News (Media Awareness Project) - US: 'Friend' of Biden's Daughter Shopping Tape of Her Allegedly Doing Cocaine |
| Title: | US: 'Friend' of Biden's Daughter Shopping Tape of Her Allegedly Doing Cocaine |
| Published On: | 2009-03-29 |
| Source: | New York Post (NY) |
| Fetched On: | 2009-03-29 12:49:40 |
'FRIEND' OF BIDEN'S DAUGHTER SHOPPING TAPE OF HER ALLEGEDLY DOING COCAINE
A "friend" of Vice President Joseph Biden's daughter, Ashley, is
attempting to hawk a videotape that he claims shows her snorting
cocaine at a house party this month in Delaware.
The anonymous male acquaintance of Ashley took the video, said Thomas
Dunlap, a lawyer representing the seller.
Dunlap and a man claiming to be a lawyer showed The Post about 90
seconds of 43-minute tape, saying it was legally obtained and that
Ashley was aware she was being filmed. The Post refused to pay for the
video.
The video, which the shooter initially hoped to sell for $2 million
before scaling back his price to $400,000, shows a 20-something woman
with light skin and long brown hair taking a red straw from her mouth,
bending over a desk, inserting the straw into her nostril and snorting
lines of white powder.
She then stands up and begins talking with other people in the room. A
young man looks on from behind her, facing the camera. The lawyers
said he was Ashley's boyfriend of a few years.
The camera follows the woman from a few feet away, focusing on her as
she moves around the room. It appears not to be concealed. At one
point she shouts, "Shut the f--- up!"
The woman appears to resemble Ashley Biden, 27, a social worker for a
Delaware child-welfare agency and a visible presence during her
father's campaign for the White House.
The dialogue is difficult to discern, but the woman makes repeated
references to the drugs, said the lawyers, who said they viewed the
tape about 15 times.
"At one point she pretty much complains that the line isn't big
enough," said the second lawyer, who declined to identify himself.
"And she talks about her dad."
Biden has been an outspoken crusader against drugs, coining the term
"drug czar" in 1982 while campaigning for a more forceful "war on drugs."
The lawyers declined to name the person who shot the video, but said
he knew Ashley well and had attended other parties with her at which
there were illegal drugs.
The lawyers said the shooter used a camera with a hard-disc drive that
he later destroyed, drilling into the device and tossing it into a
lake.
The woman in the video acknowledges the camera in a way that makes it
clear she knows she's being recorded, the lawyers said, waving at it
during a part of the video not shown to The Post.
No one else in the video is seen using the drugs. The portion of the
tape shown to The Post ends shortly after the woman's alleged ingestion.
The shooter claims that he previously tape-recorded Ashley at a party
in August, but was unsuccessful in his attempts to sell that video,
they said.
An American media company offered $250,000 for the footage and access
to the person who shot the tape, according to the lawyers.
Another company, based overseas, offered $225,000, they
said.
The unnamed lawyer hinted that his client had additional information
that could embarrass the vice president's daughter.
"The higher the price, the more he'll reveal," said the
lawyer.
The lawyers said the video shooter was afraid of being identified and
prosecuted for his role in the alleged drug use.
"He's got a criminal-defense attorney," said Dunlap, who has offices
in Virginia and the District of Columbia.
The other lawyer said Ashley didn't have Secret Service protection at
the time of the party because she complained about agents blocking her
driveway.
"She complained to her dad about it and he got rid of them," he
said.
This isn't the first brush with scandal for Ashley, who was arrested
in 2002 when she yelled at a cop trying to arrest her disorderly
friend outside a Chicago club, according to published report.
She was charged with obstructing, but the rap was later dropped after
she apologized.
Ashley is the youngest of three siblings, and the only one born to the
vice president and his second wife, Jill. Joe Biden's first wife,
Neilia, and 13-month-old daughter, Naomi, died in a 1972 car crash.
Her two half-brothers are Beau, 40, and Hunter, 39.
Phone messages left at the offices of Vice President Biden and Jill
Biden, who were in Chile last night for meetings with South American
leaders on economic issues, were not immediately returned.
Ashley also did not respond to messages left at her Delaware home.
A "friend" of Vice President Joseph Biden's daughter, Ashley, is
attempting to hawk a videotape that he claims shows her snorting
cocaine at a house party this month in Delaware.
The anonymous male acquaintance of Ashley took the video, said Thomas
Dunlap, a lawyer representing the seller.
Dunlap and a man claiming to be a lawyer showed The Post about 90
seconds of 43-minute tape, saying it was legally obtained and that
Ashley was aware she was being filmed. The Post refused to pay for the
video.
The video, which the shooter initially hoped to sell for $2 million
before scaling back his price to $400,000, shows a 20-something woman
with light skin and long brown hair taking a red straw from her mouth,
bending over a desk, inserting the straw into her nostril and snorting
lines of white powder.
She then stands up and begins talking with other people in the room. A
young man looks on from behind her, facing the camera. The lawyers
said he was Ashley's boyfriend of a few years.
The camera follows the woman from a few feet away, focusing on her as
she moves around the room. It appears not to be concealed. At one
point she shouts, "Shut the f--- up!"
The woman appears to resemble Ashley Biden, 27, a social worker for a
Delaware child-welfare agency and a visible presence during her
father's campaign for the White House.
The dialogue is difficult to discern, but the woman makes repeated
references to the drugs, said the lawyers, who said they viewed the
tape about 15 times.
"At one point she pretty much complains that the line isn't big
enough," said the second lawyer, who declined to identify himself.
"And she talks about her dad."
Biden has been an outspoken crusader against drugs, coining the term
"drug czar" in 1982 while campaigning for a more forceful "war on drugs."
The lawyers declined to name the person who shot the video, but said
he knew Ashley well and had attended other parties with her at which
there were illegal drugs.
The lawyers said the shooter used a camera with a hard-disc drive that
he later destroyed, drilling into the device and tossing it into a
lake.
The woman in the video acknowledges the camera in a way that makes it
clear she knows she's being recorded, the lawyers said, waving at it
during a part of the video not shown to The Post.
No one else in the video is seen using the drugs. The portion of the
tape shown to The Post ends shortly after the woman's alleged ingestion.
The shooter claims that he previously tape-recorded Ashley at a party
in August, but was unsuccessful in his attempts to sell that video,
they said.
An American media company offered $250,000 for the footage and access
to the person who shot the tape, according to the lawyers.
Another company, based overseas, offered $225,000, they
said.
The unnamed lawyer hinted that his client had additional information
that could embarrass the vice president's daughter.
"The higher the price, the more he'll reveal," said the
lawyer.
The lawyers said the video shooter was afraid of being identified and
prosecuted for his role in the alleged drug use.
"He's got a criminal-defense attorney," said Dunlap, who has offices
in Virginia and the District of Columbia.
The other lawyer said Ashley didn't have Secret Service protection at
the time of the party because she complained about agents blocking her
driveway.
"She complained to her dad about it and he got rid of them," he
said.
This isn't the first brush with scandal for Ashley, who was arrested
in 2002 when she yelled at a cop trying to arrest her disorderly
friend outside a Chicago club, according to published report.
She was charged with obstructing, but the rap was later dropped after
she apologized.
Ashley is the youngest of three siblings, and the only one born to the
vice president and his second wife, Jill. Joe Biden's first wife,
Neilia, and 13-month-old daughter, Naomi, died in a 1972 car crash.
Her two half-brothers are Beau, 40, and Hunter, 39.
Phone messages left at the offices of Vice President Biden and Jill
Biden, who were in Chile last night for meetings with South American
leaders on economic issues, were not immediately returned.
Ashley also did not respond to messages left at her Delaware home.
Member Comments |
No member comments available...
