Freeh Report Attacked In New Investigation From Joe Paterno Family

The Freeh report, seen as the comprehensive take on the events that led to the Penn State scandal, is under attack from a new report issued by the family of Joe Paterno.

Joe Paterno’s widow, Sue Paterno, had said that she believed the report would clear her husband’s name.She appears to have a media push planned to get that message out, with an appearance on the Katie Couric talk show, officials from Katie announced.

In the first report, compiled by former FBI director Louis Freeh and released last year, Paterno was blamed for standing in the way of an investigation of assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. The report found that Paterno had a chance to stop the child sexual abuse by Sandusky, but instead tried to sweep allegations under the rug to protect the football program.

Now the new report calls that into question. From ESPN:

“The Paterno family report, which targets nearly every conclusion and assertion the Freeh report made about Paterno in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, states that while former FBI director Louis J. Freeh has had an honorable past and good reputation, his investigation — especially as it relates to Paterno — relied on “rank speculation,” “innuendo” and “subjective opinions” when it concluded that Paterno concealed facts about Sandusky in part to avoid bad publicity.”

The Paterno report made 10 key conclusions, ESPN noted, including allegations that Paterno never concealed information about Sandusky. The report also accused Freeh’s investigators of producing a report “that fit their expectations” rather than reviewing information objectively.

The new Joe Paterno report also shifted blame back to Sandusky.

“Sandusky was an exceptionally effective manipulator and deceiver & One of the most respected child sexual victimization experts in the world has concluded that Joe Paterno, like many others, did not recognize Jerry Sandusky as a child molester after the 2001 incident,” the report said.