By Jim Popkin, NBC News Senior Investigative Producer
The Justice Department made it official today and formally cleared former "person of interest" Dr. Steven Hatfill of any involvement in the deadly anthrax attacks of 2001.
The U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia
sent a letter today to Hatfill's lawyer, Thomas Connolly, of Washington, D.C. It states: "We have concluded, based on lab access records, witness accounts, and other information, that Dr. Hatfill did not have access to the particular anthrax used in the attacks, and that he was not involved in the anthrax mailings."
The letter, by the U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Jeffrey Taylor, adds that the Justice Department believes that Dr. Bruce Ivins "acting alone, committed the anthrax mailings."
In 2002, former Attorney General John Ashcroft publicly labeled Hatfill a "person of interest" in the anthrax attacks, which killed five people. Hatfill was subject to intense FBI surveillance and scrutiny for years, and once an FBI Agent who was tailing him in Washington, D.C., got so close to Hatfill that he ran over the doctor's toe with his car tire. As the media reports intensified, Hatfill became unemployable and despondent.
FBI and Justice Department officials improperly leaked information to the media about the case and Hatfill's alleged role in the mass murders, and the Justice Department settled a civil lawsuit with Hatfill in June. The DOJ agreed to pay Hatfill $5.8 million in damages.
Nonetheless, until today, the Justice Department had never actually cleared Hatfill of wrongdoing in the case or eliminated him as a suspect. In fact, at the FBI press conference just this week regarding anthrax suspect Dr. Bruce Ivins, the FBI and Justice Department officials refused to comment about Hatfill at all.
Today's letter ends a six-year nightmare for Hatfill, who had repeatedly professed his innocence.
