Mr. JENNER. Why don't you do it this way?
Mrs. PAINE. Yes I reported it.
Mr. JENNER. Let us have first what you said to the FBI agent on the
subject?
Mrs. PAINE. I can't recall what I said to the FBI agent. It is much
easier for me to recall what I said to Hudkins. But I do recall clearly
that I said to the FBI agent "I made no correction of his inaccuracies
about Hosty's name." This is where I made no comment.
Mr. JENNER. I am at a loss now.
Mrs. PAINE. Joe is not his name.
Mr. JENNER. I see. His name is James?
Mrs. PAINE. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. Did you indicate to the agent that you had raised an issue
with the reporter?
Mrs. PAINE. He also spelled it with an "i", Hudkins.
Mr. JENNER. With respect to the other phase, that is to what the
reporter had said to you.
Mrs. PAINE. I would guess that I reported to Mr. Odum other things
about----
Mr. JENNER. Present recollections Mrs. Paine.
Mrs. PAINE. I don't recall the particular conversation with Mr. Odum at
all. I talked with him a great deal.
Mr. JENNER. Did you deny this state to Mr. Hudkins, the reporter?
Mrs. PAINE. To Mr. Hudkins?
Mr. JENNER. Did you say to him that you did not agree with his
statement?
Mrs. PAINE. To Mr. Hudkins I said many things, which I hoped would
convince him that he had no story, that his information was very shaky,
that Oswald was not in my view a person that would have been hired by
the FBI or by Russia. I said to him "You are the other side of the
coin from a Mr. Guy Richards of the New York Journal-American who is
certain that Oswald was a paid spy for the Soviet Union, and just as
inaccurate," and coming to, in my opinion, and of course I made it
clear this was my opinion, to conclusions just as wrong.
Mr. JENNER. That is, it was your opinion that Lee Oswald was neither a
Russian agent nor an agent of any agency of the United States?
Mrs. PAINE. That is right. I said indeed to Mr. Hudkins, I had said to
Mr. Richards that if the so-called great Soviet conspiracy has to rest
for its help upon such inadequate people as Lee Oswald, there is no
hope of their achieving their aims. I said I simply cannot believe that
the FBI would find it necessary to employ such a shaky and inadequate
person.
Mr. JENNER. And is that still your view?
Mrs. PAINE. Indeed it is.
Mr. JENNER. Did you also say to Mr. Odum on that occasion that you knew
that Agent Hosty had not interviewed Lee Harvey Oswald?
Mrs. PAINE. Probably.
Senator COOPER. Did you read the statements after they had been written?
Mrs. PAINE. What statements?
Senator COOPER. The statements of the FBI.
Mrs. PAINE. Oh, no; I have never.
Senator COOPER. You have never seen them?
Mrs. PAINE. Never seen anything of it. I knew they must write
something, but I have never seen any of these statements.
Senator COOPER. You never asked them to show you the statements?
Mrs. PAINE. No.
Mr. JENNER. Did you ever make a statement to anybody that you can
recall that Lee Harvey Oswald in your opinion was doing underground
work?
Mrs. PAINE. That has never been my opinion. I would be absolutely
certain that he never----
Mr. JENNER. Please, did you say it?
Mrs. PAINE. And I would be absolutely certain that I never said such a
thing.
Mr. JENNER. To anybody, including when I say anybody, Mrs. Dorothy
Gravitis?
Mrs. PAINE. Absolutely certain. Never said to anyone that I thought Lee
was doing undercover work.
Senator COOPER. What is that name?
Mr. JENNER. Gravitis, G-r-a-v-i-t-i-s.
Senator COOPER. Do you know this person?
Mrs. PAINE. She is my Russian tutor in Dallas.
Senator COOPER. What?
Mrs. PAINE. Russian tutor and the mother-in-law of the translator that
was at the police station.