Witness tampering alleged in Oklahoma bomb trial

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – A federal judge in Utah has ordered an FBI agent to court next month to respond to allegations that he tampered with a witness who backed out of testifying in a trial about Oklahoma City bombing videos.

Utah lawyer Jesse Trentadue told U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups this week that former government operative John Matthews decided not to testify after the FBI agent contacted him and pressured him not to do so.

Attorney Kathryn Wyer said Thursday that the FBI in Utah gave her a much different version of events. Wyer said John Matthews reached out to the agency to ask how he could get out of testifying.

Waddoups says the allegation is too serious to ignore. He set a court date of August 25th for the agent to testify.