WEB ALERT December 18, 2001 COBELL PLAINTIFFS ASK COURT TO ACCEPT COURT MONITOR'S CRITICAL REPORTS AS EVIDENCE WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Cobell plaintiffs asked U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth today to accept a court-appointed investigator's five scathing reports on Interior Department malfeasance as evidence in the contempt trial of Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb. Lamberth gave government attorneys until 10 a.m. Wednesday, December 19, to respond. The judge adjourned court for the day to allow the lawyers to work on their reply. Acceptance of the reports as evidence would considerably speed up the trial, which has been delayed by voluminous government challenges to the investigator's findings and conclusions. The reports by Court Monitor Joseph S. Kieffer III form the basis for five contempt charges against Norton and McCaleb. They document that Interior evaded Lamberth's 1999 order to reform the Individual Indian Monies (IIM) trust and has done virtually nothing to provide 500,000 IIM accountholders with an accounting of their money. The reports also show that computer security for IIM accounts is nonexistent and that quarterly reports from Norton to the judge are riddled with falsehoods. In court papers, lawyers for the Indian plaintiffs argued today that findings such as Kieffer's meet legal standards as admissible evidence. Since Interior agreed to Kieffer's appointment last May, opened the department's doors to him and allowed Interior employees to be interviewed by him, the plaintiffs added, Interior should not be able to bar the evidence because they do not like the outcome. The trial, which started December 10, is still on its first witness, senior trust official Thomas M. Thompson. Thompson has testified consistently to the accuracy of Kieffer's reports. #####