Don Fulsom

Don Fulsom covered the Nixon White House for United Press International. He has written about Nixon for The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, Esquire, Los Angeles, and Regardie's. His e-mail address is donf44@gmail.com.

The Suit Against Pope Benedict in the Pedophile Priest Scandal Sticky

May 14, 2010 Updated Sept. 19, 2011 and Feb.14, 2013

Pope Benedict XVI

As the scandal over pedophile priests rocks Roman Catholic dioceses around the globe, a lawsuit filed April 10, 2010 in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee names Pope Benedict XVI as a defendant. And with good cause.

By Don Fulsom

Update: Pope Benedict XVI's startling decision to resign at the end of February 2013 may put him at even greater risk of prosecution. Australian human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson notes that, in retirement, Benedict's absolute immunity from legal action as a head of state vanishes. "There are many victims of priests permitted by (then) Cardinal Ratzinger to stay in holy orders after their propensity to molest was known, and they would like to sue the ex-Pope for damages for negligence," Robertson writes in the British newspaper The Independent.

"If he steps outside the Vatican," Robertson adds, "a court may rule that (the victims) have a case." The legal expert contends Benedict's "command responsibility" goes back to 1981 – when, as Cardinal Ratzinger, he took over the Vatican body that punishes errant priests.

Another major critic of Benedict – the first pope to quit the papacy in nearly 600 years – describes the outgoing pontiff's record on sex abuse as "terrible." David Clohessy, executive director of the 12,000-member Survivors' Network of those Abused by Priests, tells The Guardian: “He knows more about clergy sex crimes and cover-ups than anyone else in the Church, yet he has done precious little to protect children.”

Did Jack Ruby Know Lee Harvey Oswald? Sticky

Feb 1, 2009 (rev. March 27, 2009)

Lee Harvey Oswald (center) Jack Ruby (right)

There's no hard evidence that he did, but numerous people say they saw Oswald at Ruby's club, The Carousel, weeks before the JFK assassination.

by Don Fulsom

Jack Ruby (born Jacob Rubenstein) was a vulgar, violent, lowlife. But a proud one. He had risen from the Mob-dominated slums of Chicago—where, growing up, he'd run errands for Al Capone. Now, in 1963, Ruby ran his own striptease club in Dallas—seedy to some, but to Jack "a f----ing classy joint."

The Carousel was a run-down walkup on Commerce Street where Jack (or "Sparky," as the easily ignitable owner was known) oversaw a master of ceremonies, four strippers and a five-piece bump-and-grind band. On Commerce, flashing neon signs and scores of eight-by-ten glossy stock photos of near-nude gals beckoned horny guys to ascend the stairs and enjoy "Dallas's only nonstop burlesque."

Soon after Ruby murdered JFK assassination suspect Lee Harvey Oswald, Carousel emcee Bill Demar (Bill Crowe in real life) publicly identified Oswald as a recent patron. The magician-ventriloquist said he distinctly recalled Oswald because, as an audience member, Oswald had actually taken part in Demar's "memory act."

Bradley Manning: Patriot or Traitor?

March 11, 2013

Private First Class Bradley Manning

A whistleblower hero to some, a traitor to others, Private First Class Bradley Manning faces a life sentence for turning over hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and intelligence reports about the United States’ mission in Iraq and Afghanistan to WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy Web site operated by Australian Julian Assange.

by Don Fulsom and Avi McClelland-Cohen

U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is cooling his heels in a military prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, where he awaits a military trial for breaching national security by leaking classified war intelligence. The most serious charges are violating the Espionage Act and aiding the enemy.

Prosecutors preparing to try Manning say they will also introduce evidence showing that Osama Bin Laden himself requested some of the reports Manning is accused of leaking.

If convicted, the 25-year-old Manning—whose trial is set to begin in June 2013—could be imprisoned for the rest of his life.

An Army intelligence analyst, Manning was arrested in Iraq in May 2010 and accused of disclosing hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and intelligence reports—as well as one video of a military helicopter attack. Most of this information was furnished to WikiLeaks, an anti-secrecy Web site operated by Australian computer hacker Julian Assange.

In February 2013, Private Manning pleaded guilty to 10 charges related to the misuse of classified information. The Washington Post reports Manning is expected to be sentenced to 20 years in prison on those charges.

The Murder of Trayvon Martin

Jan. 7, 2012

Trayvon Martin

If George Zimmerman had obeyed the police dispatcher’s directive to remain in his car and to wait for patrol officers to arrive to question the person in the “hoodie,” Trayvon Martin would not have been shot to death.

by Don Fulsom and Alisha Dingus

When George Zimmerman goes on trial in the sensational Trayvon Martin murder case so will the“Stand Your Ground” laws and racial profiling.

Twenty-eight-years-old at the time he shot and killed 17-year-old Martin, Zimmerman now wears a monitoring device on his ankle and hides in near-seclusion at a secret Florida location. Fearful for his life, Zimmerman dons bulletproof apparel for his rare forays into public places, according to his lawyer.

Free on $1 million bail, Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the February 26, 2012 shooting of Martin. His trial is set for June 10, 2013.

The nighttime slaying took place in a middle-class, gated subdivision called “The Retreat at Twin Lakes” in the central Florida town of Sanford. Martin, as he had several times previously, was there with his father visiting his father’s financee and her son. He had the free time to be there due to being suspended from his high school at the time. That evening Martin had gone out alone to buy some Skittles and ice tea and was returning from the store when his fatal encounter with Zimmerman took place.

The Cover-up of Pat Tillman’s Death

Aug. 29, 2012

Pat Tillman

Pat Tillman was an incredible recruiting asset for the military in the wake of the terrorist attacks on America on September 11, 2001. The popular Californian was an academic and athletic standout in high school and at Arizona State University. Motivated by intense patriotism, Tillman gave up a lucrative professional football career and joined the Army Rangers.
by Don Fulsom

A Sports Illustrated All-Pro safety for the Arizona Cardinals in 2000, Tillman enlisted in the elite military squadron at the end of the 2001 season. Just wed to his high school sweetheart, he turned down a three-year $3.6 million contract with the Cardinals to help avenge the surprise air assaults on his homeland.

On April 22, 2004, at age 27, Cpl. Tillman was killed in action in a canyon in eastern Afghanistan. Apparently, his death was a not-uncommon “fog of war” tragedy caused by “friendly fire.” The entire rear of Tillman’s movie-star handsome head was blown out by a burst of three tightly placed bullets to his forehead from an M-16-type rifle. The fatal shots were fired from a scant 10 yards away.

Initially, however, Pentagon officials refused to disclose that U.S. bullets had killed the Army’s No. 1 “poster boy.” The story the Army put out claimed Tillman was fatally wounded during an ambush by as many as one-dozen Taliban insurgents.

They knew better. Documents obtained by The Washington Post in 2005 say the first Army investigator on the scene determined “within days” that his fellow Rangers killed Tillman in an act of “gross negligence.” The documents also show that top Army officials—including the theater commander, General John Abizaid—were almost immediately informed that Tillman’s death was fratricide.

Nixon’s Watergate Mole

July 30, 2012

Assistant Attorney General Henry Petersen

Assistant Attorney General Henry Petersen was the Justice Department’s No. 1 Watergate investigator—and he regularly sneaked the Nixon White House privileged information that allowed the Nixon administration to forestall the Watergate inquiry until after the 1972 presidential election.

by Don Fulsom

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein relied on “Deep Throat” for inside intelligence on Watergate—the scandal they broke open 40 summers ago as rookie local reporters for The Washington Post. Over the next two years, with extensive help from their dreamboat of a secret source, “Woodstein” wrote more than 400 exclusive stories about what became our biggest political scandal.

Their main source was the ever-accurate Mark Felt, the No. 2 man at the FBI. Felt was a friend of, and father figure to, Woodward. A cagey pro at his craft, Felt had access to more Watergate clues, findings and secrets than just about anyone. His identity as The Post’s Subterranean Oracle (he favored post-midnight meetings with Woodward in a certain underground parking garage near a specific pillar) was not revealed until early this century, just before Felt’s death.

Far less known, but probably just as important, is that the prime architect of the Watergate cover-up, President Richard Nixon, had his own Deep Throat. The Nixon’s loyalist and critically placed surreptitious leaker was a little-remembered man named Henry Petersen, who was even better informed than Felt was, at least on breaking prosecutorial developments.

Clay Shaw’s JFK Assassination Lies

June 18, 2012

Clay Laverne Shaw

Clay Shaw's acquittal on conspiracy charges to assassinate President John F. Kennedy owes a great deal to his willingness to perjure himself at that 1969 trial.

by Don Fulsom

Clay Shaw (a.k.a. Clay Bertrand) holds the distinction of being the only individual ever tried as part of an alleged conspiracy to murder President John F. Kennedy. In 1969, after a 39-day trial, a New Orleans jury took less than an hour to find the wealthy local businessman not guilty.

Then 55, the tall, white-haired, distinguished looking Shaw was indicted and tried by a rather flamboyant ex-FBI agent—the parish’s controversial district attorney, Jim Garrison. The D.A. and his staff produced enough evidence to convince the jury there was a conspiracy—but the jurors said Shaw did not participate in it. Could the jury have been mistaken on Shaw? Looking at the case through history’s rear-view mirror, yes indeed.