But the C.I.A. maintained that his role was crucial to anti-drug programs.
Ms. Hindley always maintained that her role was to abduct the children and that she had not taken part in the killings or sex attacks.
Mr. Rubin maintained that his role had been misconstrued, saying that Citigoup's executive committee met infrequently and "wasn't a substantive part of the decision-making process".
Accused of dehumanizing the dancers, he maintained that their role was to be an expression of a greater state of being for humankind, of the experience of living in a world of motion, sound, colour, and action that strongly affects them and is affected by them.
But I have always maintained that [the roles] I cannot do because of the way I'm made up, or because of the way I think, I don't begrudge that there is someone else who has no issues with that.
He has maintained that he played no role in his wife's disappearance.
Dr. Jiang has maintained that he had no role in circulating his February letter, addressed to top officials, to the domestic or international news media.
As Iran was isolated by sanctions, Oman's rulers maintained that Iran had a role as a regional power.In 2009, an opportunity arose for Oman to bring the two sides together.
Mr. O'Brien, whom Mr. Hoffa helped raise and who held a variety of jobs with the Teamsters before being expelled in 1990 for ties to organized crime, has always maintained that he played no role in Mr. Hoffa's disappearance and that Mr. Hoffa was never in the car.
It maintained that it had no role in monitoring the Canada-Afghanistan detainee-transfer agreement, and that following long-established operating procedure, the Red Cross would not reveal to any foreign government any abuses it might find in Afghan prisons.
