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 For Immediate Release
Oct 25, 2001 Contact: Press Office
202-646-5172
HHS SECRETARY TOMMY THOMPSON FORCED TO ADMIT THAT KEY INFORMATION KEPT FROM PUBLIC ABOUT ANTHRAX CRISIS

Judicial Watch to Pry Information Out Through Freedom of Information Act Requests And Other Means


(Washington, D.C.) Judicial Watch, the public interest law firm that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and abuse, issued a press release yesterday entitled “The Government Is Lying About The Full Extent Of Anthrax Attacks,” setting forth evidence that the government was not being candid with the American people about the full extent of the anthrax crisis. See, www.judicialwatch.org. Today, in an article in the New York Times entitled “In Anthrax Crisis, Health Secretary Finds Unsteady Going (page B1), “ by Robert Pear, Tommy Thompson finally is forced to admit:

    Mr. Thompson said today that he had been “frustrated at times.” In his efforts to obtain and disseminate information on anthrax. He said he could not disclose all the information that might be important to public health because some was classified and some was restricted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
This is exactly the point. The American people deserve to know all the material facts that might allow them to protect themselves and their family members from what now is a national crisis. With news that the President and his White House have been taking CIPRO and been undergoing anthrax testing since September 11 – before it was even revealed that anthrax had contaminated the mails – clearly, at least, the American people deserve all the facts now, to make the right decisions for themselves and their loved ones. Already postal workers and others have died, because they were not given all the facts so they could obtain antibiotics and other medical care.

“Judicial Watch will not sit still and become, regrettably like some, the ‘yes men’ of this administration. We represent the American people, not the political elites, who have protected themselves, their staffs and their families, but left their constituents – ordinary citizens – to fend for themselves without full information,” stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman. “For this reason, Judicial Watch will pry out all the facts through Freedom of Information Act Requests and other means, and if cooperation is not forthcoming from the government, we will take swift legal action in court.”

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