WASHINGTON — In a dramatic appearance at FBI headquarters Tuesday, Coretta Scott King said FBI attempts to smear her slain husband continued after his death and she credited the agency's embattled director, William S. Sessions, with moving the bureau away from such tactics.
"I can stand here before you with faith that the FBI of the 1990s has turned its back on the abuses of the Hoover era," said King, who spoke at the FBI's commemoration of Black History Month. She characterized her selection to deliver the address as "ironic."
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who died nearly 21 years ago and for whom the FBI headquarters building is named, denounced Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as "the most notorious liar in the country" in 1965 after King questioned the FBI's commitment to civil rights cases.
Under Hoover, the FBI undertook a worldwide campaign to discredit King, including sending materials to his wife questioning his fidelity. The campaign extended to Oslo where King went to accept the Nobel Peace Prize.
His widow, who heads the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, dismissed a Justice Department investigation that concluded Sessions had repeatedly abused his office. She characterized the probe as "the current campaign to discredit you."
"History will show you stood firm for a democratic and inclusive FBI," King said, producing applause and cheers from the predominantly black audience of about 550 jammed into the headquarters auditorium.
King's appearance came as Sessions issued a new blast at the investigation by the Justice Department's office of professional responsibility, despite requests by the White House and Justice Department to avoid further public comment until the matter is reviewed by the new attorney general. President Clinton has nominated Miami prosecutor Janet Reno for the post and she is awaiting Senate confirmation proceedings.
In a Teletype to all employees, Sessions denied Justice Department findings that he had engaged in a "sham" arrangement to avoid paying taxes for his use of an FBI limousine that brings him to and from work.
Sessions had said he was following the opinion of FBI legal counsel Joseph R. Davis, who concluded that the FBI director would be eligible for a law enforcement tax exemption if he carried a firearm in the vehicle, which he did by placing an unloaded gun in a briefcase in the trunk.
