In the New York trial of Egyptian cleric Sheik Omar Abdel- Rahman and nine others, Whitehurst disagreed with an FBI report that was to have been used by the government at an earlier trial of four men accused in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. I was told not to give the defense anything that could be used. Defense lawyers at the sheik's trial said Whitehurst was called to the stand to show jurors that the FBI has a history of suppressing evidence in criminal cases. Whitehurst alleged that he was demoted from his post as a top chemical analyst after he repeatedly complained that he had been pressured to slant his reports analyzing bomb residue from the blast that killed more than six people and injured over 1,000. Attorneys in the Simpson case have echoed the theme that the FBI has in the past covered up evidence.
Prosecutors deny such charges.