By August, I was a communist."
The tipping point for the White House appeared to be Jones' admission earlier this week that he had signed a petition in 2004
calling for congressional hearings and an investigation by the New York
Attorney General into "evidence that suggests high-level government
officials may have deliberately allowed the September 11th attacks to
occur."
In a statement issued Thursday evening Jones said of "the petition
that was circulated today, I do not agree with this statement and it
certainly does not reflect my views now or ever."
An administration source said Jones says he did not carefully review
the language in the petition before agreeing to add his name.
But after that admission, asked if Jones enjoyed the confidence of the president, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs would only say on Friday that Jones "continues to work in this administration."
A former civil rights activist in the San Francisco area, Jones told the East Bay Express in 2005 that the acquittal of Rodney King's assailants in 1992 in that infamous police brutality case changed him significantly.
"I was a rowdy nationalist on April 28th, and then the verdicts came
down on April 29th," he said. "By August, I was a communist."
- From Jake Tapper
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