The attorney hired by the University of Oklahoma fraternity at the center of a national firestorm over a racially charged video clip said members have received death threats in recent days, and he openly questioned whether the organization’s free speech rights have been violated by both the campus and fraternity’s national body.

Stephen Jones, the high-powered attorney who once represented Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, said Friday that he had been retained by the Oklahoma chapter of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity to handle legal issues involving the chapter’s suspension and eviction from its fraternity house.

At the outset of the half-hour news conference, Jones said the actions of the students caught on video were indefensible.

“All of us agree that the actions which led to this matter at the University of Oklahoma are inexcusable,” he said. “Let me be clear. There is no justification for what occurred. Zero.”

In the video, which became public early Monday, young men wearing formal attire and gathered on a bus with dates are shown dancing and singing a song rife with racial epithets and references to lynching.

Crooning to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It,” the students boldly claim “there will never be a (n-word) in SAE,” using a common slur for African-Americans.

The video, which was leaked to the campus newspaper and a black activist group at the university, quickly spread across social media, drawing a near-universal rebuke from viewers. As demonstrators began to swarm the Norman, Okla., campus, University President David Boren reacted swiftly.

The fraternity’s campus residence was closed within hours, and SAE’s national governing body closed the chapter and suspended all members from the larger organization. Two students described as having a leading role in the incident, Parker Rice and Levi Pettit, were expelled from the university the next day.

While Jones does not represent Rice or Pettit, he said Friday that the students elected to withdraw from the university and were not expelled.

Corbin Wallace, a spokesman for Boren, said the university is “continuing its investigation into the recent events relating to SAE” and declined to comment on Jones’ remarks.