(Testimony of Mark Lane Resumed)
The Chairman.
have evidence. We are happy to receive it. We want every bit of evidence that you have. You may present anything that you wish to us. But you are not to be a participant in the work of the Commission. I assume you have some questions you would like to ask Mr. Lane, Mr. Rankin?
Mr. Lane.
Well, then I ask also, Mr. Chief Justice, at this point the letters, exchange of letters between Mr. Rankin and myself, where I made the request to appear as counsel for the interests of Lee Harvey Oswald, and where counsel for this Commission said that Oswald was not entitled to counsel, or that I could not represent him----
The Chairman.
Let the record speak for itself in that respect, too. The exchange of letters will be in the record.
(See Commission Exhibit No. 1053.)
Mr. Lane.
Thank you, sir.
Mr. Rankin.
Now, Mr. Lane, regarding this tape recording of Helen Markham, and your interview with her, will you tell the Commission when you made this?
Mr. Lane.
I had a conversation with Mrs. Markham on the 2d day of March of this year.
Mr. Rankin.
Where was that?
Mr. Lane.
I have given the Commission the results of that investigation the best of my ability. I think that, again, Mr. Rankin, your question delves into the functioning of an attorney on behalf of a client, and, therefore, is not proper, and, therefore I decline to answer it.
Mr. Rankin.
Will you tell the Commission when you made the tape recording that you referred to?
Mr. Lane.
I just answered that question, Mr. Rankin.
Mr. Rankin.
And do you refuse to tell, then, anything about that interview with Helen Markham, how you recorded it?
Mr. Lane.
I beg your pardon?
Mr. Rankin.
And how you recorded it?
Mr. Lane.
I should think that since this Commission has been appointed by the President of the United States to secure all of the information regarding the assassination of President Kennedy and other matters peripheral to that, the questions asked of me should be related to information which can be of assistance to the Commission, and should not be the kind of questions, Mr. Rankin, that you have put to me.
I am happy to tell you every bit of information that I have been able to secure as a private citizen in trying to discover what took place on November 22 and the days that followed November 22, but I think that the very questions that you are putting to me indicates that you are not interested solely in securing that information, but in placing me, Mr. Rankin, in a position which is not a good one. And I see this quite frankly as part of many things that have happened to me since November 22--not November 22, but since I expressed some interest in this case.
Mr. Rankin.
Mr. Lane, could you tell us whether there was anyone else present at this interview with Helen Markham that you recorded?
Mr. Lane.
I don't believe that I said I recorded it. I believe I said it was recorded.
Mr. Rankin.
Was it recorded by someone else?
Mr. Lane.
I decline to answer any questions, because the questions you are asking clearly are not for the purpose for which this Commission has been established. And I tell you that I am amazed, quite frankly, Mr. Rankin, that the kind of harassment to which I have been subjected since I became involved in this case continues here in this room--I am amazed by that.
As you know, and I don't how if this has been placed on the record by the Commission--in the letter that I wrote to you on May 18, 1964, I told you that I had been accosted by two agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in front of my own house, and ordered to give to them, by them--their names being William E. Folkner, his serial number being 5954, and John P. Dimarchi, his serial number being 4256---and ordered to give to those gentlemen documents in my possession, relating to my testimony before this Commission.
Mr. Rankin.
Did you do that?
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