House Committee on Oversight and Reform Chair Henry A. Waxman was looking into selective prosecution in Palfrey case in 2007

Washington D.C.--They say the wheels of justice are slow...especially when you're on the short-list. In 2007, California Rep. Henry A. Waxman was chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and was apparently showing some interest in the DC Madam's legal plight and whether it might be politically motivated, even possibly having a connection to the U.S. Attorney firings. Why show interest, then drop it? Sure, perhaps there were other fish to fry, or he didn't think that there was much there--fine-and-well--but that doesn't appear to be the case and sounds more like another Democratic cop-out.

Waxman was presented with materials sometime in December, possibly January, by counsel regarding Palfrey's case. Apparently, he and his staff did look into it, but short-listed her, and even confirmed it did appear that her case was politically motivated, but then it went nowhere as it often does in the nation's capital. So much for oversight and due process, get in line, lady. Did I mention that Democratic Rep. Louise Slaughter was also pushing for a probe into the procurement of prostitutes by a DHS contractor, Christopher D. Baker (who has a 60+ page rap sheet), "proprietor" of Shirlington Limo?

DHS rebuffed Slaughter entirely, imagine that. They weren't alone: the CIA and DIA were stonewalling in such matters. And surprise-surprise, Baker kept getting multi-million dollar contracts from Congress to unnecessarily ferry appointed turds around DC on our dollar. One has to ponder if I and many others were correct in assuming that Palfrey's problems were directly related to "hookergate," a scandal involving cigar-and-hooker parties with CIA staffers, GOP congressmen, and government contractors such as Brent Wilkes at the Westin and Watergate Hotels. It sure looks like there was more than smoke...

On 2/4/08, Jeane Palfrey <jeanepalfrey@> wrote:

Bil… isn’t it realistic to think the Feds were looking at me in the same way, they viewed Michael? Perhaps, they thought I too was “in cohoots” with the Poway Mafia. Gotta admit – lots of connections (San Diego, Wells Fargo Bank, Shirlington Limo, Wilkes’s ongoing patronage of my business, Smoking Gun’s bizarre phone call to me in Germany). After several years of investigation though, they honestly had gotten ‘no where’ from what I have been able to ascertain. It is only my abnormal actions, in the summer of 2006, i.e. abrupt business closure, move to Europe, etc which I believe caused alarm and the rationale for the subsequent and sudden California trip. All this discussion about being a diversion is a little out there. Don’t you think? A bit too conspiratorial. I have found most things in life are rather simple, when you get right down to it. Yet, both Jason’s investigation and contacts and Waxman’s investigation and contacts are leading in the direction, that my case was part and parcel of the DOJ’s efforts, to prosecute selective targets verses any sort of garden variety screw up here. -Jeane

This relates back thematically (politically motivated prosecution) to a 12/23/2007 email, posted below for the public record, a primary historical document. My personal opinion is that Smoking Gun editor Bill Bastone was told by federal prosecutors--illegally, mind you--that Palfrey was somehow connected to a very specific corruption scandal emanating out of San Diego and Poway, California from just a few years ago. She had a property in Poway, Vallejo, and a condo in Florida. It sounds like she made more than the $2 million she and the government were claiming in court filings. Why would they all lie? In her case, exoneration, but what of the prosecutors? Perhaps it was the same for them.

They also leaked an unsigned warrant to him, also illegal, but nothing's illegal for some of us it seems. From the December 23, 2007 email:

Blair… if you ever doubt that my case is politically motivated OR simply “can’t go there” with the mounting circumstantial evidence of selective prosecution, I would ask that you read the highlighted portion below in particular, from Bil earlier today. Never forgot that son-of-a bitch, Bill Bastone’s first question to me in Germany, just days after the warrant was executed on my property had to do with Cunningham and Bastone’s insistence that I professionally knew the “Dukester”; this, despite my continued statements to the contrary. -Jeane

I have no reason to think that Palfrey was lying about the Smoking Gun's editor Bill Bastone and his statements directed at her that she was part of the scandal surrounding convicted GOP Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, now residing in a federal penitentiary for taking bribes, gifts, and sexual favors. Someone told him this, and that someone was probably part of the investigation and the prosecution, probably the someone who was directing the whole puppet show.

These bribes were given to former representative Cunningham for his votes on specific legislation and appropriations that went directly to convicted government contractor, Brent R. Wilkes and others like former number three man at the CIA, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo. With nicknames like these, you'd think you were dealing with the mafia, but what's the difference? Do you think Cunningham's alone in this, taking bribes, bedding prostitutes for his vote? Nah, me either.

By the way: ever see that crappy 80s movie, "Top Gun"? That was "based" on Cunningham's experiences as a combat fighter pilot during the Vietnam War. You can get it in blow-out at Walmart now for around $5. Cunningham wasn't exactly a hero in Vietnam either, but that's another story altogether. What he is now is a convicted felon who even has other more pressing problems. From some of the public statements made during his criminal proceedings, it sounds like he couldn't always get-it-up, but that's politics for you. Cunningham's a good metaphor for American-style politics and capitalism, meaning corrupt, embarrassing, delusional, and impotent. Except that it's not a metaphor.

An open letter to Attorney General Eric Holder

Dear Mr. Holder,

I understand that you have concluded that there were instances of prosecutorial misconduct in the case of former Senator Ted Stevens and that you have concluded it would be wise to drop the case and the conviction. This is good.

But I would enjoin you to look into other cases of what could very well be other instances of misconduct by U.S. Attorneys working under the influence of the Bush II administration. There are the cases of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and Mississippi attorney Paul Minor--both Democrats--and there's every indication that they were targets of selective politically motivated prosecutions by the Bush II DOJ. Serious probes are in order here.

It is my hope that a wider-ranging commission into the mismanagement and politicization of the Justice Department will be proposed by yourself and President Obama and the OLC. If we wish to restore the credibility of the DOJ, there must be transparency and accountability, even once someone has left public service.

I would bring to your attention the fact that the late Deborah Jeane Palfrey (aka the "DC Madam") was definitely a victim of similar misconduct when federal investigators or prosecutors extralegally leaked an unsigned federal search warrant to journalist and editor Bill Bastone, editor of the Tru TV website, "The Smoking Gun."

It's my opinion that Mr. Bastone needs to be compelled before a federal grand jury to discuss the conditions of the transfer of this information to his person, who did so in officialdom, and whatever else might have transpired between them. There was more than one case of misconduct beyond the Stevens case, and the rule of law must be respected and preserved. I hope that you feel the same.

yours, Matt Janovic, writer and researcher

Conspiracy LLC.™

WWW--This is likely to be the last thing I'm going to write about this species of bottom feeder (no, not Bill Bastone, another fish-to-fowl). The vast majority of these people who write on so-called "conspiracies" tend to be completely off--not just in their contentions, but in their minds. Many of them and their readers are--flatly-put--mentally ill individuals who are so messed-up that they created a new religion.

Their writings will never accomplish much of anything substantial, except diverting people's attention from what really needs to be done to change things. They will never spawn a real or constructive political movement with any real results. What they accomplish is to demoralize people, making genuine social and political problems into a mythology of hopelessness and demoralization. Some of them are definitely on the payroll of the FBI, the CIA, and other aspects of the intelligence community, either as assets or as operatives, just as some journalists are.

That they're pathetic is a given. LavaCocktail's Jay Beldo summed it best for me today: "Conspiracy itself has become a bottom line commodity no different than I-Pods or Nike tennis shoes, sold by various fear/profit mongers." Yes, the primary motive here is sales, primarily of books, but also mugs, t-shirts, DVDs, CDs, and other worthless collectibles for the desperate. How is this any different from fundamentalist Christian hucksters? It isn't. I like Jay, he gets it. He understands we have to keep our minds positive and clear, and we have our own paths to take. I recommend his website highly.

Sure, Alex Constantine will probably try to bait me on this again, but rest assured that he and others have got their work cut-out for them. There was no defamation on my part, I wasn't the one who yelled "liar" over and over again on my site. My right to the opinion that Constantine and his ilk are pricks, bastards, assholes, morons, and scum, is secure in the First amendement. It's also my opinion that these arch-conservative turds have very little respect for the right to free speech, unless it applies to them. The Bolsheviks and German National Socialists held the same attitudes.

An open letter to Brent Wilkes, convicted briber of former GOP Rep. Randy Cunningham

Mr. Wilkes,

Now that you're out on appeal, it struck me that it was time to write this: I was told on several occasions by Deborah Jeane Palfrey (aka "The DC Madam") that you called her escort service, Pamela Martin & Associates. Ms. Palfrey informed me that you utilized Shirlington Limousine, owned by a shady individual named Christopher D. Baker to pick-up her escorts.

One of these escorts attempted to contact journalist Ken Silverstein to confirm this and other things, but Mr. Silverstein either lost his courage and fell on his sword, or he's telling the truth and his secretary lost the phone number. Had he bothered to isolate the day and time of the original call, he might have discovered who this former Pamela Martin escort was, but I assume like the rest of the media and our flabby journalistic class, he didn't want to know. Shame on him and you.

Ms. Palfrey probably wasn't able to establish your calls, although presumably they still exist, submerged, in her voluminous phone records that are still available online at this writing. I don't expect you to do the right thing--one would assume you wouldn't know what that is or what it entails, but a woman is dead, and you own a small piece of that.

Surely, it's a lost cause to ask or demand that you come forward to confirm these contentions of the deceased, but you should. It would behoove you and redeem you to help uncover a system of bribes-for-contracts in our nation. The short time you're going to serve--inside or outside, it doesn't matter in the end--is less important than the American people and the common good.

Journalist and editor of The Smoking Gun.com, Bill Bastone, grilled Ms. Palfrey in early October of 2006, accusing her of having connections to you and Randy Cunningham, the former-and-convicted GOP congressman whom you bribed--he was utterly convinced of it at that time and kept pushing the late Ms. Palfrey on this issue.

How would Bill Bastone have known this? It could have been leaked to him by federal prosecutors. I leave it to you and your counsel to weigh-out this information, because it could be an example of prosecutorial misconduct in your case and in the case of the deceased Ms. Palfrey. It's food for thought, and I'd consider its weight. You aren't the only one suffering under prosecutorial misconduct these days. The former governor of Alabama and Ms. Palfrey were recent victims.

regards, Matt Janovic, private researcher and writer

WTOP Radio: DC US Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor claims prosectuors "quite anguished" over Palfrey suicide

"Prosecutors in the office who handled the case were quite anguished about how that turned out. Nobody was happy with that result." --Outgoing U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeffrey A. Taylor.

Washington D.C.--This is something else: soon-to-be ex-U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeffrey A. Taylor is saying that the suicide of Deborah Jeane Palfrey upset members of the prosecution and that it was a "shock" when she committed suicide on May 1st, 2008.

Funny that they suddenly get all teary-eyed after their absurd zealousness in prosecuting her to the point of death.

This is a lie and Taylor is a black liar who's hiding something along with his associates. That something is that he and the prosecution had ample reason to think that Palfrey was unstable, might kill herself and did nothing about it.

Even as a low-level member of her defense team, I knew for certain by February 28th, 2008 that the defendant was unstable when she forwarded me and the rest of the defense team an exchange between herself and journalist Jason Leopold. Would it have mattered had I forwarded it to the prosecution or the Court? Doubtful, and I wasn't going to violate attorney-client privilege when my contact with her was only via email. There wasn't enough to go on, and others missed the import of the email entirely.

Jason… let’s put it like this, the bastards aren’t going to take me alive. Of course, anytime that you want to do an interview – I will make myself available. However, I doubt that I will be doing any interviews once I am in D.C., for the trial. –Best, Jeane

Yet Taylor is stating that he wasn't aware of how unstable Palfrey was. This is going to be found to be a lie, a fabrication to protect the members of the prosecution from gross negligence in their mishandling of the case, their over-zealousness, and the fact that a competency hearing should have been convened. Why wasn't this done? Ask Taylor and ask Federal District Judges Gladys Kessler and James Robertson.

Is this one of the reasons why Judge Kessler was removed from the case? Did she have an awareness that Palfrey was in fact suicidal? I haven't listened to the entire WTOP radio broadcast, but I assume that their own Neil Augenstein interviewed Jeffrey Taylor and D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier who was on-hand for gender backup so that the prosecution of the deceased didn't look too much like a victory for entrenched patriarchy (it was). Where were the other prosecutors like Catherine Connelley, William R. Cowden, and Daniel Butler? They must have been busy getting ready for the wave of firings with the new president coming into office in January 2009.

This comment by Taylor was illuminating:"That's not to say we're not uncomfortable with the havoc that [we] can wreak on the lives of these individuals. We are careful, but at the same time have an obligation having brought the charges to prove that case." ("Prosecutors 'quite anguished over D.C. Madam's suicide," WTOP, 12.04.2008) He omits "we" in the sentence, so I reinserted it for his (and our) edification.

The Palfrey prosecutors should be "anguished" over it alright, they destroyed her life, humiliated over a dozen former escorts on the stand for a few days, and did their best to ensure that the defendant wouldn't receive a fair trial. They have a lot to feel "bad" about and it's this writer's humble curse that it haunts them until the day each of them die. I don't imagine that hey were asked by WTOP who leaked the unsigned warrant to The Smoking Gun's Bill Bastone, it being just another elephant in the room that they must ignore to get out of office safely, unscathed by civil suits from Palfrey's estate. Did they know Palfrey was suicidal?

They knew. They knew Palfrey was unstable and suicidal when she stated she wouldn't serve even one more day in prison several times in the mainstream media. When I decided to help her, I knew "this isn't going to end well. " It was obvious over time. They knew full-well that their case was political, but they lie because they got themselves into "quite" a mess. They knew they were doing their best to hide the identities of the "Johns" because many of them were either part of or had connections to the GOP in Washington D.C. Appointments have a way of working-out like this.

The WTOP article also contains a glaring mistake of its own. "Most of the former escorts subpoenaed to bolster the prosecution's claim that Palfrey ran a prostitution service managed to keep their identities secret before her federal racketeering and money laundering trial. " (ibid) This is factually incorrect, it wasn't "most," but a few of the girls did manage to stay hidden. Discovery documents contain a list of well over one hundred former escorts of Pamela Martin & Associates which was in-the-possession of the prosecution; they knew who almost all of them were. They settled on around fifteen of them to testify against Palfrey under immunity, meaning that they were busted at some point and forced to turn on her.

If USA Taylor wants to clear his and the rest of the prosecution's names, they should make the vast majority of documents related to the investigation and the prosecution available to the press, researchers, and historians. Transparency is key. With Ms. Palfrey now dead, there's no specific reason to keep these materials classified any longer...unless it was part of a larger investigation, which there have been indications of in the past. There is one thing that USA Jeffrey A. Taylor was honest about in the interview--Palfrey was offered several very good plea deals and she turned them all down.

In the fall of 2007, she conveyed to me that she almost took one of them, but by that point the prosecution wasn't offering much. For every reason, they should have seen very clearly that as an indicator of instability, she was not acting rationally in her own best interests. As a matter of fact, they most certainly did notice having reasonable proximity with her during negotiations. In addition, when she fired a couple members of her counsel at various points in the legal proceedings the papers were sealed by the Court. This is because they also knew she was unstable, maybe even suicidal. This could implicate the Court, the prosecution, and perhaps at least one of Palfrey's former counsels in the matter. One of them tried to do something about it, but for more on that one, you'll just have to wait...

"Prosecutors 'quite anguished over D.C. Madam's suicide," WTOP, 12.04.2008: http://www.wtop.com/?sid=1537593&nid=25

The Smoking Gun's Bill Bastone: "Bottom Feeder," according to late DC Madam

WWW--Below is an excerpt of correspondence between Jeane Palfrey and nefarious cop/prosecutor lover Bill Bastone, ostensible editor of The Smoking Gun. What a piece-of-shit he is: Palfrey's trial was almost a year away. The world first learned of this story from his website, and it wasn't on-accident.

Posting Palfrey's early-1990s mugshot mirrors the prosecution's strategy, and "bad-jacketed" the defendant as a felon.

It begs-the-question: how many times has Bastone engaged in this behavior before? Who is he? Really? What is he? What is the real role of The Smoking Gun site?

Someone within the government's investigation and prosecution provided him--illegally--with an unsigned search warrant (it's dated Oct. 4th, 2006, and still online), and more. In the opinion of this writer, at-minimum, Bill Bastone is that most despicable of so-called journalists--the "friendly asset." Guilty, or innocent, how can anyone have a fair trial under such circumstances?

What Bastone did was to taint virtually every potential jury member out there, by colluding with the prosecution--there is no other conclusion to be made from this. My take. Prove me wrong. What I do pledge is that I will be filing FOIAs on this matter until the end of my life. Bastone appears to have no concept of due process or the time honored American tradition that one is presumed innocent until found guilty in a fair trial. He ensured that this wasn't going to happen by his actions.

Mr. Bastone… I can assure you that sooner or later, I will get to the bottom of this mess. In particular, I am going to find out who leaked the unsigned search warrant to you, last October and who you really are and/or represent. –Jeane Palfrey

-----Original Message-----
From: william bastone [mailto:wbastone@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2007 9:29 AM
To: jeanepalfrey@sprynet.com
Subject: Re: D.C. Madam Can Peddle "Call" List - July 5, 2007

jeane:

let's see, you've turned women out for almost 20

years [Ed.--Told to you by whom?], which seems to make the "veteran pimp" moniker

pretty accurate. as for the bottom feeder crack, well, i'm not going to

challenge your particular ability to identify that

species.[Ed.--Correct, she knew scum when she saw it.]

finally, does this mean you won't be e-mailing us your phone logs? because i had cleared my calendar for the

rest of the month... [Ed.--Here, Bastone makes-it-plain which

camp he's in and that he's not interested in the phone logs, which is curious considering the nature of his site. Amazing.]

regards,bill bastone

--- Jeane Palfrey wrote:

>

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2007/0705072palfrey1.html?link=rs

> sfeed

>

> Mr. Bastone... "the veteran pimp" - you continue to

> be nothing, but a bottom

> feeder. Jeane Palfrey

>

>

William Bastone

thesmokinggun.com

600 Third Avenue

16th Floor

New York, N.Y. 10016

(212) 692-7849

The Smoking Gun's May 2008 request for the death photos (and other materials) of late DC Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey

Tarpon Springs, Florida/New York City--Sometime in May, The Smoking Gun requested all records pertinent to the May 1st death of DC Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey. It appears they were the only ones, though the floodgates would have been opened had they secured the death photos for publication. The St. Petersburg Times requested the records verbally, according to the City Clerk's Office of Tarpon Springs (by way of Frazer Hubbard Brandt Trask & Yacavone, LLP).

Luckily, this won't ever happen. The public and the press can look at the images at the records department in Tarpon Springs, take their notes, but they cannot duplicate them for commercial purposes. They won't be making their coffee-table books, or their tell-all portrayals of the deceased. They won't be putting her image on anything.

But they tried, and it necessitated legal action by Palfrey's estate--namely, costing her 76-year-old mother Blanche valuable time, money, and emotional distress. The simplest and most economical way to suppress the death photos was to take legal action against the Tarpon Springs Police Department to achieve this.

They say that Truman Capote drank, drugged, and partied himself to death after the publication of "In Cold Blood." in the New Yorker in 1965 (the book version came in 1966). Capote had already shown signs of chronic depression and mental imbalance well-before the execution of murderer Perry Smith and the book's publication.

But he felt guilty for what he perceived as a betrayal of the confidences of the two murderers, particularly Smith. His betrayals of them were just one in a string of many. Truman Capote was a pathological liar and manipulator, but he had a conscience that haunted him. Capote got too close to his subject, and paid for his sins against them through the last years of his dissipated life.

The Palfrey story illustrates how far we have all fallen since then as a culture and a nation. Below are two letters: The Smoking Gun's request for all records on the death of the DC Madam, and the response from the Tarpon Springs PD. Far from being content in their abetting the federal government in running Palfrey to her death, they wanted a look at some of their handiwork--and that uncontrollable urge to turn a buck at the expense of the wretched.

Geraldo/Fox News prompts another DC Madam story (tonight)

Mr. Welch: ...And if I did, I beg your pardon. Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator.

Senator McCarthy: Let's, let's --

Mr. Welch: You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?

Senator McCarthy: I know this hurts you, Mr. Welch.

Mr. Welch: I'll say it hurts!

Senator McCarthy: Mr. Chairman, as point of personal privilege, I'd like to finish this.

Mr. Welch: Senator, I think it hurts you, too, sir. ...

--From the HUAC Army hearings, June 9th, 1954.

Fox News--They did this several months back before Palfrey's trial. Tonight, Alex Jones was going to try peddling his cock-and-bull theory that Jeane was murdered again, but it got shelved and Geraldo gave no reasons.

Geraldo verbally expressed the crux of what would have been the Jones appearance: Palfrey had voiced concerns that she might be murdered and that it would be made to look like a suicide. It's nothing new as a claim, and there appears to be no indication of anything new.

Peruse the internet's search engines, and there's nothing breaking, just the Blanche Palfrey lawsuit to keep her daughter's death photos suppressed. Who can blame her? The Tarpon Springs Police haven't released any new information on their investigation into the death today either, though they have previously announced that the end of the investigation into the death will be within "days." No new evidence.

Since when has no new evidence has never stopped Alex Jones from smelling the money? He's hardly alone, Fox and Geraldo smelled it tonight too. Why did they get cold feet? My own theory is that they killed it because there was no new information whatsoever...kind of like every story tonight on Geraldo's "Crime Time" segment. It was a lousy show, thank your gods you didn't have to sit through it...

We saw the Enquirer reporter who caught John Edwards with his mistress in a Beverley Hills hotel show us how he "ambushed" the former presidential candidate and senator--possibly with his mistresses' child! It was as underwhelming as "Al Capone's Vault," but that's Geraldo!

We saw to two smokin' hotties--a judge and a former D.A.--voice their opinions on John Edwards' tryst, a lot of speculation over whether he made "hush" payments, and a lot of other drivel in-between the dozen technical errors that plagued the entire show. We saw a lot of bullshit, and no Palfrey segment, and somehow we knew that they would never show it. We saw a lot of advertisements.

Why would someone want the death photos? I never want to see them. We're hearing claims that they should be examined by "experts," whatever that means. That's what a coroner is for. Oh, right, he's probably part of some kind of "conspiracy," sorry.

We know that at-minimum, Montgomery Blair Sibley and Bill Bastone have requested these photographs. There could be others, but the story that only the Smoking Gun requested the them sounds bogus, or a case of misquoting or misreporting. Whether it's a lag in a posting of the full docket or sloppy journalism, there are a number of individuals who want the Palfrey death photos for publication. Why? It's doubtful any of them care about the truth. Heartwarming, isn't it?

Alex Jones is also likely--likely?--to have requested the photographs. From the Pinellas County Circuit Court's website's docket of Blanche Palfrey vs. The Tarpon Springs Police Department:

Pages	Date	P/D	Docket Entry	Ver
	08/08/08	CLERK	REQUEST FOR COPIES EMAILED ON 8/8/08	N
	08/07/08	PLAINTIFF	AMENDED EMERGENCY MOTION FOR INJUNCTIVE RELIEF	F
	08/07/08	PLAINTIFF	AMENDED COMPLAINT	F
	08/05/08	CLERK	SUMMONS TO PROCESS SERVER JONES(1)	N
	08/05/08	PLAINTIFF	AFFIDAVIT IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR INJ RELIEF	F
	08/05/08	PLAINTIFF	MOTION FOR INJUNCTIVE RELIEF	F
	08/05/08	PLAINTIFF	COMPLAINT	F
	08/05/08	PLAINTIFF	SUMMONS FEE PAID $10.00	N
	08/05/08	PLAINTIFF	CIRCUIT CIVIL FILING FEE PAID $300.00	N
	08/05/08	PLAINTIFF	CIVIL COVER SHEET	F

And so there you have a "Server Jones" on August 5th, which might have been Alex. Jones was probably going to have photos from the crime scene for Geraldo, or was expecting to obtain them or some other flimsy details from the investigation files to support his a priori assumptions that Deborah Jeane Palfrey was murdered. Things fell-through. Maybe he was taken to Syria to be tortured by CIA operatives.

Like Obama accuser Larry Sinclair (time to play 8 degress of Montgomery Blair Sibley), Jones and others have yet to produce even a shred of evidence to support their claim that Palfrey was murdered and that the crime scene was made to look like a suicide had taken place.

Evidence to support this contention has yet to surface. It's not likely that it ever will, but stirring-up speculation should help Jones sell some more merchandise on his websites. Snake oil, pure drivel.

Considering clown Alex and some of his misguided fans were thrown-out of Geraldo's show almost a year ago, with Jones and others being arrested, it's not hard to believe he wasn't on tonight. But does Geraldo ever shrink from a fight? Hardly, and I'll give him that. T-shirts, programs, and mugs will be available after the show. Forget your mind, there's a war for your wallet.

The Pinellas County Circuit Court's docket on Blanche Palfrey vs. The Tarpon Springs Police Department: http://pubtitlet.co.pinellas.fl.us/servlet/civil.docket.KEAD?CS__CASE=08011467CI&CS__RESULTS__KNT=10

"Run amok" attorney Montgomery Blair Sibley is at it again: Insists in filing that death photos of deceased DC Madam be released

"Jeane was very clear with me that if she was ever found dead of an apparent suicide, I was to make sure that all the evidence was publicly disseminated so that it could be independently evaluated." --Montgomery Blair Sibley, a former counsel for the late DC Madam.

Tarpon Springs, Florida--C.L.G.'s (who are they? Citizens for Legitimate Government) Lori Price is scribbling today that on July 22nd, the third and former attorney for the late Deborah Jeane Palfrey filed for release of all investigative documents pertinent to her suicide--that includes the death photos that Palfrey's mother Blanche has filed to keep suppressed.

...This request includes copies of every document related to the matter, regardless of the format in which the information is stored. I note that information stored on a computer is as much a public record as a written page in a book or stored in a filing cabinet."...Citing his obligation to discharge explicit instructions from his former client, Jeane Palfrey, the so-called DC Madam, to "fully investigate and reveal the circumstances of her death if deemed a suicide by authorities," her attorney, Montgomery Blair Sibley, has moved to intervene in a lawsuit filed by Jeane's mother, Blanche Palfrey. That lawsuit seeks to prevent the Tarpon Springs, Florida Police Department from releasing information requested by Sibley pertaining the investigation of Jeane's death on May 1 of this year. (Attorney: 'DC Madam' left instructions if 'ever found dead of apparent suicide', Citizens for Legitimate Government, 08.10.2008)

You think she had to do it in-response? It's even money, and that's all this is about, sadly. Write a book, why dontcha.' Ask the Marianne Strong Agency, they have one in-the-works, possibly Sibley's.

A source informed me over a month ago that Sibley would be meeting with Blanche Palfrey around the end of July--apparently this meeting didn't pan-out, and it's likely to have been predicated on book deals and materials in the possession of the Palfrey Estate. Once again, for the record: Jeane discharged advocate Sibley with extreme prejudice (not legalese) in late-January of this year. That was her mental "cast" at that particular moment.

The break between them actually came much earlier in December, and Palfrey had to remove Sibley from the case in court. He had to be removed as her counsel.

Jeane informed me on a few occasions afterwards that counsel Sibley had done a poor job representing her, and that she considered him "nuts" and "crazy." Palfrey herself told this writer that, "things were said [between us] that you cannot take back."Take from these quotes what you will, and it must be admitted that the deceased was acting erratically at the time.

It was over, but is anything ever over with Montgomery Blair Sibley?

Well, yes, once he's been disbarred throughout the continental United States, Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Marshall Islands, and the rest of America's possessions, though he could have a fighting-chance in Florida. J-7 invites counsel Sibley to provide the actual date of authorship of the instructions left by the late Palfrey in the event of her suicide. What's interesting is that sources have informed this writer that Palfrey had threatened to commit suicide early-on in the legal proceedings (from as early as March-April, 2007) if she was convicted.

Everything this writer experienced before and after Sibley's departure as a short-duration researcher on her defense team supports this contention, as does her February 28th email to us. I was tapped by Palfrey herself in December of 2007 for research purposes. But from my involvement in all of this from June of 2007-on, I had a fear that this was going to end badly.

I have questions regarding the role of her final counsel, Preston Burton, whose defense strategy was an utter failure. Considering the fact that the firm he works for--Orrick, Herrington, & Sutcliffe--does extensive legal work for the federal government internationally, one could make an argument that there was (and still is) a very substantial conflict-of-interest. Mr. Burton refuses to discuss anything pertaining to his representation of Palfrey to this writer.

The lady wasn't kidding when she told bestselling journalist Jason Leopold and the rest of us on February 28th of this year:

Jason… let’s put it like this, the bastards aren’t going to take me alive. Of course, anytime that you want to do an interview – I will make myself available. However, I doubt that I will be doing any interviews once I am in D.C., for the trial. –Best, Jeane

As an interesting side-note, Leopold missed the import of the message entirely, telling me that he'd been "busy." I'm sure he was, but you couldn't miss the implications of the missive...if you were paying attention. I have no idea if others in the defense team caught this, as they and Palfrey kept things extremely compartmentalized. Leopold's role is a mystery, though I was informed by others that he was being prevented from working on the case by his then-employers Talkout--their editor went as far to monitor his computer account.

Oh well, most of the "McProgressive" sites like these and CLG are going to be gone soon, with little or no contributions. OpEd News is one-month-away from folding for said reasons. Now, if Moveon.org folds, we can actually get on with a genuine Populist movement. What a life. Yes, what a life indeed. Montgomery Blair Sibley's former client is dead, but he has assured this writer that none of Jeane's death photos will be published. As it stands, her estate wants nothing to do with him.

And yet, all I can think of is poor Blanche Palfrey and all that she's been through over her daughter's death. First came the government's agents. Then came the lawyers [Ed., 09.05.2008--I am told by a source that attorney Preston Burton began an argument at the funeral over who would control the estate of the deceased. If true, it's in exceptionally bad taste, if not profoundly questionable and unethical.] Then came media, and finally, came the Tarpon Springs Police to carry Jeane's lifeless body away. All this feasting on the lives of others just underscores how sick we are as a culture. Let the dead rest in peace, and note the photograph above. Reflect on the violated dignity of the deceased. Her mother deserves to be left alone, and this site is doing just that. Greed is a horrible thing, destroying everything in its wake.

Revised, 08.29.2008

Attorney: 'DC Madam' left instructions if 'ever found dead of apparent suicide', Citizens for Legitimate Government, 08.10.2008: http://www.legitgov.org/dc_madam_update_100808.html

D.C. Madam's mother sues to keep autopsy and suicide photos sealed

Tarpon Springs, Florida--The mother of the deceased DC Madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, is suing to keep crime scene photographs sealed. Blanche Palfrey has requested that photographs of Palfrey's corpse at the scene of discovery as well as autopsy photos be permanently kept from publication.

But who would want to publish them? Not this writer, but someone Jeane Palfrey referred to frequently to this writer as a "bastard," one Bill Bastone, editor of The Smoking Gun website.

"The only media or public interest in said photographs flows from a morbid exploitation by some members of the public and the pursuit of sensationalism by some members of the media," the lawsuit states.
As of today the only entity that has requested the photographs is SmokingGun.com, said Capt. Jeff Young of the Tarpon Springs Police Department.
The department has not released any photographs or police reports on Deborah Palfrey's suicide because the investigation isn't finished, but it should be in a matter of days, authorities say.

When that day comes, the agency is expected to release whatever documentation it is obligated to under Florida public records laws, said Jim Yacavone, the attorney for Tarpon Springs. ("D.C. Madam's Mother Sues to Stop Release of Photos," TBO.com/Tampa Bay Online, 08.07.2008)

I cannot disagree with Mrs. Palfrey's and her counsel's reasoning, and she wouldn't be the only one upset by their release. The photographs won't add to any knowledge of the case for the record, and nothing will be learned from them. It's just a move by gawkers and exploiters to make money (like Alex Jones, and others...).

The DC Madam's relationship with The Smoking Gun and Bastone is a peculiar one. They were the very first media outlet to pick-up on the story. Palfrey informed this writer on several occasions that she felt Bastone had been illegally "tipped-off" by federal investigators and prosecutors on her case in order to taint her and her ability to receive a fair trial through articles containing selective leaks.

Bastone's first article appeared on October 9th (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1009061hook1.html)
. Palfrey claimed that The Smoking Gun editor contacted her on her cell phone while she was in Germany on October 6th, just two days after her home was being searched by federal agents. How did Bastone have her private cell phone number at that time?

More importantly: how was he made aware of the investigation and pertinent details of it? Palfrey thought it was leaks by the prosecution until her untimely end. The articles contain the theme of an assumption of guilt on the part of Bastone.

From December 1st, 2006:

As we first reported, federal investigators are probing the operator of a Washington, D.C. escort service that sent college-educated prostitutes to the homes and hotel rooms of well-heeled clients. In a new court filing, federal prosecutors offer an amusing glimpse into how madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey ran her escort business, which she started in 1993 and ran until about three months ago. When Internal Revenue Service agents raided Palfrey's California home, they recovered newsletters that Palfrey distributed to her stable of whores at Pamela Martin & Associates. (' "Pro-fessional Tips, Feds: Alleged D.C. madam sent newsletters to her stable of whores," The Smoking Gun, 12.01.2006)

Indeed, Palfrey was guilty, but this was over a year before her belated trial. It was before she ever charged officially with racketeering, which came in March of 2007. There are no federal laws against prostitution.

The Smoking Gun's editor wrote in his first piece from October, 2006:

But Palfrey did speculate that she may have come to the attention of federal agents because her operation had somehow intersected with a more high profile case, like that of convicted ex-congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Investigators are reportedly examining charges that a defense contractor provided hookers to Cunningham as part of an influence-peddling scheme. Palfrey did not claim a nexis between her escort service and Cunningham, but invoked the disgraced pol's name while saying that she would wager that the basis for the federal probe of her business "had solely to do with some Duke Cunningham-type bigwig client that got caught up in something and started to say, 'Do you know this?' and 'Do you know that?' And that he might have been able to lead them to somebody." ("New D.C. Sex Scandal Looming?" The Smoking Gun, 10.09.2006)

Yet Palfrey claimed that it was Bastone who first dropped the name of now convicted former GOP congressman Randall "Duke" Cunningham, not the opposite. J-7 invites Mr. Bastone to produce the interview tape to clear up this issue, and others, though it's doubtful that he ever will.

Ironically, my own research for the defense focused on the "Cunningham angle," one that Palfrey summarily dropped towards the end of the run-up to trial in March of this year. Bastone's--and Tru TV's--site is the only outlet to have requested the death photos of Palfrey, a curious move by those with a potentially unscrupulous relationship with her prosecutors.

If it's true that Bastone had a "relationship" with the IRS, Postal Inspectors, the FBI, or the Justice Department (take your pick), then his credibility is seriously in question (nothing new). Palfrey sent this to myself and her then-attorney, the inimitable Montgomery Blair Sibley on December 23rd, 2007:

Blair… if you ever doubt that my case is politically motivated OR simply “can’t go there” with the mounting circumstantial evidence of selective prosecution, I would ask that you read the highlighted portion below in particular, from Bil earlier today. Never forgot that son-of-a bitch, Bill Bastone’s first question to me in Germany, just days after the warrant was executed on my property had to do with Cunningham and Bastone’s insistence that I professionally knew the “Dukester”; this, despite my continued statements to the contrary. -Jeane

Mr. Bastone was questioned for this piece on how he had obtained Palfrey's cell phone number and whether she'd dropped Cunningham's name first in the impromptu interview from Germany (there might have been multiple-contacts, one possibly during an in-transit flight) in early-October of 2006. Bastone refused to comment in any detail stating in an email, "Thanks for your note. However, we don't discuss our interviews or reporting process."

Considering that the information might have been leaked illegally by a federal agent or official, that's understandable. At least his response was prompt.

"D.C. Madam's Mother Sues to Stop Release of Photos," TBO.com/Tampa Bay Online, 08.07.2008: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/aug/07/dc-madams-mother-sues-stop-release-photos/

"New D.C. Sex Scandal Looming?" The Smoking Gun, 10.09.2006: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1009061hook1.html

' "Pro-fessional Tips, Feds: Alleged D.C. madam sent newsletters to her stable of whores," The Smoking Gun, 12.01.2006: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1201061palfrey1.html

Added-value Postscript, 08.09.2008: Here's an exchange with Bill Bastone, ostensible editor of The Smoking Gun. Isn't he charming? Yeah, I'm not either, but that's how it goes. Eat and enjoy!


On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 4:29 PM, Matt Janovic <myboigie@earthlink.net> wrote:

Dear Mr. Bastone:

On October 9th, you penned a piece on Ms. Palfrey where you alleged that she dropped the name of Randy Cunningham during your talk with her.

I would like to know the following: 1.) How did you obtain her private cell phone number, and 2.) do you still contend that she dropped the name of Mr. Cunningham first--she contended otherwise, that you said it first.

kind regards, Matt Janovic, private researcher

Then... (isn't our cause-and-effect universe thrilling?):

----- Original Message -----

From: The Smoking Gun

To: myboigie@earthlink.net

Sent: 8/8/2008 4:36:55 PM

Subject: Re: Jeane Palfrey

Matt:

Thanks for your note. However, we don't discuss our interviews or reporting process.
Bill BastoneEditor

TSG

But...

On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 6:01 PM, Matt Janovic <myboigie@earthlink.net> wrote:

Dear Mr. Bastone:

So the prosecution never briefed you on Ms. Palfrey's case in October of 2006? Are you a "friendly asset" of federal investigators?

kind regards, Matt Janovic

Yet...

Matt:

Seriously, what part of "we don't discuss our interviews or reporting process" did not register?No need for another response. [Ed.--Awwwwww, sure there is...]Bill BastoneTSG


Ed.--I won't bore you with the rest, and I certainly won't be writing Bastone again anytime soon, but suffice it to say that he was told for the several thousandth time that he was a jerk and an exploiter (in sharper words). Gotham City is not safer with this man on the beat. He sure doesn't like it when the mic is pointed in the other direction.

Alex Jones, Kurt Nimmo, & Geraldo Rivera Try to Milk Dollars from Deceased DC Madam: The Ignorant Lying to the Ignorant

The J-7 mail archives --It's not-so-ironic that media exploiters like Larry Flynt and Geraldo Rivera are trying to stoke the fires of controversy by suggesting that Deborah Jeane Palfrey was murdered by some high level cabal. They're hardly alone. Every Tom, Dick, and Harry are acting as if they actually followed the story for longer than a week. But a conspiracy is a tempting scenario. The problem is, Jeane made a lot of contradictory statements to many different people about many things. Some were definite pronouncements, like the February 28th e-mail below this article.

I came into the picture around early-June of 2007 when Jeane wrote me a compliment about a May 6th article I wrote on her case. It was a casual analysis of her situation, and not necessarily very flattering towards her side of things. Interestingly, I write in the piece that "both sides are lying." Today, I see that Alex Jones's "Infowars" is speculating more wildly than I ever could, even with my own eyes and ears perpetually pointed towards the parapolitical (conspiracies). They aren't alone either, millions of very lonely and unimaginative people are following suit.

Literary curmudgeon Harlan Ellison once stated during the late-1990s that the Internet is the greatest purveyor of bad information ever conceived, and Kurt Nimmo's piece, "Geraldo Calls for Florida Gov[ernor] to Investigate Palfrey "Suicide" is a refreshing example of this "bad information." Besides its poor diction, it's clear that Nimmo is pulling just about everything out of his ass. Cobbling together a real hodge-podge of highly speculative connections and sources (namely citing individuals like Wayne Madsen as though they were credible), Nimmo goes as far as to create a peculiar irony within his meandering piece by citing the murder of AUSA Jonathan Luna in December of 2003 as an example of a questionable suicide--Palfrey began our correspondence with the strong-feeling that the genesis of her legal battle somehow began in the Luna case. I never saw the connection, but who knows? A barrage of FOIAs wouldn't necessarily clear any of this up either. Luna's murder remains unsolved.

The strange thing about Nimmo's shoddy article is that it doesn't match its headline, but that's something common in the mainstream media as well. Neither the parapolitical community or the mainstream media have had any real grasp on what this story might mean, but this writer has reached a few humble and reasonable conclusions: namely, that Jeane's Pamela Martin & Associates escort service was merely part of a very large infrastructure of the proffering of women, gifts, and money for the acquisition of coveted government contracts by lobbyists and contractors. Not conspiracy, but unspoken policy and tradition. Naturally, the FBI and other agencies are always watching these services, taking their notes, as in the case of the former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer. His own name was selectively-leaked.

Something happened that made Jeane a liability by the Fall of 2006, and it was possibly exposure by honest federal investigators, or any number of scenarios. The timing of her charges before the 2006 midterms always seemed pregnant with possibilities, especially considering the politicos and D.C. big-shots subsequently outed by her were all Republicans. It's simply an unknown exactly what initiated the investigation. The government's prosecution isn't telling, and neither are the original investigators. As we know, the one person who might clarify some of this is now gone, though I can attest to the fact that she didn't appear to know the whole picture either.

During my research for the defense (under two defense teams, no-less), Jeane finally dropped a very big name indeed: convicted Poway defense contractor, Brent Wilkes. She told myself and my co-researcher to dig-up as much data as we could on him and his co-conspirators, to summarize it, and find any connections that we could to her situation. Later work had us searching through subpoenaed Verizon phone records that went much deeper into who held the more impenetrable numbers and/or cells already posted on the Internet. Remarkably, a lot of it did seem to fit, and noting the Smoking Gun's early questions directed at her in the Fall of 2006, the connection appeared solid. It was as if the federal investigators had scripted the interview questions for Bill Bastone, editor of the site. Jeane frequently voiced her contempt for him, and at one point he was on the subpoena list.

Ken Silverstein's articles on "Hookergate" and Shirlington Limousine (used by Wilkes to ferry prostitutes to former GOP Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and others unknown) also seemed to corroborate Jeane's assertion that she had had telephone contact with Brent Wilkes on at least a few occasions. What she conveyed to us fit the facts, and even some of the time-line. But, every time I pushed her for proof, I got a wall of silence.

The Spitzer scandal was similar to Jeane's case in that it had all the same appearances of selective prosecution, but it gave her some very brief hope right before the trial. It was a hope that wasn't going to last:

Indeed, Spitzer was lucky, as only his career suffered sudden death. Debra Jeane Palfrey was not so lucky. Or was Jonathan Luna.

Luna, a Baltimore-based Assistant United States Attorney, apparently suffered the same fate as Palfrey, although his murder, also excused as a “suicide,” was far more grisly. At the time of his “suicide,” Luna was working under fired US attorney Thomas M. DiBiagio, who was investigating corruption charges against then-Republican Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich and his staff, the lot accused of engaging the services of Palfrey’s escorts. In addition to Ehrlich, Jack Abramoff, convicted of fraud in dealings with SunCruz Casinos, was under investigation at the time of Luna’s “suicide,” obviously a homicide.

It is said Luna stabbed himself 36 times with a penknife and subsequently drowned himself in a creek in Denver, Pennsylvania. ("Geraldo Calls for Florida Gov to Investigate Palfrey "Suicide,"' Infowars, 05.04.2008) http://www.infowars.com/?p=1914

It's obvious that Nimmo's unaware of the the possible connection between the Palfrey and Luna cases, though granted that there might be no connection whatsoever. It's known that the IRS office in Baltimore was part of the early-stages of the investigation into Palfrey at roughly the same time of the events that led-up to the murder of Jonathan Luna.

Palfrey told this writer on several occasions that she strongly suspected her problems came out of a plea deal by former convicted Baltimore Police Commissioner Ed Norris, and that it was somehow mixed-up with the Luna murder. She called it her "cesspool of muck" theory. That's right, even the subject herself was seeing conspiracies everywhere--then just as abruptly as they came along, drop them. We never found evidence of a tangible connection to the Luna case, and Norris didn't appear to be offering any corroboration. Though Norris was interviewed extensively by Rawstory, these interviews have failed to surface. It's the opinion of this writer that they weren't fruitful, though Palfrey stated that they had conducted twelve hours of them. The notion of a connection to the Luna case was dropped sometime after August of 2007 by Palfrey in her missives to myself, and didn't come up much after that, if at all. By December, the talk was of Brent Wilkes. By March, it was of John McCain, Dick Cheney, and even Fred Thompson, the names we can presume Larry Flynt is sitting-on right now. With Thompson, it's a foregone conclusion, and the proof will have to be rock-solid.

Additionally, it's the opinion of this author that Wayne Madsen has no Pentagon or CIA sources, or any sources within the government whatsoever in the "Cheney scoop"--it was likely Deborah Jeane Palfrey. As you can imagine, it's a real labyrinth. The Sphinx-like lady left quite a mess behind and took many secrets with her...or did she? Mr. Nimmo and Geraldo--like the graverobbers that they are--are really just grandstanding along with the other ghouls out there, speculating wildly about something they know nothing whatsoever about. Jeane forwarded this to me on March 17th of this year on Geraldo's credibility. She really nails it:

Bil… FYI – the Coast to Coast Radio interview went very well. I was on-air for about an hour and a half, with commercial breaks interspersed during the time, of course. However, I walked off the Geraldo set. I was sitting in the chair, “miked” with earpiece in-place, when I decided that I wasn’t going to participate in the circus Geraldo was making out of the entire Spitzer ordeal. The first guest, the ex-boyfriend of Spitzer’s escort was repeatedly called a pimp by Geraldo and she constantly was referred as a whore. When I heard that Heidi Fleiss was to follow the boyfriend, I “got” where Geraldo was going. In true primadonna style, I announced that I had no intention of participating in “something like this”, ripped the mike from my lapel – grabbed my purse and exited the building. -Jeane

And so, the lady speaks, once again, and her exploiters continue to attempt squeezing dollars out of her. If you believe Geraldo Rivera or Larry Flynt are anything but exploitative scum, I have a bridge in Brooklyn you might be interested in buying. She's going to keep accusing the hypocritical for a very long time, despite her death. Alex Jones needs to exert some quality-control on his site, but he's hardly alone. Imagine how poor a job they and the mainstream media are all doing on all the other stories. It makes you think.

KESSLER RULES AGAINST PALFREY ON SEVERAL MOTIONS, BUT FAVORS RELEASE OF SOME INFORMATION FROM PROSECUTION

Washington D.C.--Just two-days-ago, Judge Gladys Kessler ruled against Deborah Jeane Palfrey's several motions to dismiss racketeering charges (which would have cancelled any chance of a criminal trial) based-on government misconduct and the unconstitutional application of local prostitution laws, as well as a request of more "particulars" in the evidence the prosecution contends it has against her.

Also denied was the contention by the defendant that she was the victim of "selective prosecution"--Kessler stated in the ruling that the defendant "provided no evidence" to this claim. Meanwhile, literally hundreds of escort services operate unmolested in the D.C. area at the writing of this piece. Palfrey's civil attorney, Montgomery Blair Sibley had this to say about the rulings:

The limited information that the Judge did order be turned over to Jeane reflects how un-level the playing field is that has been created by the DOJ-controlled Congress that passes any procedural rule DOJ suggests. Here, 11 months after seizing her property, Jeane has yet to receive the names of those who accuse her, let alone the sum and substance of their testimony. (correspondence with the author)

On the same day of the ruling, it appears that the DOJ leaked a tiny-morsel for an over-credulous press to seize-on (they did this in October and December of 2006 by providing http://www.thesmokinggun.com/ affidavits and other edited-samples of e-mail correspondence). This is standard procedure at DOJ, and especially at the FBI. It could very well be their fingerprints in the case, though it appears there is no participation by the Bureau (or that it's submerged).

The prosecution isn't telling anyone anything, not even the defendant. This should concern anyone who values our system of due process, and how it has eroded over time. Now, the appearance of guilt is enough, without the prosecution being required to provide adequate proof before a trial. The fact underscores the true relevance of the case: how awry the federal judicial process has gone in-favor of the government's prosecutorial powers (never mind the phone list).

The recent e-mail(s): somebody at the DOJ leaked these heavily-edited tidbits. What's interesting is that while Jeffrey A. Taylor (D.C.'s U.S. attorney, providing obstruction for contempt charges in another high-profile case) is invoking "secrecy rules" through spokespeople when queried about the identities of Palfrey's accusers, he also allowed the leaking of information meant to damage Palfrey's standing as a defendant. This is highly improper behavior by the prosecution in any case, but that's the climate within our federal justice system, courtesy of an impaired and compromised Congress. For those in the press who don't understand, the foundation of our legal system is "innocent until proven guilty."

Yet, WTOP appears to have taken-the-bait, just as The Smoking Gun did last year. Maybe they all want to believe so badly--a priori--that Ms. Palfrey is guilty, at least at TSG. This is the primary e-mail excerpt, and it echoes the vagueness of the ones published at The Smoking Gun last year: "Why did you do this to me? I never did anything to you." Did what? WTOP alleges it was sent to the former Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld legal secretary, "Jennifer." Another excerpt--again without much solid context--continues with, "It is plain 'foolish' to take a perfectly viable revenue stream (of any kind) and just throw it away, without solid justification." And...?

One might imagine that the prosecution isn't holding many cards--just women who want their liberty back in return for testimony against Ms. Palfrey. So far, that's the appearance from outside the prosecution's tent. They might consider that their cooperating witnesses could turn-on-them if the trial goes south. [Ed.-- Ms. Palfrey informs me that the statements made by "Jennifer's" attorney that his client never engaged in prostitution "...has created a legal opportunity for me to obtain heretofore unattainable information." Perhaps WTOP's Neal Augenstein isn't buying the prosecution's line after all, he and his editor published the comment, or we wouldn't even know about it!]

As we all know, you can get a lot out one-or-two-sentences with no context...unless one wants so badly to believe the worst. That's an a priori assumption, and it could be directed at the members of the federal grand jury, the people who will do the real deciding on this whole affair. But what's especially leading about the WTOP article is the headline: "E-Mails Expose Inner Workings of Palfrey's Escort Service." Do they? They're extremely vague and short-excerpts. The bulk of the article focuses on "Jennifer." Her attorney claims that she's not being pressured by the prosecution to testify, which could be true, but it appears she could be testifying against Palfrey.

If she's not being pressured as a "cooperating witness," it would likely make her one-of-the-few in this case. What should be reported is how little the government has to prove in virtually any case against an American citizen. Jennifer's motives? She could be angry she lost her job at Akin, Gump... , but it's doubtful a credulous press will be asking those questions. Even if they do, there's always an Editor over their shoulder, which we can assume is probably where the headline came from.

The WTOP article from 08.16.2007: http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=25&pid=0&sid=1222089&page=2

Revised 08.19.2007