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Sam Donaldson’s Phone Number Causing More Drama Than 867-5309

Radar was hot on the trail of ABC News anchor Sam Donaldson (seen here with a friend) whose phone number had shown up in the outgoing calls of D.C. madame Deborah Jean Palfrey. So they “stupidly asked” BigHeadDC blogger and the magazine’s semi-regular contributor Rob Capriccioso to investigate, based on his supposed existing relationship with Palfrey. Except all Palfrey had to say to Capriccioso was that she made a single call to Donaldson — to explain a phone call mix up, not to offer her services.

Not that it stopped Capriccioso’s report. That Radar tried to kill.

Palfry told Capriccioso at the time???unequivocally???that Donaldson was not a client. She insisted to him that a female relative of Donaldson’s???she thought her name was Ellen???had mixed up a digit when she gave Donaldson her number, and that the wrong number just happened to be Palfry’s. So every time Donaldson attempted to call Ellen, he unknowingly reached Palfry’s voicemail and left a message. Palfry tired of the messages and called Donaldson back???once???to alert him to the error. This, Palfry told Capriccioso, explains the single appearance of Donaldson’s number in records of her outgoing phone calls. The explanation sounds preposterous to us, but it’s what Palfry told Capriccioso.

Skeptical of the spin, Radar still backed away from the item based on the idea that Larry Flynt – porn magnate and pursuer of reports of Sen. David Vitter’s involvement with Palfrey – would have already reported the Donaldson connection. To Radar’s dismay, Capriccioso went ahead with the story and published it on his own site — sans any mention of Palfrey’s explanation.

Which led to this Radar item, where they explain how all the events went down about Capriccioso using Radar’s information for a story Radar decided to squash. It’s also where they complain about not getting credit from Capriccioso in his suspect item. Which is closer to irony than Alanis ever got.

Update: Rob writes in with news that he had, in fact, responded to Radar when they requested comment, as this email chain shows.

Update 2: And then there’s this scenario, from Radar’s John Cook.

#####

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Rob Capriccioso
Date: Nov 13, 2007 11:02 AM
Subject: From Rob Capriccioso / action requested
To: Leigh Ann Boutwell

Hi Leigh Ann,

What John Cook wrote yesterday in his Fresh Intelligence update is
exceptionally unprofessional, and riddled with errors. To clarify, a
Big Head DC staffer received more confirming information regarding the
“DC Madam” / Sam Donaldson story, and we ran with it. Neither I, nor
Big Head DC, had any obligation to run this story with Radar Online.
Apparently, John Cook felt differently, and published a story that not
only misspells the name of Palfrey in a couple of different ways, but
also makes it seem as if the story isn’t true, which it is.

Cook also quoted several off the record e-mails between myself and
Tyler Gray, which, as you know, is very unprofessional. I find this
quite odd, since Tyler, too, has shared much off the record
information with me via e-mail that he has asked me not to publish.

Cook also says in the item that I didn’t return requests for comment,
which is not at all true, as you will see from the e-mails below,
which Radar had in its possession before the update story ran.

To resolve this issue ASAP, I am asking that Radar remove, or amend
with this added information, Cook’s false Fresh Intelligence piece.

Sincerely,

Rob


Rob Capriccioso | Publisher & Founding Editor | Big Head DC |
bigheadDC.com | rob@bigheadDC.com | AIM: bigheadrob007

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: S. Huff
Date: Nov 12, 2007 12:10 PM
Subject: Re: About the Donaldson story…
To: Rob Capriccioso

Thank you, Rob. I appreciate it.

Steve

On Nov 12, 2007 12:09 PM, Rob Capriccioso wrote:
> Hey Steve,
>
> Heading out of pocket right now — have to run. But here are a couple
> of quick quotes.
>
> “I’m extremely confident in our story. And – let me be clear – how ABC
> has maneuvered its reporting of the ‘DC Madam’ case is the real story
> here.”
>
> “We’re currently researching another high-profile national anchor, who
> has been especially critical of political hypocrisy in the past.”
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Rob
>
>
> –
> Rob Capriccioso | Publisher & Founding Editor | Big Head DC |
> bigheadDC.com | rob@bigheadDC.com | AIM: bigheadrob007
>
>
>
>
> On Nov 12, 2007 11:50 AM, wrote:
> > Rob,
> >
> > Don’t know if you authored the post on Sam Donaldson possibly being in the
> > DC Madam’s phone records , but it looks like you’re the guy to contact in
> > general for BigheadDC. I wrote a short entry for Radar’s “Fresh
> > Intelligence” last night linking the BigHeadDC post. They’ve posted it but
> > they’ve asked to me seek comment/confirmation on the story. I’m not going to
> > ask for source info or anything, of course, but a comment on the story –
> > how solidly do you stand by it, that sort of thing — would be helpful.
> >
> > I can be reached at
> >
> > 678-778-2849 or call you — I couldn’t find a number quickly for you or I
> > would have gone that route.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Steve Huff
> >
> > –
> >
> > http://www.radaronline.com/
> > http://www.mycasedotcom.com/
> > http://www.truecrimeweblog.com/
> > http://www.stevenhuff.net/
>

http://www.radaronline.com/
http://www.mycasedotcom.com/
http://www.truecrimeweblog.com/
http://www.stevenhuff.net/


Rob Capriccioso | Publisher & Founding Editor | Big Head DC |
bigheadDC.com | rob@bigheadDC.com | AIM: bigheadrob007


Rob Capriccioso | Publisher & Founding Editor | Big Head DC |
bigheadDC.com | rob@bigheadDC.com | AIM: bigheadrob007

Nov 13, 2007 · Link · 5 Responses

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Comments (5)

No. 1
Rob Capriccioso, Editor, Big Head DC says:

Thanks for all the interest, folks. Big Head DC stands by OUR story 100% — a story that Radar deemed good enough to copy and link to yesterday morning before Radar’s John Cook decided to later write an error-riddled hit piece on Big Head DC. As I’ve already told Radar’s managing editor, there are several mistakes and outright lies in Cook’s piece. For instance, I gave Radar three quotes yesterday regarding the Sam Donaldson story before they ran their odd second piece (which, incidentally, initially spelled Deborah Jeane Palfrey’s name wrong in multiple ways before I alerted them to the errors), but they chose not to run them, and instead said I didn’t return calls. My quotes still stand, and Big Head DC stands by our story.

I plan to clarify more at Big Head DC once I hear back from Radar regarding their errors.

Sincerely,

Rob

Posted: Nov 13, 2007 at 4:46 pm


No. 2
John Cook says:

On Nov 12, 2007 11:34 AM, John Cook wrote:
Rob-

I need to talk to you about Donaldson. Can you call me or e-mail me a
number?

John

***

On 11/12/07 12:28 PM, “Rob Capriccioso” wrote:

John,

The update you posted containing much off the record information
between me and Tyler has nothing to do with new information Big Head
DC received and reported regarding Donaldson. I don’t understand what
you are doing. Can you clarify ASAP via e-mail?

Rob

Rob Capriccioso | Publisher & Founding Editor | Big Head DC |
bigheadDC.com | rob@bigheadDC.com | AIM: bigheadrob007

***

On Nov 12, 2007 12:29 PM, John Cook wrote:

I called you and left a msg

You have my phone number. If you want to talk, call me.

Posted: Nov 13, 2007 at 5:27 pm


No. 3
Rob Capriccioso, Editor, Big Head DC says:

To how many different Radar writers did you expect me to give quotes, John:

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: S. Huff
Date: Nov 12, 2007 12:10 PM
Subject: Re: About the Donaldson story…
To: Rob Capriccioso

Thank you, Rob. I appreciate it.

Steve

On Nov 12, 2007 12:09 PM, Rob Capriccioso wrote:
> Hey Steve,
>
> Heading out of pocket right now — have to run. But here are a couple
> of quick quotes.
>
> “I’m extremely confident in our story. And – let me be clear – how ABC
> has maneuvered its reporting of the ‘DC Madam’ case is the real story
> here.”
>
> “We’re currently researching another high-profile national anchor, who
> has been especially critical of political hypocrisy in the past.”
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Rob
>
>
> –
> Rob Capriccioso | Publisher & Founding Editor | Big Head DC |
> bigheadDC.com | rob@bigheadDC.com | AIM: bigheadrob007
>
>
>
>
> On Nov 12, 2007 11:50 AM, wrote:
> > Rob,
> >
> > Don’t know if you authored the post on Sam Donaldson possibly being in the
> > DC Madam’s phone records , but it looks like you’re the guy to contact in
> > general for BigheadDC. I wrote a short entry for Radar’s “Fresh
> > Intelligence” last night linking the BigHeadDC post. They’ve posted it but
> > they’ve asked to me seek comment/confirmation on the story. I’m not going to
> > ask for source info or anything, of course, but a comment on the story –
> > how solidly do you stand by it, that sort of thing — would be helpful.
> >
> > I can be reached at
> >
> > 678-778-2849 or call you — I couldn’t find a number quickly for you or I
> > would have gone that route.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Steve Huff
> >
> > –
> >
> > http://www.radaronline.com/
> > http://www.mycasedotcom.com/
> > http://www.truecrimeweblog.com/
> > http://www.stevenhuff.net/
>

http://www.radaronline.com/
http://www.mycasedotcom.com/
http://www.truecrimeweblog.com/
http://www.stevenhuff.net/


Rob Capriccioso | Publisher & Founding Editor | Big Head DC |
bigheadDC.com | rob@bigheadDC.com | AIM: bigheadrob007

Posted: Nov 13, 2007 at 5:47 pm


No. 4
Masked Blogger says:

What’s the difference between Big Head Rob and the Weekly World News?

The Weekly World News probably got a story right from time to time.

Posted: Nov 13, 2007 at 7:09 pm


No. 5
monarhu says:

Incompetents… All of them

http://www.spymac.com/details?2294832

Posted: Nov 14, 2007 at 8:16 am

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