FBI agents interviewed newsman Pierre Salinger at his Paris home Saturday and found his document saying a Navy missile accidentally downed TWA Flight 800 was nothing more than Internet chatter.
"The document is the same one we have already seen, thoroughly investigated and discounted," said James Kallstrom, head of the FBI's criminal investigation.Kallstrom said Salinger's two-page document is the identical message that has circulated on the Internet since August. The message has spawned rumors that "friendly fire" was behind the July 17 explosion of the Paris-bound jumbo jet, which killed all 230 people aboard.
Federal officials have repeatedly said such rumors have been investigated and disproven. And after Salinger's claim gave the theory new life, Kallstrom called a news conference Friday to label it "absolute, pure utter nonsense."
Salinger, a former ABC News correspondent and press secretary for President John F. Kennedy, said his document details how the Navy was testing missiles off Long Island and accidentally hit Flight 800 because the jet was flying lower than expected.
Salinger has acknowledged that the information has circulated on the Internet. But he said the document was given to him by someone in French intelligence in Paris and written by an American who "was tied to the U.S. Secret Service and has important contacts in the U.S. Navy."
"Since I saw it I spoke with other people who told me it was correct," he said Friday.
Salinger did not return several calls to his Paris home on Saturday but told CNN that he had new information supporting the document.
Salinger told CNN he met a man Saturday morning who said he was on an Air France flight that took off five minutes after Flight 800. The man said early in the flight, the pilot made a wild right turn.
Salinger said the passenger told him that when he asked what happened, the pilot said, "We can't go into that region. They're sending missiles up there. It's very dangerous!"
The Navy has said the nearest warship, the USS Normandy, was 185 miles to the south and was not conducting weapons drills at the time. And the Navy said its only plane in the area was not carrying missiles.
Investigators say that after four months of collecting wreckage from the ocean floor, they still don't know whether a bomb, missile or mechanical failure caused the crash.
Dredging was expanded Saturday as trawlers searched the ocean floor for the last remaining pieces of the aircraft.
"We are still finding a significant amount of debris," said Kall-strom.