Setting the Record Straight
--------------
Cuba and Guatemala. Hunt added
that he had no personal knowl-
edge, however, of CIA plots to-kill
Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
"You don't doubt that there
were such plans, do you?" Lane
asked.
Hunt smiled. "Well.. I would
have. hoped there were such
plans"
Late Tuesday, Lane started
questioning Hunt about his activi.
ties the day Kennedy was shot.
Hunt testified again that he was in
Washington, shopping with his
wife and children, when he heard
of the assassination. Hunt's law-
yers say they will offer witnesses
who will testify having seen Hunt
in Washington that day.
The trial, before U.S. District
Judge James Kehoe, is expected to
last through the week.
A story in Tuesday's Herald incorrectly reported that E. Howard
Hunt had testified in Miami federal court Monday that he once had
discussed a plot to poison columnist Jack Anderson. Instead, opposing
lawyer Mark Lane told jurors about the poison plot in his opening
statement. Hunt denies any participation in such a plot. The Herald
regrets the error.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/23: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100610026-8