The Ron Brown Death
TV Interview by George Putnam of Chris Ruddy and Larry Klayman
about the suspicious .45 caliber hole in Ron Brown's head.
View this interview in streaming video!
April 3, 1996 an Airforce jet carrying Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown and 34 others crashed while landing near Croatia's Dubrovnik Airport. At the time of Ron Brown's death, he was under criminal investigation by an independent counsel. That investigation quickly ended with Brown's death, though Brown's son, Michael, and Brown's partner later pleaded guilty to charges related to Brown's alleged wrongdoing. Then in late 1997 stunning revelations were made in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. It was a series of investigative reports by reporter Christopher Ruddy. The Tribune-Review reported that three military pathologists believes there was significant evidence that Brown may have suffered a gunshot wound to his head and that the cause of death as an accident could not be supported unless there was an autopsy. No autopsy was ever conducted on Brown. And when Brown's body was examined at Dover Airforce Base, officials found what appeared to be a perfectly round hole consistent with a 45-caliber gunshot wound. And X-rays also indicated possible bullet fragments in Brown's head.
These and other disclosures have become a focus of interest with Judicial Watch, a public interest law firm headed by Larry Klayman. And joining us today to discuss the cover-up of Ron Brown's death is Judicial Watch Chairman, Larry Klayman and NewsMax.com Editor, Christopher Ruddy.
GP: Larry, let's start with you. You and your organization first uncovered the facts relating to the scandal that is known as Chinagate and Ron Brown at Commerce. How was Brown involved in all of these stories?
LK: Brown was the mastermind, the implementer of the scheme to sell off seats on trade missions, to sell high technology to the Chinese and others. This was devised by Hillary Clinton. That business partner you talked about, Nolanda Hill, has testified to this. No one refuted it. The court dared the White House to come in with other evidence. It hasn't occurred. So consequently when Ron Brown's plane goes down during the week that he had been scheduled to testify to Judicial Watch but got a postponement to go to Bosnia instead, it obviously raises a lot of questions.
GP: Larry, you've spoken with Brown's business partner, as you say, Nolanda Hill. Hill told you what had happened to Brown in the days just before his death. As the independent counsel, Daniel Pearson, was closing in on Brown, Brown went to see Bill Clinton.
LK: That's right. What happened was this: This independent counsel started before this plane crash occurred. This counsel was a Democrat out of Miami. Brown went to Clinton, according to Nolanda Hill, and said to Clinton: "Unless you get this Democrat independent counsel off my back, I may have to turn state's evidence. I may have to cooperate." Clinton's response was - barefoot, according to Nolanda Hill, up on a foot stool, which is his way of walking around the White House, arms crossed - "That's nice." Almost like an organized crime figure, "That's nice." The icy chill in the room was so great that Nolanda Hill has told us that Ron Brown just walked out at that point. And it was within the next two weeks that he was sent to Bosnia. He did not know that he was scheduled to go there.
GP: Never heard it. As a reporter, I've never heard it before. This plane crash came at a very convenient time. As a former federal prosecutor, Larry, should this have been dismissed so easily as just another accident?
LK: It can't be dismissed as an accident. It can't be dismissed because it's irrefutable. As we represented Janowski and Steve Cogswell - two people in the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology that actually played a role in investigating the death. It cannot be disputed that what you have in Ron Brown's head is a bullet hole.
GP: Chris Ruddy, you broke this story in that great newspaper, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and your articles continue on NewsMax.com. I want you to explain to us now how Brown could have been shot, considering the plane crashed.
CR: George, I think everything people have heard about this case is probably false or misleading... certainly that the press and government has told. We know that the Airforce report on the crash states categorically that the weather was not bad, that the weather did not contribute to the crash. You ask your average American, and they thought that it was the worst weather ever in Croatia that day. Second, the Airforce, for the first time in their history of airplane investigations on friendly territory, decided they were immediately going to declare this an accident without a full investigation. And then the third thing, George, I think is the most disturbing. When the military officials at Dover Airforce Base examined Brown's body, they found what appeared to be a gunshot wound. Now, we don't know how that gunshot wound was made; but you do an autopsy, you do an investigation. And instead what they did was a cover-up of the facts of this case.
GP: Chris, Larry, it seems shocking to me that they found this evidence. Did anybody call the FBI? Did anyone contact the Brown family? Why wasn't there an autopsy? Why didn't they conduct one?
LK: No, as a matter of fact, it was worse than that. And of course, we get this story about what happened with Clinton in the Oval Office from Nolanda Hill. And it's interesting enough that Nolanda Hill is the only one who winds up getting indicted and having to do hard time. Michael Brown gets off Scott-free. Other people don't go to jail. Nolanda Hill, the person that comes forward and tells the story about Brown's encounter with the president, goes to jail.
CR: And let's underscore, George, this was a Commerce Secretary, a member of the president's cabinet. There was significant evidence of homicide. All of the pathologists agreed at Dover Airforce Base there was an apparent gunshot wound that needed an autopsy. No autopsy was conducted. It is standard procedure that an autopsy be conducted.
GP: Chris, NewsMax.com and you have released a video - "The Death of Ron Brown." And for the first time, you're releasing the secret government photos - the actual photos of the Brown crash: Brown's body, some other photos. We're showing some of these photos, the ones we can, on national TV.
CR: Yeah, the video, George - and we're showing, now, some of the clips to the viewers watching this program. It's 60 minutes long, the video; it shows more than a couple of dozen photos involving this case. What people are seeing, of course, is that this was a low-impact crash. As you can see on the screen, most of the plane - a significant portion of it - survived the crash. It was on final approach. Most of the bodies were completely intact. In fact, as you got to the rear of the plane - and one of the photos shows the very rear of the fuselage - you can see where on that blue seat in the back, the stewardess, Shelly Kelly was found. She survived the crash. She lived for 11 hours. She died, I think, somewhat suspiciously en route for help during the 12th hour. Again, you know, people get this idea you have a plane crash, everybody dies. We're not showing a picture of Ron Brown's body for national television; however, Dr. Cyril Wecht, who looked at the body, said that Brown could have survived the crash.
LK: Not only that, George, but recent documents turned over to Judicial Watch in its lawsuits show that there was perhaps more than one survivor. An individual by the name of Ira Sokowitz who was the person who took satellite encryptions and three CIA reports on China, Russia and India out of the Congress Department without authorization, who worked with John Wong, was mysteriously sent to the crash scene and he sent back a cable to the Congress Department saying there was more than one survivor. So, was one of those survivors Ron Brown? We wished he had lived and in fact the court in this case has said if he had lived, perhaps we would have many of the answers about the Clinton scandals that we're now having to fight hard to get today.
GP: Amazing! The video was narrated by Lt. Col. Steve Cogswell (Dr. Armed Forces of Pathology), a military pathologist. He was involved in the case. And here is what Lt. Col. Cogswell had to say about it:
Lt. Col. Steve Cogswell: Brown had a .45-inch inwardly beveling circular hole in the top of his head, which is essentially the description of 45-caliber gunshot wound.
GP: Chris, what did the X-rays show?
CR: Well this is incredible, George, because X-rays are standard procedure and especially now there was evidence of a gunshot. When they looked at the initial head X-rays, they found metal fragments, or potential fragments, in the head, sprinkled throughout the cavity of the head. And in fact we're showing, now, to the viewers a side photograph of the X-ray. All the original X-rays have been destroyed or are missing. And it's not very clear on television; but on close examination, Dr. Cyril Wecht has looked at this and said, "Yes, it's consistent with a bullet. There needed to be an autopsy."
Excerpt from "Navy Chief Speaks Out":
CR: So the chief naval investigator, who is a law enforcement officer,
Kathleen Janowski, Chief Petty Officer: A sworn law enforcement officer.
CR: ...that was present at Dover Airforce Base, told you that the first head X-ray was destroyed because it showed evidence of a gunshot wound.
Kathleen Janowski, Chief Petty Officer: Yes. It showed a lead snowstorm.
GP: What happened to the X-rays?
LK: The X-rays are missing, George.
GP: Missing?
LK: Missing, with every other piece of evidence. And here's another important fact about this whole Ron Brown situation. Nolanda Hill told us that he was deeply involved in this transfer of technology to the Chinese. He'd met with this Chinese arms merchant, Wong Jun. Now, the plane goes down in Bosnia in an area where the Chinese intelligence are prevalent. I asked Johnny Chung when we deposed him in one of our Chinagate cases: "Do you think that the death of Ron Brown was accidental?" And he said to me, "Larry, let's put it this way: I have doubts."
GP: Chris, Larry, this is simply amazing. You have three military officials who said that Brown may have been shot. The head X-rays were destroyed... Larry, I'm not a lawyer as you are. Is this obstruction of justice? Is it worse? Does it involve a cabinet secretary who may have been killed? Assassinated?
LK: George, it's worse than that. It's clearly obstruction of justice. But there's a whole other story here. We know that the Congressional Black Caucus - because I met with some of them, with our clients - wanted to proceed with an investigation right before the Lewinsky scandal. All of a sudden 400 million dollars of inner-city aide was freed up by the Clinton Administration to pump into their districts and they lost interest. There's an obstruction of Congress as well as an obstruction in the military.
GP: This is simply frightening. This is not the America I know, folks. I think you'll agree that this is not conspiracy stuff. This is about a cover-up. This is about obstruction of justice at the highest level. This is about a possible assassination.
If you want this information - information that the press won't give to you, you can get this information by ordering a special package - the "Ron Brown Case" from NewsMax.com. In the "Ron Brown Case," in that package that you're going to receive: "The Death of Ron Brown" video - 60 minutes of Christopher Ruddy's interview with Lt. Col. Cogswell and all the secret government photos that have never been released by the media - never before. Some of this is pretty graphic, I'll admit. It includes photos of the head wound, and a 39-page special report by Christopher Ruddy called "The Cover-Up of Ron Brown." And another video - "Navy Chief Speaks Out" - the startling testimony of Kathleen Janowski revealing the cover-up of Ron Brown's death.
