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Local lawyer's pursuit of federal conspiracy hits screen

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Jesse Trentadue will be attending a special 7 p.m. screening tonight of the documentary A Noble Lie at Brewvies. For Trentadue, the film, which looks at events surrounding the devastating Oklahoma City bombing, only "hits the tip of the iceberg."---

That iceberg is comprised not only of the events surrounding his brother Kenny's alleged murder at the hands of interrogators in prison after Trentadue believes he was mistakenly identified as one of the Oklahoma bombers, but also killings and covert operations linked to PATCON, which, Trentadue says, stands for Patriot Conspiracy. It refers to alleged undercover operations by FBI agents pretending to be white supremacists infiltrating militia groups.

PATCON, Trentadue says, "is the real ugliness under the surface." Public attention being brought to PATCON has "the government scared to death," he argues.

A Noble Lie, Trentadue says, refers to the lie "the government tells its people to protect itself or for the good of the people." He's been fighting that lie for almost 17 years. This summer, that fight continues with a new hearing in Salt Lake City U.S. District Court before Judge Clark Waddoups. Trentadue has been pressuring the FBI to produce two videotapes from the bombing, which he believes prove that others were involved in the attack. 

What excites Trentadue about the film is that it is the first public exposure of PATCON. Tonight is the film's first screening in Salt Lake City.

Trentadue says he worked with a reporter at Newsweek to expose PATCON, which he stumbled across through FOIA requests to the FBI regarding his brother's death, only for the published piece to have any references to PATCON cut out. A website called Sipsey Street Irregulars features both the published article and what it claims to be the parts referring to PATCON that ended up on the cutting room floor here.