Of course, Mr. Lambert was the leading FBI agent pointing the finger at Dr. Steven Hatfill during the time he was in charge of the Amerithrax investigation (from April 2003 to August 2006). In August 2006, he left Amerithrax to take the position of Agent in Charge of the Knoxville, TN, office of the FBI. Mr. Lambert's replacement on Amerithrax, Edward Montooth, examined the evidence found so far and concluded that Dr. Bruce Ivins was the person most likely to have sent the anthrax letters. So, the focus of the Amerithrax investigation shifted from Dr. Hatfill to Dr. Ivins.
Based upon what I read in his lawsuit, however, leaving Amerithrax was a bitter pill for Mr. Lambert to swallow. He repeatedly complains that he wasn't given the support he needed to find evidence against the person he believes sent the anthrax letters, and he evidently believes that the "truth" about who sent the anthrax letters is being hidden from the American people.
This of course, qualifies Mr. Lambert to join the ranks of "Anthrax Truthers."
Like all Anthrax Truthers, Mr. Lambert provides no facts or evidence to prove his case. He basically argues that he wasn't allowed to find the "truth." And, like all Anthrax Truthers, he wants the FBI and DOJ to prove the negative, i.e., to prove that there is NO "exculpatory evidence" showing Dr. Ivins to be innocent, and that further investigation will NOT find that someone else sent the letters.
Here are some key parts of the lawsuit that relate to Amerithrax:
52. In October 2002, in the wake of surging media criticism, White House impatience with a seeming lack of investigative progress by WFO, and a concerned Congress that was considering revoking the FBI’s charter to investigate terrorism cases, Defendant FBI Director Mueller reassigned Plaintiff from the FBI’s San Diego Field Office to the Inspection Division at FBI Headquarters and placed Plaintiff in charge of the AMERITHRAX case as an “Inspector.” While leading the investigation for the next four years, Plaintiff’s efforts to advance the case met with intransigence from WFO’s executive management, apathy and error from the FBI Laboratory, politically motivated communication embargos from FBI Headquarters, and yet another preceding and equally erroneous legal opinion from Defendant Kelley – all of which greatly obstructed and impeded the investigation.and
53. On July 6, 2006, Plaintiff provided a whistleblower report of mismanagement to the FBI’s Deputy Director pursuant to Title 5, United States Code, Section 2303. Reports of mismanagement conveyed in writing and orally included: .......
(j) the FBI’s fingering of Bruce Ivins as the anthrax mailer; and, (k) the FBI’s subsequent efforts to railroad the prosecution of Ivins in the face of daunting exculpatory evidence. Following the announcement of its circumstantial case against Ivins, Defendants DOJ and FBI crafted an elaborate perception management campaign to bolster their assertion of Ivins’ guilt. These efforts included press conferences and highly selective evidentiary presentations which were replete with material omissions.and
55. After leaving the AMERITHRAX investigation in 2006, Plaintiff continued to publicly opine that the quantum of circumstantial evidence against Bruce Ivins was not adequate to satisfy the proof-beyond-a-reasonable doubt threshold required to secure a criminal conviction in federal court. Plaintiff continued to advocate that while Bruce Ivins may have been the anthrax mailer, there is a wealth of exculpatory evidence to the contrary which the FBI continues to conceal from Congress and the American people. The FBI vehemently opposes Plaintiff’s position.Note that in the above paragraph (#55), Mr. Lambert says that he (the "plaintiff") advocated "that while Bruce Ivins MAY have been the anthrax mailer," there is supposedly "a wealth of exculpatory evidence to the contrary," which would show that Dr. Ivins was NOT the anthrax killer. So, Mr. Lambert is avoiding saying that Dr. Ivins was innocent. He just claims that there is evidence which he believes should prove it.
You can also click on the images at the top of this thread to see larger versions of key pages, or you can click HERE to view the entire lawsuit claim.
Ed
