Kerrey Details Clinton's bin Laden Denial to Commission

In what could turn out to be his most outrageous falsehood yet, ex-President Bill Clinton has told the 9/11 Commission that he never admitted passing up a chance to have Osama bin Laden arrested - even though his words were caught on tape.

As NewsMax.com reported Friday afternoon, 9/11 Commissioner Bob Kerrey revealed the Clinton denial to WDAY Fargo, N.D., radio host Scott Hennen for an interview set for broadcast Monday.

NewsMax.com has obtained a full transcript of Kerrey's comments to Hennen, a portion of which was first publicized by national radio host Sean Hannity. The transcript shows that the Nebraska Democrat had no idea when he questioned the ex-president that his denial is provably false:

HENNEN: Bill Clinton, in his own words, at a fund-raiser in 2002, talked about being offered, from the Sudanese, Osama bin Laden. And he said, and I quote:

"At the time, 1996, he had committed no crime against America so I did not bring him here because we had no basis on which to hold him, though we knew he wanted to commit crimes against America."

KERREY: He told us yesterday that that was a misquote.

HENNEN: I have heard it in his own voice! I have heard him say it. I have the tape of him saying just that.

KERREY: Really? Well, ship it to me. Because he said yesterday that he didn't have a recollection of that.

HENNEN:: Wow. Because again, this isn't somebody recalling this. This is Bill Clinton saying it, at this fund-raiser, when he was asked a question from someone in the audience.

KERREY: Was that in Long Island?

HENNEN: Yes, in 19 - eh, in 2002

KERREY: He - there were actually two references. That one, [where] he said that he didn't understand. I think he said, "I didn't understand the question. I didn't understand what the facts were. I didn't have a good recollection of what was going on." But he has since checked it and has altered his answer.

HENNEN: So he's now saying there never was an opportunity where the Sudanese actually offered ...

KERREY: Right.

HENNEN: ... bin Laden to us and we tried to get the Saudis to take him and all that.

KERREY: That's right.

HENNEN: Boy.

KERREY: Regardless of what his answer is, I believe that early on if we understood the threat, that, ah, there were many moments early on, especially in the Clinton administration, when action could have been taken that wasn't taken to render both bin Laden and his chief military operators [no longer a threat to the U.S.]. And we didn't do it.

They thought, look, by the way, it's reasonable to presume that it was a great success to get him from the Sudan to Afghanistan, out in the bush in Afghanistan. That was not a friendly place for bin Laden to be going anymore. [End of Excerpt]

NewsMax.com gratefully acknowledges the help of WDAY's Scott Hennen in obtaining this transcript.

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