Jasmine Crockett Asks Director Oliver Stone Why Congress Is Platforming JFK 'Conspiracy Theories'

2 days ago

At Tuesday's House Oversight Committee hearing on JFK Files, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) questioned "JFK" director Oliver Stone.

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Transcript

00:00Madam chair, I yield. I now recognize Ms. Crockett for five minutes.

00:12Thank you so much. There often isn't too much agreement when it comes specifically to Congress,

00:19let alone to this particular committee. And I will tell you that y'all have given me all the feels

00:27as someone who had an opportunity to practice law. So when you start talking about things such as

00:33chain of custody, these are the things that I used to challenge all the time as a defense attorney.

00:40And the reason that I had to make sure that I was here and specifically on today is because on

00:48November 22nd, 1963, Texas 30th congressional district, the district that I represent,

00:56became the site of one of the most tragic events in American political history. After being struck

01:00by the bullets of an assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, President Kennedy, was rushed to Parkland hospital

01:07where hard-working physicians from the UT Southwestern Medical Center worked tirelessly

01:12to resuscitate him. During the 48 hours between the moment President Kennedy was shot to the moment

01:18when Oswald was pronounced dead, Texas 30th congressional district became the temporary seat

01:24of the U.S. government, the temporary seat of the Texas government, the site of the 35th president's

01:31death, and the center of the world's attention. While I value government accountability and

01:36transparency like most of my colleagues, nearly all the previously classified JFK assassination files

01:43are now public and show no evidence of a CIA conspiracy. But what I find funny about this

01:48hearing is that the Republicans are here re-litigating whether CIA agents lied 60 years ago

01:56but aren't doing anything about the CIA director lying to Congress just six days ago. We should be

02:03having a hearing on the fact that the unqualified Secretary of Defense and other senior Trump

02:08officials were carelessly discussing classified military plans over an unsecure signal group chat

02:15and instead of providing oversight over the administration's handling of classified information,

02:20the Republicans have spent a week trying to convince the American people that the military

02:24plans were not classified. So instead of giving a platform to conspiracy theories, and let me be

02:30clear, there are holes. I don't want y'all to think that I don't think that there are holes.

02:36But when we're looking back, we need to look back so that we can look forward and hopefully do better.

02:41So that is why I am bringing us to present day. It might be helpful if we walk everyone through the

02:48classification and declassification process since the Republicans have decided to do it this way.

02:54Federal law defines classified information as quote information or material requiring

02:59a specific degree of protection against unauthorized disclosure for reasons of national security.

03:04Federal law also defines disclosure as quote communicating, providing, transmitting, transferring,

03:10conveying, publishing, or otherwise making available. Congress has long enacted classified

03:15information laws that forbid the disclosure of classified information. Separately, Executive

03:21Order 13526 puts in place a uniform system for classifying and declassifying national security

03:28information. According to the Executive Order, classified information includes the following

03:34quote military plans, weapons, systems, or operations, intelligence activities including

03:39covert actions, intelligence sources or methods, and foreign relations or foreign activities of

03:45the United States including confidential sources. Under the quote general responsibilities provision

03:51of the Executive Order quote heads of agencies shall ensure the agency record system are designed

03:56and maintained to optimize the appropriate sharing and safeguarding of classified information and

04:03help facilitate its declassification not to mention that it's also illegal under federal law

04:08to destroy classified documents and information. So this administration is breaking law

04:12by discussing classified information over unsecured channels and breaking the law

04:17by destroying the evidence of the conversations. We wouldn't be able to have today's hearing if

04:22the CIA destroyed the records associated with the assassination of President Kennedy. So Mr.

04:28Morley, wouldn't it be impossible for you to accurately report on the JFK assassination if the

04:35CIA and FBI deleted all documents like the Trump administration officials plan to do in the Signal

04:41Group chat? The CIA destroyed a lot of records related to President Kennedy's assassination.

04:48Again, I didn't come here to engage in a debate about partisan politics. I think everybody agrees

04:54about the JFK files and I want to endorse Mr. Davidson's call for full funding of public

04:59records offices in the government. I understand and Mr. Stone, wouldn't it be nearly impossible

05:04to produce a film if there was not a legitimate record of these events taking place?

05:09That's a very good question. Not really. I mean the events unfolded as they did and right away

05:28from day one people were pointing out inconsistencies way before there was an

05:32official record of this. Thank you, with that I will yield.

05:41Mr. Morley, Mr. Stone, Mr. DiEugenio, I just want to say thank you for being here,

05:49taking time out of your day, and I want to apologize that not everyone on this hearing

05:54seems to want to use this time to its fullest extent.

Jasmine Crockett Asks Director Oliver Stone Why Congress Is Platforming JFK 'Conspiracy Theories'

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