American Politics Journal -- Will Drudge 'Fess Up Tonight on Crossfire?

The Insider
Will Drudge 'Fess Up Tonight on Crossfire?
By Morrie Friendly

Friday, May 3, 2002 -- Washington (APJP) -- Notorious cyber-gossip Matt Drudge is scheduled to appear on this evening's edition of CNN's Crossfire.

Given the tenacious, no-holds-barred style of Crossfire's two new hosts "from the left", James Carville and Paul Begala, tonight's program will be a "don't miss" event. Begala and Tucker Carlson, who actually gets a good deal of respect among liberals here in Washington (for his legendary "baptism" of sleazy right-winger lobbyist Grover Norquist with his drink a few years back), will be co-hosting this evening.

The timing of Drudge's visit couldn't be better. No, not because his once hot Web site lacks the buzz it once garnered and could use some publicity -- but because of the reemergence of disturbing questions about a nearly five-year-old incident involving Drudge and his site.

Perhaps Begala and Carlson will take it upon themselves to have Drudge answer questions that have had New York and Beltway media circles buzzing for the last few months surrounding "Drudgegate".

For those of you not familiar with the details of the messy story, he is a brief chronology:

On August 11th, 1997, the Drudge Report published a story in which "...one influential Republican, who demanded anonymity, [told] the Drudge Report" that court records existed showing that then-White House aide Sidney Blumenthal had committed violent acts against his wife.

The problem was, the story turned out to be untrue.

The next day, Matt Drudge retracted the story.

A little over two weeks later, Blumenthal filed a complaint against Matt Drudge and America Online. AOL was eventually dropped from lawsuit, but Drudge was unsuccessful in getting the lawsuit dismissed.

Drudge was represented by Manny Klausner, whose legal services were financed by David Horowitz's Individual Rights Foundation, the legal wing of his Center for the Study of Popular Culture, a right-wing "think tank" heavily funded by Richard Mellon Scaife.

Over the years, Drudge used near-limitless financing to drag out the case; meanwhile, rumor and speculation surrounding the "influential Republican" focused on the editorial staff of the Wall Street Journal -- and specifically John Fund.

Eventually, Blumenthal abandoned what had for him turned into a costly pursuit of justice.

But on January 16th, "Drudgegate" reemerged.

Melinda Pillsbury-Foster, a libertarian activist from California, issued a terse press release that day concerning the dissolving live-in relationship between her daughter, Morgan Pillsbury, and John Fund, which had become the subject of gossip following an article by John Connolly published by WeaselSearch. In the preceding months, police had made a number of visits to Fund's Jersey City apartment following calls by Ms. Pillsbury; she had not by this time pressed charges against Fund.

The "Drudgegate" connection emerged in an accompanying article published that same day in American Politics Journal, in which it was revealed that Morgan Pillsbury had claimed to our publisher that Fund and Drudge were the prime movers behind that false Drudge Report story about Blumenthal. She also stated that Fund had told her not only that both Fund and Drudge had lied to Klausner, but that Drudge had lied to the court during the course of lawsuit.

A little over a month later, Fund was arrested in New York City and charged with assaulting Ms. Pillsbury. Within a couple of days, Ms. Pillsbury had been granted an order of protection from the New York City Criminal Court, an order that stipulated "no third-party contact".

American Politics Journal learned within days that after the order was issued, Klausner attempted to contact Ms. Pillsbury through her lawyers.

That action raised questions not only as to who Fund's actual attorney was, but about the motives of a Scaife-funded attorney with ties to Drudge who appeared to be in effect advocating for an allegedly physically abusive media figure. Just whose butt was Klausner trying to cover? Fund's attorney of record, according to a Washington Post story, was in fact noted New York litigator Paul Windels III.

Since that article ran, American Politics Journal has learned that Klausner had attempted to contact Ms. Pillsbury directly after the order of protection was issued and before he contacted Ms. Pillsbury's lawyers -- and that two additional law firms have been working over the past months on behalf of Fund: Wollmuth Maher & Deutsch LLP, and Carter, Ledyard & Milburn.

Now, it should be no surprise that a politically connected man with financial resources would "lawyer up" for what could turn out to be a high-profile criminal defense. But this many lawyers comes across as overkill -- unless Fund is considering a scorched-earth, "dig dirt and blame the victim" campaign against the woman he is alleged to have abused, or fears that the "Drudgegate" allegations may be poised to bite him in the butt -- or both.

But this writer digresses.

Tonight's Crossfire should be one of the best since the show's recent retooling -- especially because Begala has no fear of calling a liar a liar. He should ask Drudge not only who his source was, but why Drudge adamantly refuses to adhere to accepted journalistic standards and ethics -- except when he is hiding behind his "professional obligation as a journalist" to conceal his sources.

Who knows? Maybe Drudge will come clean, apologize once again to Blumenthal, finger that "influential Republican who demanded anonymity," and pledge to clean up his act.

Don't hold your breath waiting for Matt to do that. But do tune in.