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What was Matthew Freedman's role in John Bolton's office? As Steve Clemons has already established at his site and we've elaborated on here, Freedman was a $110,000/year US tax-payer funded consultant to Bolton at the State Department with a top security clearance who simultaneously ran a private company with a private paid client roster he declined to share with the Senate Foreign Relations committee. When asked what his duties for Bolton included by SFRC staff, Freedman said he was "an intermittent part-time expert foreign-affairs consultant" -- one with a six figure salary from State plus the unnamed private paying clients. Christopher Dodd's top aide Janice O'Connell asked Bolton's acting chief of staff Frederick Fleitz, who had his own unusual arrangement whereby he worked simultaneously for the CIA's nonproliferation arm WINPAC while working for Bolton, why he sent an email to Freedman about Cuba intelligence, and strangely, neither Fleitz nor Freedman would answer.
Here's the exchange between O'Connell, other staff (Bruce Brown seems to be a State Department attorney "representing" Fleitz), and Fleitz:
Can someone please explain to me what's going on here? What is Freedman's real role and why is Fleitz so reluctant to speak about it? I read the Freedman interview closely, go to the very last two pages, and he also refuses to answer why he might have been the recipient of the Fleitz email concerning Cuba intelligence/intelligence analysis. What's going on here? Clearly something pretty sensitive.Ms. O'Connell: Well, let's go to the -- Mr. Fleitz's e-mails to Matthew Freedman.
Mr. Mattler: Was that among the topics that has been agreed?
Ms. O'Connell: That's the one that I've put on the table. Mr. Fleitz, on February 13th, 2002 -- actually, you sent two [emails], one at 8:44 and another at 8:45 a.m. -- and it's forwarding Cuba information. It says, "Part of the paper trail. This early note is not truthful." Why would you send -- what was Mr. Freedman's -- what were his responsibilities in Mr. Bolton's office?
Mr. Brown: Janice, this is Bruce, you can ask Mr. Freedman. And we can schedule time this afternoon that you can ask Mr. Freedman that question.
Ms. O'Connell: Well, I'm asking Mr. Fleitz. He's the one that sent the memo.
Mr. Brown: I don't think Mr. Fleitz decided what Mr. Freedman's roles and responsibilities --
Ms. O'Connell: Well, he was acting chief of staff at one point.
Mr. Brown: Well, I know, but the -- but the person who delegates roles and responsibilities in the T office is Mr. Bolton.
Ms. O'Connell: I'm asking Mr. Fleitz why he sent the e-mail to Mr. Freedman. He's the one that typed Mr. Freedman's name into the e-mail. Why did he do that? Mr. Freedman told us what his responsibilities were, and, as I
recall, he didn't mention Cuba.Mr. Brown: Mr. Fleitz doesn't want to answer that question. He thinks it's outside the scope, and I think maybe it's best -- that question is best posed --
Ms. O'Connell: Bruce, it's patently absurd that the person who sends the e-mail is not going to speak about it, but the recipient is.
Mr. Brown: I think what you want to know is what Freedman's role --
Ms. O'Connell: No, I want to know what Mr. Fleitz thought he was doing when he sent the e-mail. Why did he send it? Because he was his buddy and he likes to blog?
Mr. Brown: Mr. Fleitz --
Ms. O'Connell: I assume Mr. Fleitz is a busy man, and he sends e-mails for a purpose. Maybe I'm mistaken.
Mr. Fleitz: I think we're done. ..
Ms. O'Connell: So the record shows Mr. Fleitz is refusing to answer? ..
Mr. Brown: -- well, Mr. Fleitz thought about it, and we thought about it, and I think maybe perhaps these are questions that are probably best -- are best posed to Mr. Freedman.
Ms. O'Connell: That's laughable, Bruce.
Mr. McKeon: Can you at least give us a justification why Mr. Fleitz is not allowed to explain his own e-mails, or willing to? ...
[Whereupon, at 12:00 p.m, the hearing was adjourned.]
Update: When O'Connell asks Fleitz why he sent the email to Freedman, and he refuses to answer, she asks again, is it because he is your buddy and he blogs?
So, is O'Connell being sarcastic here, or...did Freedman blog?