Abraham Bolden, who said he served on the U.S. Secret Service presidential detail from 1960 to 1964, testified to the task force that he encountered racism, misconduct among agents and what he described as retaliatory misconduct after he attempted to speak about his concerns following President Kennedy's assassination.

"I was the first African American secret service officer," Bolden said in his opening testimony. He described agents drinking on duty, "smoking weed," and other misconduct, and said he objected to the behavior. Bolden also recounted incidents in which he said negatives of photographs he was in were removed and that he experienced discrimination in his assignments.

Bolden told the task force he was later prosecuted on charges he said were fabricated after he sought to testify to the Warren Commission; he described being arrested, denied counsel, forced to take medication, and otherwise mistreated. "I was kidnapped out of Washington, DC, brought to Chicago, denied an attorney... forced me to take these drugs," Bolden said. Counsel for Bolden later characterized his prosecution as "one of the most rigged" cases they had studied and asserted key witnesses recanted their trial testimony.

Bolden and other witnesses also alleged problems with the handling of physical evidence and the presidential limousine after the assassination. Bolden described instructions to "clean the car up" and indicated he was told not to inform the FBI about some items observed at the scene.

Committee members thanked Bolden for his service and said staff would accept additional material for the record; no committee action was taken on Bolden's allegations during the hearing.