Weaver: ‘I’M Testifying For Sam And Vicki’ Separatist Fears He’ll Be Unfairly Attacked By Senate Panel

Randy Weaver will testify before a Senate committee even though it brings back “terrible memories” of how his wife and son were killed in an Idaho standoff with federal agents, he said.

“I’m doing it for Sam and Vicki,” he told The Des Moines Sunday Register.

“That’s the only reason. And for everybody, really. We’re losing our freedoms. Somebody has to be held accountable. It’s scary.”

But “one of my concerns is who’s going to be on trial, them or me?” he said.

Shooting broke out near Weaver’s remote cabin in North Idaho on Aug. 21, 1992, as U.S. marshals prepared to arrest him for failing to appear in court on a weapons charge. Weaver’s 14-year-old son Samuel and a marshal were killed.

A day later, an FBI sniper fired a shot at Weaver’s cabin and killed his wife, Vicki, 43. The standoff lasted 11 days.

Weaver and a friend were acquitted in the shooting of the marshal. And last week, the Justice Department announced it would pay Weaver and his three surviving children $3.1 million. They had sued for $200 million.

Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican and chairman of the Senate Judiciary terrorism subcommittee, said last week that he still is planning to start the hearings Sept. 6 despite Justice Department concerns that the session might impede criminal investigations.

Five top FBI officials have been suspended pending the outcomes of the investigations of an alleged cover-up involving controversial “shoot-on-sight” orders given to FBI snipers.

One of the five, Larry Potts, was promoted earlier this year as FBI deputy director. But FBI Director Louis Freeh told Newsweek that he would not have promoted Potts “given the facts we have now.”

Freeh admitted that he promoted Potts because of their “long and close association,” the magazine reported in its Aug. 28 issue, out today. He also conceded that “it’s obvious there was a flawed investigation” and took “full responsibility” for the damage to the FBI’s image.

Though he would not give Newsweek specifics, Freeh said the allegations being investigated are “shocking.”

Weaver said he is still uncomfortable discussing the standoff.

“When you talk about it, you start to visualize it. And it brings back terrible memories. I want to talk about it, but when I do, it takes me two or three days to recoup emotionally,” he told the Register.

“I wish my wife was here and I was gone. She could tell you much better than I can about things. It’s hard for me. I can’t express my feelings very well. There’s turmoil, lots of turmoil.”

The standoff has been cited by conspiracy theorists, militias and others as evidence of government wrongdoing. One of the men charged in the Oklahoma City bombing, Timothy McVeigh, reportedly was outraged at the government’s actions at the Weaver cabin.

Weaver said he was saddened that his name was raised in connection with the bombing.

“Every time my name was mentioned, it bugged me. I know how the parents of those kids feel. And the spouses,” he said.

Weaver, who has rejected previous interview requests, is now living in Grand Junction, a few miles from his hometown of Jefferson and about 40 miles northwest of Des Moines. He lives with his 3-year-old daughter Elisha and 13-year-old daughter Rachel. His third daughter, Sara, 19, lives nearby.

He must remain in Iowa until December under terms of his probation for failure to appear in court on the weapons charge. He said he and his daughters would like to move back West some day and raise horses.

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