-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.ljx.com/LJXfiles/drudge/drudgesuit.html SIDNEY BLUMENTHAL, 6805 6th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20012, And JACQUELINE JORDAN BLUMENTHAL, 6805 6th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20012, Plaintiffs, v. MATT DRUDGE, No. 901 1811 North Whitley Avenue Hollywood, California 90028, And AMERICA ONLINE, INC., 2200 AOL Way Dulles, Virginia 20166, Defendants. Civil Action No. __________ <snip> On numerous occasions prior to August 10, 1997, defendant Drudge published information in the Drudge Report which had been provided to defendant Drudge by persons opposed to President William J. Clinton and the Clinton Administration, which information was false. Prior to August 10, 1997, defendant AOL knew that, or acted with reckless disregard whether, on numerous occasions prior to August 10, 1997, defendant Drudge had published information in the Drudge Report which had been provided to defendant Drudge by persons opposed to President William J. Clinton and the Clinton Administration, which information was false. On those occasions prior to August 10, 1997, when defendant Drudge published false information which had been provided to defendant Drudge by persons opposed to President William J. Clinton and the Clinton Administration, defendant Drudge acted with knowledge that the information defendant Drudge so published was false, or in reckless disregard whether it was false. Prior to August 10, 1997, defendant AOL knew that, or acted with reckless disregard whether, on those occasions prior to August 10, 1997, when defendant Drudge published false information which had been provided to defendant Drudge by persons opposed to President William J. Clinton and the Clinton Administration, defendant Drudge acted with knowledge that the information defendant Drudge so published was false, or in reckless disregard whether it was false. Plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal, as Assistant to the President, occupies one of the highest positions in the White House, and has responsibilities for policy issues and political matters. Defendant Drudge intended that, or acted with reckless disregard whether, the allegations published by defendant Drudge and defendant AOL, jointly and severally, in the Drudge Report as alleged in this Complaint would cause plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal to resign from his position as Assistant to President William J. Clinton. Defendant AOL knew that, or acted with reckless disregard whether, defendant Drudge intended that, or acted with reckless disregard whether, the allegations published by defendant Drudge and defendant AOL, jointly and severally, in the Drudge Report as alleged in this Complaint would cause plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal to resign from his position as Assistant to President William J. Clinton. Defendant Drudge intended that, or acted with reckless disregard whether, the allegations published by defendant Drudge and defendant AOL, jointly and severally, in the Drudge Report as alleged in this Complaint would hinder plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal in the performance of his duties as Assistant to President William J. Clinton. Defendant AOL knew that, or acted with reckless disregard whether, defendant Drudge intended that, or acted with reckless disregard whether, the allegations published by defendant Drudge and defendant AOL, jointly and severally, in the Drudge Report as alleged in this Complaint would hinder plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal in the performance of his duties as Assistant to President William J. Clinton. Plaintiff Jacqueline Jordan Blumenthal, as the Director of The President’s Commission On White House Fellowships, occupies an important position within the Administration of President William J. Clinton. In her position, plaintiff Jacqueline Jordan Blumenthal must work closely with the members of The President’s Commission On White House Fellowships. The members of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships include business, political, and educational leaders from all walks of life and from all political parties. Defendant Drudge intended that, or acted with reckless disregard whether, the allegations published by defendant Drudge and defendant AOL, jointly and severally, as alleged in this Complaint would cause plaintiff Jacqueline Jordan Blumenthal to resign from her position as Director of The President’s Commission On White House Fellowships. Defendant AOL knew that, or acted with reckless disregard whether, defendant Drudge intended that, or acted with reckless disregard whether, the allegations published by defendant Drudge and defendant AOL, jointly and severally, as alleged in this Complaint would cause plaintiff Jacqueline Jordan Blumenthal to resign from her position as Director of The President’s Commission On White House Fellowships. Defendant Drudge intended that, or acted with reckless disregard whether, the allegations published by defendant Drudge as alleged in this Complaint would hinder plaintiff Jacqueline Jordan Blumenthal in the performance of her duties as Director of The President’s Commission On White House Fellowships. Defendant AOL knew that, or acted with reckless disregard whether, defendant Drudge intended that, or acted with reckless disregard whether, the allegations published by defendant Drudge as alleged in this Complaint would hinder plaintiff Jacqueline Jordan Blumenthal in the performance of her duties as Director of The President’s Commission On White House Fellowships. In publishing false information about plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal and plaintiff Jacqueline Jordan Blumenthal, as alleged in this Complaint, defendant Drudge intended that, or acted with reckless disregard whether, such publication would harm President William J. Clinton and impede the operation of the Clinton Administration. Defendant AOL knew that, or acted with reckless disregard whether, defendant Drudge intended that, or acted with reckless disregard whether, the publication of false information about plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal and plaintiff Jacqueline Jordan Blumenthal, as alleged in this Complaint, would harm President William J. Clinton and impede the operation of the Clinton Administration. The First Drudge Report Libel On or about August 10, 1997, and August 11, 1997, defendant Drudge and defendant AOL, jointly and severally, caused to be published in the Drudge Report via electronic mail, over the Internet, and through defendant AOL, information regarding plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal and plaintiff Jacqueline Jordan Blumenthal. A true and correct photocopy of what defendant Drudge and defendant AOL, jointly and severally, so published, as downloaded from the Internet and printed out, is attached to this Complaint as Exhibit 2, and is incorporated herein. The information about plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal and plaintiff Jacqueline Jordan Blumenthal published by defendant Drudge and defendant AOL, jointly and severally, consisted of the following words, written partly in large bold-face type and partly in large bold-face italic type: "CHARGE: NEW WHITE HOUSE RECRUIT SIDNEY BLUMENTHAL HAS SPOUSAL ABUSE PAST DRUDGE REPORT." Exhibit 2. The portion of the Drudge Report quoted in the preceding paragraph was false, in that Sidney Blumenthal had no "spousal abuse past." As a direct and proximate result of such information having been published via electronic mail and on the Internet by defendant Drudge and defendant AOL, jointly and severally, such information has remained available on the Internet at a number of sites since August 10, 1997, and has been widely published beyond the Internet. As a direct and proximate result of such information having been published via electronic mail and on the Internet by defendant Drudge and defendant AOL, jointly and severally, such information cannot be removed from the Internet. Attached to this Complaint as Exhibit 3, and incorporated herein, is a photocopy of a page downloaded from the Web site of defendant Drudge, in which defendant Drudge claimed that 18,354 persons accessed the Drudge Report August 10, 1997, over and above the number of persons to whom defendant Drudge had sent the August 10, 1997, Drudge Report directly via electronic mail. The Second Drudge Report Libel On or about August 10, 1997, and August 11, 1997, defendant Drudge and defendant AOL, jointly and severally, caused to be published in the Drudge Report via electronic mail, over the Internet, and through defendant AOL additional information regarding plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal and plaintiff Jacqueline Jordan Blumenthal. A true and correct photocopy of the additional information which defendant Drudge and defendant AOL, jointly and severally, so published, as downloaded from the Internet and printed out, is attached to this Complaint as Exhibit 4, and is incorporated herein. The information about plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal published by defendant Drudge and defendant AOL, jointly and severally, appeared under the heading "GOP: The Blumenthal Option?", and included the following statements: "The DRUDGE REPORT has learned that top GOP operatives who feel there is a double-standard of only reporting republican shame believe they are holding an ace card: New White House recruit Sidney Blumenthal has a spousal abuse past that has been effectively covered up. "The accusations are explosive. "`There are court records of Blumenthal's violence against his wife,' one influential republican, who demanded anonymity, tells the DRUDGE REPORT. "`If they begin to use Sipple and his problems against us, against the Republican Party. . . to show hypocrisy, Blumenthal would become fair game. Wasn't it Clinton who signed the Violence Against Women Act?' "[There goes the budget deal honeymoon.] "One White House source, also requesting anonymity, says the Blumenthal wife-beating allegation is pure fiction that has been created by Clinton enemies. '[The First Lady] would not have brought him in if he had this in his background,' assures the well-placed staffer. 'This story about Blumenthal has been in circulation for years.' "Last month President Clinton named Sidney Blumenthal an Assistant to the President as part of the Communications Team. He's been brought in to work on communications strategy, special projects, themeing -- a newly created position. "Every attempt to reach Blumenthal proved unsuccessful." Exhibit 4. The portion of the Drudge Report quoted in the preceding paragraph was false, in that: (1) Sidney Blumenthal has no "spousal abuse past;" (2) that "past" has never "been effectively covered up;" (3) the "accusations" are not "explosive;" (4) there were no such "accusations;" (5) no "court records of Blumenthal's violence against his wife" exist; (6) no such "story about Blumenthal has been in circulation for years;" and (7) defendant Drudge made no "attempt to reach [plaintiff Sidney] Blumenthal" about this story. As a direct and proximate result of such information having been published via electronic mail and on the Internet by defendant Drudge and defendant AOL, jointly and severally, such information has remained available on the Internet at a number of sites since August 10, 1997, and has been widely disseminated beyond the Internet. As a direct and proximate result of such information having been published via electronic mail and on the Internet by defendant Drudge and defendant AOL, jointly and severally, such information cannot be removed from the Internet. As shown on Exhibit 3 to this Complaint, defendant Drudge claimed that 39,559 persons accessed the Drudge Report August 11, 1997, over and above the number of persons to whom defendant Drudge had sent the August 11, 1997, Drudge Report directly via electronic mail. The Letter From The Blumenthals’ Lawyers On August 11, 1997, plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal and plaintiff Jacqueline Jordan Blumenthal, through their lawyers, sent a letter to defendant Drudge stating, among other things, that the information defendant Drudge had published via electronic mail, over the Internet, and through defendant AOL regarding plaintiffs was false and defamatory. A true photocopy of that letter is attached to this Complaint as Exhibit 5, and incorporated herein. On and after August 11, 1997, a number of newspapers, magazines, radio stations, and television stations in the District of Columbia and around the United States prepared and published stories concerning the publication by defendant Drudge and defendant AOL, jointly and severally, of information about plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal and plaintiff Jacqueline Jordan Blumenthal. These numerous stories that appeared in other publications re-published the false statements first published by defendant Drudge and defendant AOL, jointly and severally, as alleged in this Complaint. Defendant Drudge’s Comments To The Washington Post Defendant Drudge, commencing on or about August 11, 1997, spoke on one or more occasions to Mr. Howard Kurtz, a reporter for The Washington Post. In those conversations between defendant Drudge and Mr. Kurtz, Mr. Kurtz told defendant Drudge that Mr. Kurtz was writing a story for The Washington Post about the Drudge Report’s publication of information regarding plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal and plaintiff Jacqueline Jordan Blumenthal. In those conversations between defendant Drudge and Mr. Kurtz, Mr. Kurtz solicited comments from defendant Drudge for publication in The Washington Post. In those conversations between defendant Drudge and Mr. Kurtz, defendant Drudge made comments to Mr. Kurtz with the understanding and intention that Mr. Kurtz would reduce defendant Drudge’s comments to writing and publish those comments in The Washington Post. In defendant Drudge’s conversations with Mr. Kurtz, defendant Drudge stated: "It [the story about plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal and plaintiff Jacqueline Jordan Blumenthal] was based on two sources who clearly were operating from a political motivation." The Washington Post published defendant Drudge’s comments, as quoted in the preceding paragraph, in the August 12, 1997, edition of The Washington Post and over the Internet. A true photocopy of this story as it appeared in The Washington Post is attached to this Complaint as Exhibit 6 and is incorporated herein. A true photocopy of this story as it appeared on the Internet, as downloaded and printed out, is attached to this Complaint as Exhibit 7 and is incorporated herein. In defendant Drudge’s conversations with Mr. Kurtz, defendant Drudge also stated: "Someone was trying to get me to go after [the story published about plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal and plaintiff Jacqueline Jordan Blumenthal] and I probably fell for it a little too hard." The Washington Post published defendant Drudge’s comments, as quoted in the preceding paragraph, in the August 12, 1997, edition of The Washington Post and over the Internet. A true photocopy of this story as it appeared in The Washington Post is attached to this Complaint as Exhibit 6 and is incorporated herein. A true photocopy of this story as it appeared on the Internet, as downloaded and printed out, is attached to this Complaint as Exhibit 7 and is incorporated herein. In defendant Drudge’s conversations with Mr. Kurtz, defendant Drudge also stated: "This is a case of using me to broadcast dirty laundry. I think I’ve been had." The Washington Post published defendant Drudge’s comments, as quoted in the preceding paragraph, in the August 12, 1997, edition of The Washington Post and over the Internet. A true photocopy of this story as it appeared in The Washington Post is attached to this Complaint as Exhibit 6 and is incorporated herein. A true photocopy of this story as it appeared on the Internet, as downloaded and printed out, is attached to this Complaint as Exhibit 7 and is incorporated herein. In defendant Drudge’s conversations with Mr. Kurtz, defendant Drudge also stated that court records existed documenting acts of spousal abuse by plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal, but that defendant Drudge did not have such records in his possession. The Washington Post published defendant Drudge’s comments, as paraphrased in the preceding paragraph, in the August 15, 1997, edition of The Washington Post and over the Internet. A true photocopy of this story as it appeared in The Washington Post is attached to this Complaint as Exhibit 8 and is incorporated herein. A true photocopy of this story as it appeared on the Internet, as downloaded and printed out, is attached to this Complaint as Exhibit 9 and is incorporated herein. In defendant Drudge’s conversations with Mr. Kurtz, defendant Drudge also stated that defendant Drudge believed that the information defendant Drudge published about plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal being a spouse abuser had surfaced during an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") into the background of plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal. The Washington Post published defendant Drudge’s comments, as paraphrased in the preceding paragraph, in the August 15, 1997, edition of The Washington Post and over the Internet. A true photocopy of this story as it appeared in The Washington Post is attached to this Complaint as Exhibit 8 and is incorporated herein. A true photocopy of this story as it appeared on the Internet, as downloaded and printed out, is attached to this Complaint as Exhibit 9 and is incorporated herein. In defendant Drudge’s conversations with Mr. Kurtz, defendant Drudge also stated that he tried to speak to plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal before publishing information about plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal and plaintiff Jacqueline Jordan Blumenthal in the Drudge Report, but was unable to do so. The Washington Post published defendant Drudge’s comments, as paraphrased in the preceding paragraph, in the August 15, 1997, edition of The Washington Post and over the Internet. A true photocopy of this story as it appeared in The Washington Post is attached to this Complaint as Exhibit 8 and is incorporated herein. A true photocopy of this story as it appeared on the Internet, as downloaded and printed out, is attached to this Complaint as Exhibit 9 and is incorporated herein. The statements of defendant Drudge quoted or paraphrased in The Washington Post were false, in that: plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal and plaintiff Jacqueline Jordan Blumenthal have no "dirty laundry" for defendant Drudge to "broadcast;" no court records documenting plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal’s "spousal abuse past" exist; no FBI files containing any such allegations about plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal exist; no information such as that published by defendant Drudge as alleged in this Complaint surfaced during an FBI investigation; no background check of plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal had been conducted as of August 10, 1997; and defendant Drudge made no attempt to speak with plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal before publishing the Drudge Report which contained false and defamatory information about plaintiff Sidney Blumenthal and plaintiff Jacqueline Jordan Blumenthal. <snip. PLAINTIFFS DEMAND TRIAL BY JURY. Respectfully submitted, McDANIEL & MARSH William Alden McDaniel, Jr. D.C. Bar No. 293746 Jo Bennett Marsh D.C. Bar No. 423039 118 West Mulberry Street Baltimore, Maryland 21201 (410) 685-3810 Lawyers for Plaintiffs Sidney Blumenthal and Jacqueline Jordan Blumenthal DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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