The Chicago News Bench blog cornered Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) at a Health Care Townhall event over the weekend, to ask her about former FBI translator turned whistleblower Sibel Edmonds’ allegation, as published by American Conservative magazine last week, that she had become involved in a secretly-videotaped lesbian affair with a Turkish agent.
In the brief video, Schakowsky is asked directly about the affair, and denies the allegations as “total fantasy” and “totally made up.”
As reported exclusively by The BRAD BLOG last Tuesday, Schakowsky’s Communications Director Trevor Kincaid issued a formal statement on her behalf, following the AmCon cover story interview with Edmonds, using similar language. “A simple review of the facts would lead any responsible person to conclude that there is not a shred of truth to any aspect of this story,” Kincaid wrote, adding “not one of the events in this fantastic tale ever took place.”
Edmonds replied in kind, offering direct questions to the Congresswoman, and a challenge to take a polygraph test in regard to the matter, if she would do the same. Today, while speaking to The BRAD BLOG, Edmonds upped the ante by challenging her to sue her for libel, if she denies the charges, but refuses to hold Congressional hearings as Edmonds also invited her to do last week…
Kincaid’s initial denial statement also offered two points in rebuttal to Edmonds’ specific account of the alleged affair which, he says, “dismantled” the charges with “irrefutable facts.” Edmonds had previously offered details of the alleged sexual tryst in a recent sworn deposition, though she didn’t identify the name of the Congresswoman at the time, noting that she was fired by the FBI before learning whether or not the Turkish agents had attempted to use the information for blackmail purposes.
Edmonds, a former language specialist in the FBI counterintelligence division, claims to have learned about the Turkish spy-ring set-up — and many, far more damning, allegations of infiltration and treasonous crimes — while listening to and translating wiretaps made by the division from 1996 to 2002.
She responded to Kincaid’s initial rebuttal with a number of direct questions and a challenge to the Congresswoman to join her in taking a polygraph test. “If she denies,” Edmonds wrote in her first response to Kincaid, “I am willing to take [a] public polygraph … on these points if she accepts doing the same.”
Schakowsky’s office did not answer the direct questions, nor respond to the polygraph challenge, instead opting to describe Edmonds’ charges as “fairytales” and reiterating that “not a single aspect of Ms. Edmonds’ original story was true.”
In an open letter to Schakowsky posted on Thursday, Edmonds cited a litany of public officials, official documentation, and court cases which she says “publicly confirm my credibility.”
She then continued by asking the Congresswoman, who chairs the U.S. House Intelligence Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation, to join her in a “pursuit of the facts,” by holding hearings on the entire breadth of the allegations, citing specific current and former FBI agents who, she says, should be subpoenaed and called in “for an investigation and a hearing before your committee on this long covered-up case.”
“If she denies the allegation,” Edmonds told The BRAD BLOG today, “she basically has two options. She can hold hearings, as I described in my letter to her last week, or she can bring a libel suit against me, and we can subpoena and bring in all the agents and documents that back up my case.”
Edmonds startling allegations, long-squelched by the Bush Administration’s unprecedented two-time use of the “State Secrets Privilege” in order to keep her from divulging any of these matters, also include charges of bribery, blackmail, and the theft of U.S. nuclear secrets by several current and former members of Congress (both Republican and Democratic), as well as high-ranking State and Defense Department officials such as Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, and the third-highest ranking State Dept. official in the Bush Administration, Marc Grossman, the former Ambassador to Turkey.
Edmonds has identified Grossman as one of the top ring-leaders in the espionage cases involving spies from both Turkey and Israel. In 2008, the Sunday Times of London filed a three-part front-page series focusing on Edmonds’ explosive allegations against Grossman — though, due to British libel laws, he was not identified by name (the stories can be found here, here and here). Grossman’s identity was later confirmed by one of the co-authors of the series, and others. None of the Sunday Times stories were picked up by U.S. media, though they were covered in newspapers around the world, including in Pakistan, India, Turkey, Israel, and elswhere.
The Sunday Times‘ bombshell scoops included the allegations that Bush’s Under Secretary of State Grossman worked closely with the Turks in obtaining and selling nuclear weapons technology to the worldwide black market, and that he had even tipped off Turkish diplomatic colleagues about the true identify of then-covert CIA operative Valerie Plame-Wilson’s front company Brewster Jennings, several years before the entire operation was named publicly by columnist Robert Novak.
Schakowsky…it’s easy – PUT UP OR SHUT UP.
Brad:
In my circles, people say Ms. Edmonds may be telling the truth, as she knows it; however, her mind is just full of crazy stuff that she overheard or read, stuff that has no basis in reality. The argument goes, “If what she believes she knows was really real, why wouldn’t the big guys on one side of the political spectrum or the other have leaked it for political advantage?” Of course, the point has been made repeatedly that all sides of power are up to their arm pits, if not their eye balls, in it and that the powerful have everything to lose and nothing to gain by letting the average American know what really goes on at the top. However, if this is crunch time, it would seem important to produce more than Ms. Edmonds testimony. Surely, with worse wars and other not unrelated horrors facing us, something like at least a page or two of the Sibel Edmonds Pentagon Papers could find their way into public view.
Keep up the good work and sincere best wishes to Ms. Edmonds.
http://www.wikihow.com/Detect-Lies
Eye movements: the instant Schakowsky is asked the question “any comment on Turkish spy story” she immediately looks away from the questioner even though she was looking directly at questioner until she realizes what he is asking.
Deflection: after immediately looking away from questioner, Schakowsky instead leans into and talks to nearby person first cleary deflecting questioner.
Emotional responses: A liar will often feel uncomfortable and turn their head or body away, or even subconsciously put an object between them and questioner. After initially being asked to make comment on the ‘Turkish spy story’, Schakowsky immediately leans into and talks to nearby person, trying to put that person between her and the questioner. Also, an innocent person would go on the offensive (usually responding with anger, which will usually be revealed in a microexpression directly after you say you don’t believe them), however a guilty person will often go immediately on the defensive. Hence, Schakowsky’s initial reaction is defensive eg to deflect. She didn’t take umbrage at the suggestion she is lesbian and was duped by Turkish spies.
Microexpressions: watch Schakowsky’s facial ‘microexpressions’ immediately after initially being asked to comment “on Turkish spy story”; her face falls, its a brief but clear ‘oh damn’ momment, Schakowsky’s smile disappears completely, but is then revived when she leans into and speaks to person nearby instead of replying to question.
Exaggerated details: Schakowsky doesn’t respond that the allegations of her being involved in a ‘Turkish spy story’ are false or incorrect, but are ‘totally fantasy’. Fantasy is a pretty extreme adjective to describe a thing, but ‘totally fantasy’ is extreme exaggeration. Same with Schakowsky’s second statement: ‘it was totally made up, isn’t it?’ She adds ‘isn’t it?’ to try to convince you. Also, Schakowsky emphasizes her ‘totally fantasy’ statement with emphatic head nods and a finger thrust towards speaker and waving her hand from side to side as if to dismiss the allegations.
Subtle delay in responses to questions: Schakowsky immediately delays her response to initial questioning by instead leaning into and speaking with nearby person first.
Turkish agents were using communications links they knew would be monitored by US intel, in order to spread ‘stories’ and smear people they could not get to any other way. Their plans, to have active resources within the intel community ready to amplify these inaccuracies did not work out, and this ‘story’ languished for years.
Sibel stumbled across one of the cruder attempts; she’s relaying accurately what the agents said. But the information the agents were talking about was pure fabrication.
If there is a video tape, does anyone really think Schakowsky would be so foolish as to invite it becoming public in this way?
Blogo – And your evidence for that is what, exactly? Or you’re just speculating because you don’t think Schakowsky could have particated in something like that?
If there is a video tape, do you really think the bad guys who secretly took it would be foolish enough to risk getting caught by releasing it publicly??
I know the bisexual thing is attention grabbing, but the focus of bribery and payoffs to Hastert, who now works for a Turkish Lobbing Group, is what I would like to see more detail on.
“Turkish agents were using communications links they knew would be monitored by US intel, in order to spread ‘stories’ and smear people they could not get to any other way. Their plans, to have active resources within the intel community ready to amplify these inaccuracies did not work out, and this ‘story’ languished for years.
Sibel stumbled across one of the cruder attempts; she’s relaying accurately what the agents said. But the information the agents were talking about was pure fabrication.”
Thanks Blogo. Its good to here from the people on the inside. As I assume you are. Because you know this stuff.
“If there is a video tape, does anyone really think Schakowsky would be so foolish as to invite it becoming public in this way?”
In what way? And no, I guess. If I understand you right.
In the brief video, Schakowsky is asked directly about the affair, and denies the allegations as “total fantasy” and “totally made up.”
Those responses are not a denial. They are a non denial denial
The only word that can be characterized as a denial is the word No.
It does not bother me that a representative has an off the bell life style. Even wild animals have gay trysts.
What bothers me is the fact that we are so back woods as a nation that gangsters use it to blackmail the US government. Schawasky’s crime is not being being a lesbian, her crime is that she allows the Houses of the War Dope and Oil Exchange to use Israeli Jews as a loss leader for the forever wars. Should the foot of the Leviathan (Islam) ever come down, both Muslim and Israeli Jew alike will be harmed. Israel will get a few scratches in, but will surely be destroyed. Death of any people, even hillbilly dominion heretics in , would not be the work of Islam. It will be the houses of the unholy – the houses of the war dope and oil exchange. Any American Jew calling for Israel to commit suicide and continue down their conditioned path of ruthlessness, would be nothing short of a modern day Josephus. If Israelis only knew how they were being used by the west, they might wake up. War has turned Israel into a welfare ghetto whose only purpose is as a hideout when the mob bosses need to meet in secrecy.
What is really strange is that Racheal Maddow will go on and on about Sen Vitter’s backseat out of wedlock purchase of favors without any allegations od trading national secrets, but completely avoids, as do all mainstream, the facts, which under rule 919, are evidence of crimes, presented in Ms Edmonds deposition.
Brad, ref #8, #9 .. bad guys always take risks, it’s part of their persona.
If Schakowsky is aware that supposedly a video was taken of her in this compromising situation, how on earth could she be so brazen as to deny it, as the supposed facts in this case would be right there for everyone to see.
I’ll state again that Sibel Edmonds has certainly got a lot of stuff right, but simply intercepting communications is not what intel work is about.
I’d rather see Sibel testify to exactly what she heard, and leave the analysis up to others: in fact, I’d suspect if she did just that, she’d be a lot more likely to get the corporate media coverage she’s been trying to obtain.
What power does Jan Schakowsky have over the people who [supposedly] have this video tape?
None.
If she is ‘guilty as speculated’, she’s got some real chutzpa to stand up and basically dare the holders of that tape to make it public.
And in this internet age, there are a thousand ways to Sunday to make that video public in a heartbeat. There’s no risk to the parties who made the tape.
One more thing, the video clip you show is produced by right wingers – I suggest you look at the other ‘productions’ from this you tube account.
If you lie down with dogs, you get fleas Brad.
Please, don’t lie down with dogs.
Those responses are not a denial. They are a non denial denial
The only word that can be characterized as a denial is the word No.
Really? So when this happened
Interviewer: OK, so Edmonds has completly fantasized this? It’s all lies?
Shakowsky: Totally made up.
Interviewer: It’s all lies?
Shakowsky: It is, yes.
If that doesn’t constitute a denial, I’m off to reboot the universe.