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Other DC Madam Associates Discuss Potential Election Bombshell (suspicious phone record gap)
US News and World Report ^ | April 7, 2016, at 5:19 p.m. | Steven Nelson

Posted on 04/07/2016 4:11:23 PM PDT by drewh

A former attorney for "D.C. madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey kicked off a viral news speculation frenzy last week, claiming he possesses previously unreleased phone records that are "very relevant" to the presidential election and that he's prepared to risk jail to release them.

Conversations with people close to the high-profile escort case corroborate some claims from Montgomery Blair Sibley about the nature of documents he says he possesses but have added uncertainty as to whether a presidential candidate actually is identified.

Sibley says he has two sets of records that he wants court permission to release: a set of raw phone records from Palfrey's escort service with an estimated 5,000 unique numbers and a Verizon Wireless subpoena response with names, addresses and Social Security numbers of 815 of those callers.

On March 28, he offered the federal court system a soft two-week deadline to consider lifting a 2007 restraining order, lest he consider that order void and release records. He says he has loaded the records online with a 72-hour dead man's switch, as he considers his next step.

Sibley told U.S. News in a Thursday interview that the Verizon subpoena response contains the purported bombshell. "In and of itself, it contains it, but there's more to the story than just the response [and that additional information is in] the unknown 5,000," he says.

[EARLIER: D.C. Madam's Attorney Says Election Bombshell Already Online]

Two people who reviewed call records and other defense material on Palfrey's behalf, however, say they saw the Verizon subpoena response, which they and Sibley say arrived before a judge quashed demands for information from other carriers. The two sources​ collectively rule out any of the five major-party presidential candidates obviously appearing on that list.

One of the researchers, muckracking journalist and hypocrisy-hunting private eye Dan Moldea, says he shredded his copy but that he's certain four candidates were not on the subpoenaed list. He says he would remember the names of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (then a former congressman) and businessman Donald Trump.

Matt Janovjac, who recalls Palfrey offering him a research gig after reading one of his blog posts, says he still has copies of case records stored in a filing cabinet in the basement of his Indiana home. Janovjac says he searched a digital copy of the Verizon response, which he says contains names and detailed information about 815 phone numbers, and did not see Sen. Ted Cruz's name.

When told Moldea could not recall four candidates being named and that Janovjac did not see Cruz's name, Sibley said: "I'm not going to confirm those guys have what I have. I don't think they have the entire response because I've always kept some back."

Sibley refused to rule in or out a presidential candidate being fingered by the subpoena response or there existing a more tangential bit of information. He denies duping the national media into providing him free publicity.

[LISTEN: Sexual Audio Released After Alabama Governor Denies Affair]

Sibley's claim to hold an election bombshell isn't necessarily voided by the seemingly incongruous accounts about the Verizon response, as the purportedly detailed subpoena response may contain information not appreciated at face value. And the pool of what Sibley says are about 5,000 previously unreleased unique phone numbers remains mysterious and potentially explosive.

Sibley said Thursday that 5,902 phone numbers are in the previously unreleased batch, likely including duplicates due to repeat callers.

Deborah Jeane Palfrey, left, is pictured with Montgomery Blair Sibley outside the U.S. District Court in Washington on September 7, 2007. Deborah Jeane Palfrey, left, is pictured with Montgomery Blair Sibley outside the U.S. District Court in Washington on September 7, 2007. He says he can't recall particular dates they cover, though gaps in records posted online in 2007 appear to give hints. Sibley says he put disorganized records from Palfrey in two piles, one for mass release and another to hold back, without a particular focus on date ranges.

The escort service's call records first made a splash when Sibley and Palfrey released a large chunk in 2007 as she awaited trial. Moldea discovered a number belonging to Sen. David Vitter, R-La., who publicly apologized for undefined "very serious sins." The administrator of USAID was identified when the records were reviewed by ABC News. A nearly comprehensive set of released records was later digitized and made searchable on the website dcphonelist.com.

The precise number of unique callers in the first batch is unclear. Sibley says it contained about 10,000 numbers. Moldea recalls about 13,000.

The searchable site dcphonelist.com said it had digitized 5,901 unique numbers from the first batch -- curiously close to the 5,902 raw numbers Sibley in teasing as a second batch. But the seemingly damning similarity isn't, according to an anonymous operator of the digitized search site, who provided only his first name Igor. The site operator says by email some records released by Sibley in 2007 were not counted toward its tally, such as those from Cingular.

Call records released in 2007 and posted to DeborahJeanePalfrey,com, a site maintained by Sibley and others, contain many gaps – giving reason to believe there are indeed withheld phone records.

Eight one-month gaps appear to exist, each beginning just before Christmas, though a document published by WikiLeaks appears to cover the 2014-2015 gap. There's also a six-month break in records covering late 1995 and the first weeks of 1996. And there possibly are other gaps in records, as Palfrey used at least three phone carriers.

Many people connected to the Palfrey case were either unwilling or unable to comment on Sibley's claims about the Verizon subpoena response and claim to have unreleased phone records.

Palfrey dismissed Sibley from her criminal case in January 2008, and Sibley says he provided all physical copies of records to attorney Preston Burton, who represented Palfrey at trial.

[FLASHBACK: 'Pro-Life' Congressman Who Urged Abortions for Ex-Wife and Mistress Will Run Again]

Burton did not respond to repeated requests for comment on his recollection of the records.

A person close to the post-Sibley defense team who asked not to be identified, however, says they directly observed all physical copies of Palfrey's phone records shredded after a civil case ended and that digital copies of spreadsheets and other documents were wiped. Without commenting directly on the nature of any document, they questioned whether Verizon actually would have supplied Social Security numbers (Moldea says he can't remember if Social Security numbers were included, but Janovjac backs Sibley's claim that they were).

Short conversations with three attorneys who worked for the prosecution did not shine light on the purported records. William Cowden, now in private practice, said he can't recall with specificity records from nearly a decade ago. Daniel Butler, who still works for the Justice Department, said he could not speak without authorization, which a department spokesman declined to grant. Kate Connelly, now an attorney with Northrop Grumman, declined to comment.

Palfrey was convicted of money laundering and other crimes in May 2008 and died of apparent suicide two weeks later. Sibley says he has a right to possess call records given his continuing role in the civil case and says he also remained an attorney for Palfrey's mother's and was retained to work on Palfrey's criminal appeal.

Sibley's right to hold the records, however, has derailed his legal bid to lift the 2007 restraining order, which was issued when he threatened to release records ahead of trial. Then-U.S. District Judge Richard Roberts in January instructed a clerk not to accept Sibley's motion requesting reconsideration of the restraining order, writing: "Why Sibley would have possession of subpoenaed records in a case from which he has been terminated and why he would not instead have turned all copies of them over to the defendant's continuing counsel of record is not set forth in the motion."

Gov. Robert Bentley is denying that he is having an affair with a senior staffer, but Alabama politics has been roiled by a detailed allegation he is. RELATED CONTENT

Alabama Governor Accused of Adultery as Three Scandals Collide

Sibley says Roberts – who resigned last month on the day he was sued for an alleged past sexual assault – wrongly assumed he had no right to the records, but his bid for a day in court has gone nowhere so far.

Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts on Monday refused Sibley's request for intervention. Sibley appealed to Justice Clarence Thomas, hoping for a different ruling on whether the federal District Court in the nation's capital must accept a motion for reconsideration of the 2007 order. The D.C. Circuit federal appeals court has not acted on an appeal.

Sibley told U.S. News last week that the records he seeks to release already are posted to a non-public website. A link to the website will be emailed to his press list, Sibley says, if he does not reset a 72-hour timer, a safeguard to disincentivize acts of violence by former Palfrey clients.

The threatened wholesale release does not sit well with Moldea and Janovjac, who say the records certainly name or identify by phone number many people with absolutely no connection to the escort service, such as plumbers, florists or even the odd wrong number. Moldea adds it's his personal philosophy to only expose hypocritical people in positions of power and that most names would not meet that standard.

Janovjac, who parted ways with Palfrey after her dismissal of Sibley, says he never signed an agreement barring him from releasing the Palfrey records he possesses and says nobody asked for him to return them. He declined, however, to share them for this story. He says he's primarily disinclined to release them because of the potential effect on people without public profiles.

It's unclear if Janovjac or other people who may have copies of at least some Palfrey records fall under the 2007 gag order's command that Palfrey "and her agents and attorneys ... shall not release, further distribute, or otherwise provide to any person or organization the phone records" of Palfrey or he


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: cruzsexscandal; dcmadam; palfrey
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1 posted on 04/07/2016 4:11:23 PM PDT by drewh
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To: drewh

Who is setting the fuses on these bombshells? They’re not going off.


2 posted on 04/07/2016 4:13:41 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

its in the hands of SCOTUS Justice Thomas right now, until he rules nothing can happen.


3 posted on 04/07/2016 4:16:47 PM PDT by drewh
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Gotta love how the sub-headline was left out. Here is the actual story:

Other D.C. Madam Associates Discuss Potential Election Bombshell

Will a presidential candidate be named? It's beginning to look doubtful.

In other words, there is nothing here. Another dud for the Trumpsters hoping to trash Cruz with sleaze and slime.

4 posted on 04/07/2016 4:17:42 PM PDT by Longbow1969
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To: drewh

Sibley has been disbarred in multiple jurisdictions for dishonesty. Why does anybody believe a word he says?


5 posted on 04/07/2016 4:17:49 PM PDT by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
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To: drewh

It's not going away...and the DC Madam attorney has said he will release, with or without court permission. I read that his petition to Justice Thomas should be answered next week.

6 posted on 04/07/2016 4:18:26 PM PDT by bigbob
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To: drewh

Good God, is the Sheriff is Arizona who is supporting trump going FINALLY produce any results?


7 posted on 04/07/2016 4:20:05 PM PDT by Dacula (Southern lives matter!)
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To: drewh

Janovjac shouldn’t say where he has the records stored. Surely he knows better.


8 posted on 04/07/2016 4:21:56 PM PDT by Aliska ("No bank is too big to fail, and no executive is too powerful to jail." HRC 1/24/16)
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To: Dacula

Keep watching. I think this will manifest soon.


9 posted on 04/07/2016 4:23:49 PM PDT by WENDLE (I guess)
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To: Aliska

they are on a 72 hour computer timer anyway if anything happens to the original source so they will come out.


10 posted on 04/07/2016 4:24:22 PM PDT by drewh
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To: WENDLE

7 years too late


11 posted on 04/07/2016 4:24:50 PM PDT by Dacula (Southern lives matter!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Sure seems that a dude that so many people are turned off of, physically, is such a chick magnet.

Must be common core math or lunatic polling.


12 posted on 04/07/2016 4:24:56 PM PDT by corbe (mystified)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

13 posted on 04/07/2016 4:25:14 PM PDT by Wolfie
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To: Longbow1969

Cruz is a non-starter due to his wife.

Anyone who worked on the CFR North American Union Task Force is an enemy of the country - they literally are working to destroy America and replace it with a supernational entity.

There’s no ambiguity or room for weaseling out of that one.


14 posted on 04/07/2016 4:27:03 PM PDT by thoughtomator
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To: Aliska

You mean “ someone” might steal them?
Shame if that happens


15 posted on 04/07/2016 4:27:21 PM PDT by silverleaf (Age takes a toll: Please have exact change)
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To: drewh

Sibley is just a “media pimp” as opposed to the DC Madame being a “regular pimp”.

I don’t know which one is the bigger whoremonger.


16 posted on 04/07/2016 4:32:27 PM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: Dacula
Arpaio probably doesn't have any more info. I got to thinking about it some more. Maybe somebody can refresh my mind.

It's doubtful there is any birth certificate on file anywhere. Or if there is, it is something handwritten that would never pass legal scrutiny. And I know that the one on the WH website was computer generated; however the information on it could be true. But it's a forgery and a poor one at that.

There was a notice in the Honolulu Advertiser which should be on microfilm scattered around to various archives. Unless the whole page was a forgery, or reconstructed, I don't see how his birth occurred anywhere other than Hawaii although the grandparents could put the notice in, happened all the time in those days, and the grandparents could say any location, unless way too bizarro, no one would question it, and it would be printed. The Advertiser entry as I recall had an address for the "Obamas" but no one can remember if they lived there or not.

What is left that Arpaio could come up with that we don't know already?

17 posted on 04/07/2016 4:34:44 PM PDT by Aliska ("No bank is too big to fail, and no executive is too powerful to jail." HRC 1/24/16)
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To: drewh

Oh, ok, thank you.


18 posted on 04/07/2016 4:36:41 PM PDT by Aliska ("No bank is too big to fail, and no executive is too powerful to jail." HRC 1/24/16)
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To: thoughtomator
Cruz is a non-starter due to his wife.

Trump is non starter due to the fact he isn't a conservative, he is a northeastern liberal who flip flops on positions in order to con people. No thanks to Trump, who wants to run against a candidate (Hillary) he has given large amounts of money to (along with other liberals like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, etc) AND gave $100,000.00 to the utterly corrupt global Clinton Foundation. Talk about undermining the country, good grief, the Clinton Foundation is about as bad as it gets.

Neither are perfect, but at least Ted Cruz IS a conservative. Trump is most certainly not.

19 posted on 04/07/2016 4:38:47 PM PDT by Longbow1969
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To: silverleaf

Yes, or he could be raided.


20 posted on 04/07/2016 4:39:32 PM PDT by Aliska ("No bank is too big to fail, and no executive is too powerful to jail." HRC 1/24/16)
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