Robert Groden on the Umbrella Man
Robert Groden, Ralph Schoenman, Dick Gregory and Stephen Jaffe were deposed by the Rockefeller Commission on March 26, 1975.
Here is a short excerpt about the umbrella man:
Money Quote:
Mr. Groden: The man here with an open umbrella is the only one in the entire motorcade with an open umbrella on a day when it is no longer raining and it is windy. Immediately after the shots are fired the man stood there while all others ducked for cover, folded the umbrella, and looked after the motorcade, and walked to the edge and sat down.
Mr. Olsen: Is there any significant to that?
Mr. Groden: Well, they are very strange actions. The man has never been identified. At the moment the President's car passed in front of this man he punched the umbrella up and down and started to spin it and twirl it. It looks very much like he was part of the conspiracy, some kind of visual marking for the firing team.
Mr. Olsen: So that the significance of this, in your opinion, is that it shows a man with an umbrella, and coupled with other testimony that has been offered, the conclusion that may be drawn from it is that he was delivering some signal?
Mr. Groden: It would appear that way, yes. I can draw no other inference at all.
To Robert Groden, the conspiracy inference is the only possible option. This is another example of where a conspiracy theorist jumps to a conspiratorial conclusion before considering something more mundane.
I am not sure they the supposed firing team needed a visual signal.
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