Would Joe Paterno have participated with Louis Freeh's team investigating the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse case?
Yes, or no, according to Louis Freeh.
Former FBI director Louis Freeh talks about the report on the investigation into Penn Stateâs involvement in the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Freeh was tasked by the Penn State Board of Trustees to lead Penn State's internal investigation of the Sandusky scandal. JOE HERMITT, The Patriot-News
On page 53 of his report, Freeh wrote: "The Special Investigative Counsel requested an interview with Paterno in December 2011. Through his counsel, Paterno expressed interest in participating but died before he could be interviewed."
At the July 12, 2012 press conference announcing his findings, Freeh said "We don't have the benefit of having spoken to Mr. Paterno, as I believe he intended to do …"
But in issuing his response to the Paterno family's critique of his report Sunday, Freeh said: "During the investigation, we contacted Mr. Paterno's attorney in an attempt to interview Mr. Paterno. Although Mr. Paterno was willing to speak with a news reporter and his biographer at that time, he elected not to speak with us. We also asked Mr. Paterno's attorney to provide us with any evidence that he and his client felt should be considered. The documents provided were included in our report."
William McCusker -- a spokesman for Pepper Hamilton, which merged with Freeh's firm in August -- said that Paterno and his attorney did express interest in meeting with Freeh's team, as Freeh stated in his report. But McCusker said, Paterno's attorneys declined to make Paterno available either by phone or in person despite Freeh's willingness "to accomodate him in whatever manner he wished."
Wick Sollers, the Paterno family attorney, was not available to immediately respond to McCusker's statement. But earlier Sunday, he said this about Freeh's response to the Paterno report:
"Mr. Freeh's attack on the report this morning should trouble everyone who wants the truth on the Sandusky scandal. He criticizes a report he obviously hadn't had time to read and consider. And he refuses to address the critical factual and procedural failures in his own report, particularly his flawed conclusions which have only added to this tragedy.
"The assertion by Mr. Freeh that somehow the Paterno family declined to cooperate with his investigators is an unfortunate distortion of the truth. I personally met with the Freeh team and pledged full cooperation. Joe Paterno's cancer diagnosis, treatment and subsequent death prevented him from being interviewed. But Jay Paterno was interviewed and I shared additional information available to me.
"Being angry does not constitute a defense of poor work. A failure to consider the facts carefully is exactly the problem our expert analysis highlights. I encourage everyone, including Mr. Freeh, to take the time to study this report."
Note: This report has been updated to include William McCusker's comments.