By Matt Renner, t r u t h o u t
The White House has refused to turn over documents in connection with the US House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s investigation into the death of Corporal Pat Tillman, citing executive privilege. However, an examination of the documents released by the Department of Defense (DOD) shows the White House selectively withheld documents which did not fall within their executive privilege claim, and the White House may have ignored a warning from a top military official in order to propagate the fictional story of Tillman’s demise.
According to the chairman and ranking member of the Oversight Committee, their investigation includes a central question: “What [did] the White House and the leadership of the Department of Defense know about Corporal Tillman’s death and when [did] they know it?”
A joint letter from Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ranking Member Tom Davis (R-Va.) accuses the White House of illegitimately withholding documents critical to the investigation and ignoring warnings from a top military official.