Cmdr. William S. Donaldson, III - USN, Ret.
Press Release Washington, DC - May 21, 1999 For Immediate Release Today, Cmdr. William S. Donaldson, an Independent Aircrash Investigator probing the July 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800, publicly released a statement and letter to Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Aviation. In the letter, intended to amplify the record of Cmdr. Donaldson's testimony before the Subcommittee's Hearing to Reauthorize the NTSB on May 6, 1999, he asked the Chariman to have Ohio Democrat James Traficant recuse himself from further involvement in the TWA Flight 800 matter. Donaldson based his request on his discovery, after testifying before the committee, of Traficant's extensive history of Mob activity and Federal prosecutions. Donaldson point out that when Mr. O'Nesti, Traficants' senior political advisor and manager of Ohio's 17th Congressional District office, pled guilty to tow organized crime felonys in a sealed Federal plea bargin in 1998, it was precisely coincidental to Traficant's "sudden and severe change of heart" in supporting Donaldson's Flight 800 investigation. Prior to that point he was a strong supporter of the outside investigation. After Mr. O'Nesti's guilty plea, he avoided all contact with Cmdr. Donaldson and proactively attacked the Donaldson investigation. Cmdr. Donaldson's Statement: "On 6 May 1999 I testified before the House Subcommittee on Aviation during their hearing on the reauthorization of the National Transportation Safety Board. (See attached press article). I proposed, in the presence of Mr. Hall, the Chairman of the NTSB and his staff entorage, they be removed from office based on the abuses of power and malfeasence discovered in our investigation into the loss of TWA Flight 800. I strongly recommended the NTSB be reorganized without pollicial appointees and that Title 49 and Title 50 which were severely abused by this administration, be reformed. Despite the fact I trought into the hearing documents and maps that proved the FBI's intention to conceal evidence of a missile attack on TWA Flight 800, they were ignored. Instead of developing and pursuing fact from a two year investigation, Mr. Lipinski, the ranking democrat and Mr. Traficant even more so engaged in a partisan game of shoot the messenger. Several of Traficant's comments were slanderous. Having a fill of Traficant's duplicity for the second time in less that a year, our investigation imediately began checkin his background and motives. What was found was nausiating and is partly documented in the attached letter and news report. Mr. Traficant's background and antics have caused me to reconsider previoius events. Mob tactics may explain the strange behavior of Mr. Bruce Klappa on 16 and 17 July 1998. Mr. Klappa, the manager of a prominent downtown Washington club, was contracted to provide a large ballroom for our press conference on Monday, July 20, 1998. At that time, immediately after Mr. Traficant's report, we were to publicly release our Interim Report to Congress. Mr. Klappa breached the contract without cause late on Thursday afternoon, went into his office and locked the door and refused to answer the phone. The issue suddenly resolved mid Friday morning 15 minutes after I informed Traficant's office we intended to cancel the news conference, sue the manager and discover phone records. Traficant's assistant blamed the NTSB as the possible source of intimidation of Mr. Klappa, however the issue will likely not be resolved unless Mr. Klappa, now out of state, is placed under oath." Cmdr. Donaldson will be making appearances on the West Coast the second
week of June at Pebble Beach, the Naval Postgraduate School and in Hollywood.
Call 301-769-3353 prior to 7 June 1999 for West Coast press availability.
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