Two people removed from a Denver speech by President George W. Bush two years ago, even though they had done nothing disruptive, finally discovered Friday that the directive came from two White House staffers.

In a deposition delayed for 15 months by legal disputes, the volunteer who removed the pair testified Friday that he was told to ask them to leave by Steve Atkiss, then deputy director for advance for the White House, also known as the "trip director;" and Jamie O'Keefe, who was lead advance for the White House, according to attorneys for both sides.

Leslie Weiss and Alex Young say in their lawsuit they were forcibly escorted from the Bush speech in Denver before it began by a man they thought was with the Secret Service. They later identified the man as a federal employee working the event as a volunteer named Michael Casper. They sued Casper and another volunteer involved in their ouster, Jay Klinkerman, to find out who gave the order. On Friday, Casper named Atkiss and O'Keefe.

Weiss and Young are hoping their lawsuit will eventually prove their ouster was part of a White House policy "about expelling people who have a different viewpoint from the president," said their attorney, Martha Tierney. In that case, they hope for a court ruling that such a policy would be a violation of their right to free speech as guaranteed by the First Amendment, she said.

Tierney said Atkiss and O'Keefe will be added to the lawsuit and she will seek to depose them on whether they were acting on a White House policy.



"We'd like to know how high up it goes, and who's telling them," Tierney said.

Sean Gallagher, Casper's attorney, said Casper testified that "four or five people came up to Mr. Casper and said these people have a history of disrupting political events." Gallagher said that Casper then contacted Atkiss and O'Keefe and they "directed him to ask them please to leave the event."

Weiss and Young have said Casper forced them to leave. They say they did not resist, thinking he was a federal law enforcement officer.

They also say they did nothing to disrupt the event, and did not have a history of doing so at other political events. They say a Secret Service official told them after he investigated their ouster that they were removed because they arrived in a car bearing a bumper sticker that read, "No more blood for oil."

Tierney said Casper did not know the names of the people who pointed out her clients. She was prevented by a federal court order, pending an appeal, from asking further details.