KSFO's Rodgers, Sussman repeated false claim that Gorelick prevented FBI and CIA from coordinating to prevent 9-11 attacks

KSFO radio hosts Lee Rodgers and Brian Sussman repeated the falsehood that a 1995 memo written by then-deputy attorney general Jamie Gorelick prohibited intelligence-sharing between the FBI and the CIA, thereby causing the intelligence failures that led to the 9-11 attacks. In fact, the Gorelick memo merely clarified long-unwritten restrictions on the sharing of information between the FBI's intelligence arm and the Justice Department's criminal division, and had no impact on communications between the FBI and the CIA, Department of Defense, or any other agencies.

In recent days, Lee Rodgers and Brian Sussman, hosts at San Francisco radio station KSFO, have repeated the falsehood that a 1995 memo written by then-deputy attorney general Jamie Gorelick prohibited intelligence-sharing between the FBI and the CIA, thereby causing the intelligence failures that led to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

On the September 25 broadcast of The Lee Rodgers Show, Rodgers asserted that “Jamie Gorelick was the one who issued the order that the FBI and the CIA and other intelligence services could not communicate with each other about any potential terrorist threats within this country,” which “precluded any possibility that they were going to discover the 9-11 plot before it was too late.” On the September 22 broadcast of Rodgers' show, Sussman claimed that Gorelick “was the one who was part-and-parcel responsible for the walls of separation that existed before our -- between our various law enforcement agencies. In other words, when the FBI had a suspicion that something was going down and they needed the assistance of the CIA, they weren't able to share information. ... This is what gave the 9-11 hijackers a great advantage to come and attack our country.”

In fact, the Gorelick memo merely clarified long-unwritten restrictions on the sharing of information between the FBI's intelligence arm and the Justice Department's criminal division, and did not address communications between the FBI and the CIA, Department of Defense, or any other agencies, as Media Matters for America has noted.

From the September 25 broadcast of KSFO's The Lee Rodgers Show:

RODGERS: One of Countrywide's previously undisclosed customers was Jamie Gorelick, influential in the Clinton administration, deputy attorney general. Seems her $960,000 mortgage refi in 2003 was handled by Countrywide, through a program we've heard about before, for influential people -- friends of Countrywide's chief executive at the time, Angelo Mozilo. Ms. Gorelick was Fannie Mae's vice chairman at the time. They also -- Countrywide had a mortgage deal with recently ousted Fannie Mae chief executive Daniel Mudd. The Fannie loans, including a series of previously reported preferential loans, to former Fannie Mae chief executive James Johnson and Franklin Raines, underscore the close connections between Countrywide and Fannie Mae, and raise potential conflict-of-interest issues. And we'll find out just how serious this FBI investigation --

OFFICER VIC: Right.

RODGERS: -- is in getting into this stuff when we see some of these people behind bars. And it should be remembered -- Jamie Gorelick. Jamie Gorelick. You might very well be saying: “Where have I heard that name before?” Well, I'm going to tell you where you've heard it before. As deputy Attorney General under goofy old Janet Reno --

OFFICER VIC: Janet Reno.

RODGERS: -- well-known drunk, Jamie Gorelick was the one who issued the order that the FBI and the CIA and other intelligence services could not communicate with each other about any potential terrorist threats within this country. And it seems to be well-established in the minds of many people who know about how intelligence works that the prohibition of communication -- especially between the FBI and the CIA -- precluded any possibility that they were going to discover the 9-11 plot before it was too late.

That's Jamie Gorelick's contribution to history, for which she was rewarded, not only with a lot of money, for being the -- what was it? -- vice chairman of the Fannie Mae quasi-government operation, but was also getting a sweetheart deal on her own mortgage loans. Do we have a sick, screwed-up country or what? I'm axing you.

OFFICER VIC: I'm looking so forward to a perp walk with Jamie Gorelick. She -- that whole wall -- the setup between the FBI and the CIA -- to a large extent, the wheels were put in motion after that airplane blew up that went up out of New York, over Long Island, was heading for France -- Flight -- I recall -- I don't recall the flight -- but her name, in that book about that, and the documents regarding that flight, and the cover-up of what happened in that -- to that airplane -- she's all over that thing.

RODGERS: You're talking about the TWA where the tail came off?

OFFICER VIC: Where the -- inexplicably, the gas tanks exploded.

RODGERS: Oh, the T -- yeah.

OFFICER VIC: The TWA --

RODGERS: That TWA. Yeah.

OFFICER VIC: Yeah. Right as the midterm elections were about to occur.

RODGERS: And of course, she was a high appointee of the Clinton administration, well-connected, et cetera.

OFFICER VIC: Hmm-mm.

RODGERS: Jesus.

From the September 22 broadcast of The Lee Rodgers Show:

SUSSMAN: Sussman in for Lee. OK, so Officer Vic, again, last week. Caller wants to rip McCain, wants to rip the GOP, wants to rip all the rich Republicans for this financial, quote-unquote, “crisis,” regarding Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. So -- this is just great. Again, I share the information. I don't make any of this stuff up. They don't want to hear it. It's see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. They want to bury their head in the sand, pretend like I didn't say it, because they are smitten by Obama, and quite frankly, it doesn't matter who the Democrat presidential candidate is; they'll vote for that person.

But this is just -- this is great. When you look at people that are working with the Obama campaign, there are three names that come to mind, and those three names are Franklin Raines -- that would be the former Clinton budget director -- and then James Johnson, former aide to Democrat President Walter Mondale [sic], and then Jamie Gorelick, former Clinton administration deputy attorney general. I might mention something else about Jamie Gorelick.

OFFICER VIC: Wow.

SUSSMAN: You talk about a non-patriot. You talk about a person who placed this nation at risk. Within the Clinton administration, she was the one who was part-and-parcel responsible for the walls of separation that existed before our -- between our various law enforcement agencies. In other words, when the FBI had a suspicion that something was going down and they needed the assistance of the CIA, they weren't able to share information. It went so far as to, in some cases, affect local police departments.

These intelligence agencies, these security agencies, not being able to talk with each other -- this was put in place via the Clinton administration and these walls of separation. This is what gave the 9-11 hijackers a great advantage to come and attack our country. The blood, at least in some way, shape, or form, is upon Jamie Gorelick's hands.

However, how is Jamie Gorelick, how is James Johnson, how are Franklin Raines rewarded for their participation within Democrat circles? Well, they get cake jobs. Cake jobs with Fannie Mae, big-time, CEO-type jobs.

OFFICER VIC: Yeah.

SUSSMAN: And all of these people are in association with the Obama camp. He can run, but he can't hide. Mr. Change, Mr. Hope, Mr. Dreams -- I don't think so.