Miss MURRET. He was, or she might have said that in her broken English,
so I couldn't conceive of how they had gotten out of Russia, and how he
had access to Russia, I mean to work there, et cetera, and then just
to be allowed to leave, with a Russian wife, and her father being in
the Army. And I think that she had an uncle--I don't know--but I think
it was in the papers, or in some magazine recently that he is with the
Intelligence Service in Russia.
Mr. LIEBELER. Her uncle?
Miss MURRET. Yes; he, supposedly, was the one who helped him to get
out. So, that I couldn't figure out.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you ask him about it? Did you ask Lee about that?
Miss MURRET. Yes; and he said he'd had a tough time. That is about the
only thing I did ask him, and he said he'd had a very difficult time
getting out, and he had to wait for a particular length of time until
everything went through, and he knew that since, or if he had not had
a wife, he could have gotten out sooner, but he had to wait on her
papers, and by that time they'd had a baby, but, anyway, I wasn't
satisfied, but by that time I couldn't understand how they got out.
But, I said, well, if they let them out, they went through the Embassy
obviously, and if they were doing things he was not supposed to do,
they would be trailing him.
Mr. LIEBELER. You thought this?
Miss MURRET. Well, any time anybody comes out of Russia, you think it,
naturally.
Mr. LIEBELER. But you didn't say anything to Lee about it?
Miss MURRET. No; definitely not. I had just asked him if it was
difficult to get out, and so then I said, well, if he were up to
anything, you know, they would obviously be trailing him, so we could
just forget about that because he might really have realized that he
made a mistake, and he was coming back over here. I mean, you don't try
to antagonize him--I mean you try to help him, and figure, thinking
that if he realizes that he made a mistake and he wanted to come back
here, you would do everything you could to help him.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did he indicate that he had been given trouble about
getting out of Russia by the Russians or by the Americans? Or did he
distinguish between them because he thought he had been harrassed by
the two authorities?
Miss MURRET. I don't think he really said, but I don't remember that
he--I think, or I thought he meant the Russians, because the Americans
gave him the money, evidently they were willing to give it to him
anytime.
Mr. LIEBELER. Where did you learn about the fact that the Americans had
given him the money? Did he tell you that?
Miss MURRET. He told my mother that.
Mr. LIEBELER. Can you remember any more about it than just that he
had received money from the United States? Did he tell you any more
details, or did your mother repeat them to you?
Miss MURRET. Well, and then I read something about it.
Mr. LIEBELER. After the assassination?
Miss MURRET. Yes; I think it was in Life, that he had renounced his
citizenship, but that the American Embassy said that he didn't, and
that that was why he got back here; or that if he had renounced it, he
couldn't have gotten back, so he was an alien. I don't know.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you know about this at all, or have any conversation
with Lee about it before the assassination?
Miss MURRET. About what?
Mr. LIEBELER. About this time that he renounced his citizenship and
these difficulties?
Miss MURRET. Well, they had articles in the papers that my mother
showed me after I came home, Fort Worth papers, that he threw the
passport on the desk. But I didn't ask him about that at all.
Mr. LIEBELER. And he didn't tell you anything about it?
Miss MURRET. No.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did it seem extraordinary to you that he had been able to
obtain money from the State Department or whomever he obtained it from
to return to the United States?
Miss MURRET. Extraordinary in the fact that I didn't know how he could
get out with a Russian wife and baby, whose uncle was in the military,
and an uncle--I don't know what he was at the time--but I thought he
was affiliated with the military, but I have read something since then
that the father was with the intelligence service. But then I didn't
really think too much that--well, your first reaction, but then you
don't think too much about that after because he had to go through the
Embassy. So you figure that it was one of two things, he either really
realized that he wanted to live here again, or they let him out for a
purpose. And if they did, then they would certainly be trailing him.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did it occur to you that he might be an agent of the
Soviet Union?
Miss MURRET. At first; yes.