Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Author who revealed Dennis Hastert's taste for young males also broke story about Bill Pryor and gay porn


Dennis Hastert
Who looks worst in the Dennis Hastert sex scandal? That undoubtedly would be the former U.S. House speaker himself, who now stands accused of agreeing to pay $3.7 million in hush money to a former high school wrestler Hastert sexually abused during his teaching and coaching days in rural Illinois.

Who looks best from this sordid mess? That might be Wayne Madsen, a D.C.-based investigative journalist who first reported in fall 2006 on Hastert's predilection for youthful male wrestlers. Madsen also reported in the same time frame that Hastert's sexual preferences were well known among the D.C. gay community.

Here we are in 2015, with Republican politicos expressing shock about last week's indictment, charging Hastert with lying to the FBI and violating banking laws to withdraw money for keeping his "misconduct" a secret. But Wayne Madsen broke the story, at least the crux of it, almost nine years ago.

We now know, from numerous sources, that the alleged "misconduct" mentioned in the Hastert indictment involved the homosexual molestation of a young wrestler decades ago--this from a Congressman who consistently voted against gay rights during his career.

Speaking of Republican hypocrites on gay issues, that brings us to U.S. Circuit Judge (and Alabama native) Bill Pryor. Madsen wrote in 2009 on his subscription-only site, The Wayne Madsen Report (WMR), about Pryor's connections to 1990s gay pornography, stating that the judge's secret made him a reliable and blackmailable "gatekeeper" for conservative interests on the Eleventh Circuit, which covers Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Who might be pulling Pryor's strings on the appellate bench? Well, his campaign manager in a run for Alabama attorney general was Karl Rove, and the two reportedly remain close.

I picked up on the Pryor story in fall 2013 and produced a series of posts, along with a full-frontal photograph, that took the story national, perhaps viral. Above the Law, the most widely read law blog in the country, even picked up on the story.

Wayne Madsen
(Note: I was arrested roughly a month after I started publishing the Pryor story, ostensibly because of a defamation lawsuit filed by Republican lawyer Rob Riley. In fact, I published a post about Pryor's ties to the tobacco industry and GOP operative Jessica Medeiros Garrison on the morning of October 23, 2013. I was arrested that evening, and like Rob Riley, Garrison has filed a dubious defamation lawsuit against me, one I am fighting at this moment. Do I think it is a coincidence that my arrest was closely connected in time to my reporting on Bill Pryor? No, I do not.)

It probably is widely assumed that I broke the Bill Pryor/gay porn story, but it originated with the following item four years earlier on Wayne Madsen's Web site. (We've received permission to use certain articles from the subscription site.)


June 15, 2009 -- Is there a closet door closed at the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta?

William H. ("Bill") Pryor, Jr., the former Attorney General of Alabama who was involved in the political prosecution by the Bush administration of Alabama Democratic Governor Don Siegelman and who squeaked by U.S. Senate confirmation after being nominated by George W. Bush to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, appears to have a little something in his "closet." Pryor was confirmed by the Senate in 2005 in a 53-45 vote, his nomination being secured by a bi-partisan agreement between Senator John McCain and thirteen "Gang of 14" senators to force an "up or down" vote on three stalled Bush federal court nominees. Pryor was 43 when he was sworn in as a federal judge.

According to WMR sources in Alabama, Pryor, who now acts as a gatekeeper on the 11th Circuit for the Bush interests in Florida, Alabama, and other states in the jurisdiction, advertised himself during his younger days on a gay website called "Bad Puppy." There are also rumors from informed sources that naked photographs are held by some top Republicans and conservatives as an insurance policy that Pryor rules the correct way on issues on the 11th Circuit bench.

Wayne Madsen is a polarizing figure in the world of journalism. He seems to have developed enemies on the left and on the right.

I've found that journalists who have bipartisan enemies are usually the sort who take on tough stories and report accurately about them. Madsen clearly was way ahead of the pack on the Dennis Hastert story. We will provide ample evidence of that in an upcoming post.


(To be continued)

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

So Madsen outed both Dennis Hastert and Bill Pryor? I would say Mr. Madsen needs to take up permanent residence in Montgomery. He will find enough work among conservative politicians to keep him busy for years.

Berle said...

I'm going to be interested to see how far, and deep, this Hastert story goes. Were there other victims? Who might have helped cover for the Speaker?

Carrie said...

Sounds like another story where the Web press did all of the heavy lifting. Does the MSM break anything these days unless someone hands them a press release? Mark Fuller would still be safely on the federal bench if it had been left to the MSM.

Anonymous said...

If there is solid evidence of Bill Pryor fixing cases in the 11th Circuit, he needs to be investigated, prosecuted, and shipped off to the federal pen. That might be the worst crime of all, if it's proven true.

Anonymous said...

I have said before that the only way to resolve this issue of whether the picture is of our fine federal judge is to file a EPX order with the court. A EPX or emergency penis examination is a very common order in our todays conservative court. For some unknown reason many far right conservative party members have a never ending obsession with penis size. Having spend millions in elections to insure a conservative friendly court has made it easy to have a EPX court order filed against you. If you feared a contempt order just wait until you are hauled before the court for a emergency penis examination order. This business of is it, or ant it has went on long enough. The question before the court today is, it that the judges penis? A simple EPX order could resolve this question once and for all.

legalschnauzer said...

I can offer this, @10:50--Bill Pryor is based in the Hugo Black Courthouse in downtown Birmingham, and I know from personal experience that some extremely bizarre rulings come out of that facility. And by bizarre, I mean rulings that are facially unlawful, violative of simple procedural rules and well-established case law. I'm talking about cases where discovery is denied or not even scheduled. That building is essentially the place where due process and equal protection go to die. I've seen firsthand evidence of strange actions in the clerk's office at Hugo Black, where cases clearly are not randomly assigned, as required by law. Is Bill Pryor behind all of that? I don't know, but that building needs to be fumigated from top to bottom. William Acker, for one, has to be among the worst judges in the country, followed closely by Abdul Kallon. Is that because they take directions from Pryor, or are they just bad judges, on their own? I have no doubt that criminal activity takes place in that building. Like you, I would like to know more about Bill Pryor's possible role in it.

legalschnauzer said...

LOL, @11:13, and congratulations for one of the funniest comments in the history of this blog. Made me spew milk out of my nose--and I wasn't even drinking milk. It's called an EPX order, you say? We need to find someone to file one of those, STAT.

Anonymous said...

Like you, I suspect Bill Pryor and/or his allies were beyond your arrest and incarceration. What if it can be proven that Bill Pryor ordered "a hit" on you and used taxpayer-funded law-enforcement resources to do it? There has to be a crime somewhere in that, doesn't there?

legalschnauzer said...

Oh, I'm guessing there are multiple crimes in your scenario @2:42. I'm not an expert on this, but something akin to obstruction of justice likely would be involved, perhaps conspiracy, false reporting, and probably more. In my mind, kidnapping would be involved if Pryor or his ally ordered me to unlawfully be abducted--and they tried to have my wife abducted, too.

In all of this, someone caused us to lose our house, through what I suspect was a wrongful foreclosure, under the law. That could involve any number of financial crimes.

Unknown said...

Ah the power of the Dark Side! Join me Roger & you will become rich beyond your wildest dreams. Together, we will rule the Dixie Mafia.

legalschnauzer said...

Darth, is there still room over on the dark side? Seems like it must be pretty crowded.

Anonymous said...

From the LAMAR DEMOCRAT AND SULLIGENT NEWS, "The Weekly Read Daily"
August 12, 1998, (page 15)

Pryor Appoints Mobile Medical Examiner as New Director of State Department of Forensics Sciences

MONTGOMERY, AL - Attorney General Bill Pryor announces his appointment of Dr. James Downs of Mobile, a medical examiner for the Department of Forensics Sciences, as state director to replace 10-year director Carlos Rabren, who is retiring at the end of this month.

"I am confident that the citizens of Alabama will be well served by Dr. Downs," Pryor said. "Of the many impressive candidates who applied for this job, I feel that James Downs is the most imminently qualified by his education, experience, and vision for the department's future. As a medical examiner for the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences since 1994, he has distinguished himself as a chief of Autopsy Service and of Investigative Services, and served as a morgue safety officer and supervisor of autopsy technicians. He currently serves as a consultant to the Behavioral Sciences Unit at the FBI academy in Quantico, Virginia, and has completed Peace Officers Standard Training at the Southwest Alabama Police Academy in Bay Minette."

Downs holds a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from the University of Georgia and a doctorate of medicine from the Medical University of South Carolina, which residencies in anatomic pathology and clinical pathology and a fellowship in forensic pathology, all also from the Medical University of South Carolina. He has lectured extensively and is widely published on a number os specialized topics of forensic sciences.

Under state law, the Attorney General appoints the director of the apartment of Forensic Sciences. ................................
.... read more: http://lsu.stparchive.com/Archive/LSU/LSU08121998P15.php

and

"The GBI State Medical Examiner, Dr. Jamie Downs, has ruled this death as a suicide."...."[County Commissioner] Sublett was found Dec. 11, 2012, floating in the Frederica River, on the west side of St. Simons Island at Gascoigne Bluff Park. His hands were bound in front of him with a type of plastic strap commonly used to hold wires or cables. He had a gunshot wound to his head."
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2013/07/30/7312234.htm

and

re: Commissioner Steve Nodine/Angel Downs case:
"Dr. Jamie Downs, no relationship to the victim, testified that based on his review of all of the state's evidence including Dr. Hart's autopsy report and photographs, he believes Angel Downs did not shoot herself.".........."Dr. Downs, who is being paid $400 per hour for his work on this case, told jurors he was hired to give his opinion of Angel Downs' death regardless of what his opinion would be."
http://www.wkrg.com/story/21605010/expert-downs-head-between-her-legs-when-she-was-shot

legalschnauzer said...

Thanks for a thoughtful and informative comment, @10:37. Not quite sure what to make of all this. Is Dr. Downs still in Alabama? Sounds like he might be in Georgia now. Interesting that Pryor appointed someone who would make death determinations in Alabama. Would welcome thoughts that other readers have about this.

legalschnauzer said...

We reported on the Tom Sublett case at a post at the following URL. I thought that case sounded familiar:

http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2013/01/citizens-call-for-probe-of-georgia.html

Anonymous said...

Dr. Downs is now working for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation forensics. He originally worked at Charleston at Univ. of SC Forensics then moved to Alabama, then to Ga.

http://gbi.georgia.gov/medical-examiners

Anonymous said...

The question yet to be raised, furthermore deserving of an explanation is the WHY Dr. Downs left Alabama when he did, what particular forensic criminal activities were surfacing being connected to Attorney General Bill Pryor's offices beginning 1997?
"We the people".....

legalschnauzer said...

I agree, that is an interesting question. Of course, the event that comes immediately to mind in that general time frame is Don Siegelman's election as governor in November 1998. But I suspect it's something other than that.

Anonymous said...

According to his bio at Web site for Georgia Bureau of Investigations, Downs was in Alabama until 2002:


He worked in a number of different capacities for the State of Alabama's Department of Forensic Sciences from 1994 to 2002, and was eventually appointed as the Chief Medical Examiner for the state of Alabama in 2000.

Anonymous said...

unindicted co-conspirator!

Anonymous said...

LS @ 2:12 PM 6/3
Selectively review pryor's senate judiciary committee hearing's transcript, disregard all with exception pryor's responses; take note of overall total number of times during hearing pryor refers committee to look at his record as Alabama Attorney General, ensuring the law is faithfully executed,..............
Remember, Sessions and Pryor were headhunters for James after Folsom when thought he was running for governor; very suspiciously these investigative activities disappeared from public, media. Unexpectedly, developing early 1996 still below political radar the kindling of smoke destined to contaminate 1997 politics and gravitating into the un-embedding of same especially since 1998, Pryor being elected Attorney General, his failing in the ensuring that the law[s] are faithfully executed............... providing safe harbor unindicted co-conspirator felon.
"We the people"............