Pierre Salinger in outburst at Lockerbie trial

November 20, 2000
Web posted at: 10:14 a.m. EST (1514 GMT)

CAMP ZEIST, Netherlands (Reuters) -- Former White House press secretary and journalist Pierre Salinger refused to leave the witness stand on Monday at the Pan Am 103 trial, angrily telling the court "I know exactly who did it."

Salinger, presidential press secretary for John F. Kennedy, repeatedly deviated from questions put to him as a prosecution witness, saying he wanted to tell the court about his investigations.

He said he could name the people he believed were responsible for the December 1988 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 259 people, mostly Americans, on the jumbo jet and 11 on the ground.

Salinger was summoned to tell about 1991 interviews with the two suspected Libyan masterminds of the attack, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi and Al-Amin Khalifa Fahima, he did for ABC.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers finished questioning Salinger after about an hour, but he demanded to stay on the witness stand.

"That's all? I want to tell the truth," Salinger said. "These two had nothing to do with it. I know exactly who did it."

Judge Lord Sutherland told Salinger he could say what he liked outside the court, but judicial rules would apply inside. Salinger was dismissed.

Salinger did not, in the end, say in court who he thought blew up the plane.

William Taylor, counsel for Megrahi, said the interviews with Salinger were arranged by the Libyan foreign minister and former secret service chief with the approval of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and that a ministry official had been present during both interviews.

Prosecutors were expected to conclude their case either Monday or Tuesday.