Frankly, I couldn’t believe she did it. You can view the tape for yourselves if you like. Alexis had not threatened her in any way. She’d just … just snapped. The SWAT team and I burst into the room, and I asked Nina to call for a medevac. Alexis was our only live suspect in this case, and he was in our hands. But he was quickly bleeding to death.
It was about then that Alexis’s cell phone rang. I took a chance and answered, keeping my voice clipped. The man on the other end of the call instructed me to bring the money to a restaurant called Connie’s. The man said he’d be wearing a red baseball cap. I knew then that we had our next lead.
FULBRIGHT: Agent Bauer, I understand that David Palmer was unhappy with the outcome of the Nash operation.
BAUER: Yes, very. Elizabeth was taken into custody at that point, of course, and he advised her to tell us nothing until she spoke to a lawyer. I was out the door minutes after that, following that next lead.
FULBRIGHT: (Pause) In light of Agent Bauer’s very thorough testimony, I recommend that … rather than forcing Ms. Nash to testify through a subpoena, we ask her attorney that she submit a personal statement for our final report.
Agent Bauer, do you know anything more about the charges pending against Ms. Nash?
BAUER: I understand from my contacts that she is pleading not guilty by reason of temporary insanity to the homicide charge and that she has been released on bail. But the likeliest outcome of her case is a plea bargain. Considering the circumstances, I doubt it will ever go to trial.
FULBRIGHT: I’m sure you’re right, Agent Bauer. And I’m sure she’ll do little if any jail time.
SCHNEIDER: And I’m sure it’s politics as usual.
FULBRIGHT: Roy! I’m going to move to have that last comment stricken from the record—
SCHNEIDER: Like hell you will.
FROM THE DESK OF
ELIZABETH NASH
To: Rep. Jayce Fulbright, Chairman, House Special Subcommittee
FROM: MS. Elizabeth Nash
RE: Requested statement on my relationship with Alexis Drazen
As I’m sure President-elect David Palmer will tell you, I am one of the hardest-working members of his staff. From the moment he kicked off his campaign, I wanted nothing more than to see Senator Palmer enter the White House—he is my godfather, after all—and as one of his most important staff aides, I fully expected to be going to the White House with him. That is why I was utterly horrified to hear that I had been used by a man who meant to hurt or kill Senator Palmer.
Alexis Drazen first approached me approximately one month before the day of the California primary. It was a Saturday night, and the Palmer campaign was back in Washington, D.C., for a few days, which meant I was. too. I took the opportunity to go out with a few of my girlfriends from the advance team. We’d been on the road with Senator Palmer for weeks, and on our best behavior. It felt good to have some downtime, to be able to blow off some steam, let down our hair, so to speak.
We hung out at Bar La Chat in Georgetown, which has always been a favorite spot of mine, I guess because a lot of the foreign embassy staff hangs out there. I’ve always liked foreign men—their accents, I suppose, seem sexy to me, and they often have exotic stories to tell. They also do things differently than American men. They possess more class. More style.
At the Georgetown bar that night, a blond man in a black leather jacket walked in and caught my eye right away. I thought he looked familiar and recognized him from earlier in the day. He had been at the Capitol Hill Starbucks. I remember he ordered a double espresso and smiled at me. Alexis had a killer smile—really hard to resist. At the bar, he kept looking over at me. Then he had sent over a sangria. That’s my favorite drink, and I was impressed he’d guessed that. We started talking, and then kissing, and before we knew it we’d left together. He bought me dinner, and I took him back to my Dupont Circle apartment, and we slept together.
He told me he ran an importing company based in Berlin, but he did business in Madrid, Paris, Hamburg, Prague, and Belgrade. He said he had been born in Eastern Europe but now lived all over the world. I was impressed. He also said he was just beginning to build relationships with new clients in the United States, which meant it would be easy for him to see me, even though I was traveling so much with the campaign.
I thought he was the perfect man for me—we could rendezvous wherever the campaign took us. He really turned me on. and he was clearly very successful. By our third date, he had bought me a diamond bracelet-—ten thousand dollars easily—and we saw each other whenever we could. It was a terrible shock to learn that he was an assassin and that he had used me to get to Senator Palmer. A terrible blow. I was so angry that he had embarrassed me like that, I wanted to do anything to help stop him. That’s what I remember most—thinking I must stop him.
I honestly tried my best to go into that hotel room with Alexis and pretend everything was all right. It was very difficult. Special Agent Jack Bauer and his team tried to be nice, but their directions before I went into the room were a little hard to follow, maybe because I was so nervous. I don’t think I really understood about the phone call—that I was supposed to answer and then leave.
I was feeling trapped. Trapped with a killer. The pressure really was difficult to withstand. Then, when he said that he loved me, I don’t know what happened … I just felt a cold chill run through me. I saw that letter opener and I remembered the letters—all the love letters he said he was going to write to me but never did, probably because he didn’t want to leave evidence of our relationship behind—proof of how he’d used me. And I remember thinking, I have to stop him!
As I said, I don’t recall the details of what happened next. I remember that he came up to me at that point, and I didn’t want him to touch me again. Then it felt like everything went black. The next thing I knew, I was on the floor screaming with blood all over me. I earnestly wish I could provide more insight into what happened in those moments when they say I turned and stabbed Alexis in the stomach, but that’s all I can remember.
My psychiatrist has me on medication and advises rest for my nerves. She can provide you with details of my treatment if they are needed. I thank you. Chairman Fulbright, and the entire House Special Subcommittee, for accepting this statement in lieu of testimony in person, which I know would not be the best thing for my mental health at this juncture.
I sincerely hope—as I know my good friend and godfather. President-elect David Palmer, also hopes—that this statement will sufficiently answer any questions you may have about this matter.
Sincerely yours, Elizabeth Nash
POLITICAL CORRECTION
Pundits and insiders have a few things to say …
[Bracketed comments are reporter’s notes.]
Unknown voice: Smile …
Unknown voice: Come on, kid, stay together …
Keith Palmer: He’s dead! Ferragamo’s dead. [Keith is referring to Dr. Ferragamo, his therapist seven years ago.]
Carl Webb: I have no idea.
Palmer: Don’t try to blow me off, Carl.
Webb: The authorities are looking into it. Let them do their jobs.
Palmer: We both know they won’t find anything.
Webb: Look … Keith. I’ve already been through this with your father—
Palmer: My father’s his own man, and so am I. So now you can go through it with me.
Webb: Okay … okay … let’s go. What do you need? Tell me what you need.
Palmer: Ferragamo was there for me when nobody else was. I might not be alive today if it wasn’t for him. [Keith is referring to the fact that Dr. Ferragamo counseled him through a period of depression as Keith wrestled with feelings of responsibility for the accidental death of Lyle Gibson, the boy who raped his sister, Nicole He was also struggling with the fact that he covered up the truth and did not report the accident to the police.]
Webb: He also betrayed your confidence, Keith. He’s the one who went to Maureen Kingsley.
[Maureen Kingsley was a highly respected CNB news correspondent who was about to leak the story of Keith’s cover-up.]
Palmer: That still doesn’t justify murder.
[Keith is accusing Webb and PacAmerica of having Dr. Ferragamo murdered to silence the incriminating story against Keith for good, thereby clearing his father’s way to the presidency.]
Webb: Justice! Ah. justice is a tricky thing, Keith. Take Lyle Gibson, for example. You want justice for that?
Palmer: Gibson’s death was an accident.
Webb: Maybe so. But let’s be objective. He rapes your sister, you pay him a visit, he ends up dead…. “Accident” could be a tough sell.
Palmer: So if I go public with the truth about Ferragamo, you’ll go public with a he about Lyle Gibson. Is that what you’re saying?
Webb: (Inaudible) Oh brother.
Palmer: There’s just one catch, Carl. There are two cover-ups here—and you’re involved in both of them. So however it plays out, it’s bad for you.
Webb: I can take care of myself.
Palmer: No. The moneymen behind my father’s campaign take care of you. But if things get ugly, they’ll make sure you’re the one who takes the fall, won’t they, Carl? Or maybe they’ll do to you what you did to Dr. Ferragamo.
Webb: You are in way over your head.
Palmer: And you’re getting nervous. I can smell it.
Webb: Okay, you listen to me. Whatever you think you can do to me or anyone else, it’ll be a hundred times worse for you—
Palmer: I’m not so sure.
Webb: Well I am. Because if you push things too far, they’ll do whatever they have to do.
Palmer: Killing David Palmer’s son might get a little messy Webb: I think they’d be a little more subtle than that.
Palmer: I’m not following you.
Webb: There is some physical evidence in George Ferragamo’s office that leads directly to you. Subtle enough so that the fire marshals didn’t see it the first time around … but with a little help, they’ll find it.
Palmer: So I’ll be framed for Ferragamo’s murder?
Webb: Like I said. Whatever it takes. That’s why your father backed off. And that’s why you’ll back off.
TWO JURIES, TWO JUDGES
By Will Hertz. Washington Gazelle
To understand the full ramifications of this tape, we must go back to the morning of Super Tuesday, when respected CNB journalist Maureen Kingsley alerted her producer. Jay Pierce, in an e-mail that she had “the biggest story of the day, and it isn’t Palmer’s lead in the polls.”
Later that same morning, Kingsley pulled back from her original prediction, delaying Jay Pierce with the excuse that “she hadn’t yet solidified all the details” so the story had to wail.
Twenty-four hours later, Maureen Kingsley’s employer, CNB, issued a tersely written statement to the effect that Ms. Kingsley had left the network to “pursue other interests.” It quickly became apparent that Kingsley either had abandoned her career or was fired.
What happened?
There was wide speculation in the journalism community that Maureen Kingsley had been caught manufacturing a story that would hurt David Palmer. Media watchers deduced that CNB producer Jay Pierce had caught her in the I lie shortly before the story was set to air on national television. This, we assumed, was why she’d gone into a very early and very hasty retirement.
The truth was revealed in this tape. We learned that Dr. George Ferragamo, a noted Los Angeles therapist who had treated Keith Palmer for depression several years before, leaked confidential doctor-patient information to Maureen Kingsley—information that seemed to prove Keith Palmer had a role in Gibson’s death.
Keith Palmer insinuates that Carl Webb, his father’s political adviser, and PacAmerica, the political coalition of wealthy Los Angeles businessmen who funded much of Palmer’s presidential campaign, had a hand in Dr. Ferragamo’s death.
The death of the esteemed therapist docs seem freakish—a gas main under his office exploded on the morning of Super Tuesday—yet authorities ruled it an accidental death from the start. However, independent forensics experts and crime scene investigators consulted for this news analysis suggested that the entire investigation was botched in the extreme and an alarming amount of evidence was mishandled.
Considering the large amount of money and influence wielded by PacAmerica. one must wonder whether the blatant mishandling of evidence by officials was simply coincidental in this case.
A forensics specialist reviewed the autopsy report on Dr. Ferragamo |included in this publication) and raised many questions. For instance, there were indications of head trauma, which might suggest that Ferragamo suffered a blow before the blast and subsequent smoke and fire killed him.
The only way to deduce this was through a close evaluation of the crime scene—where and how the body was found, etc. However, as stated above, the crime scene investigation was botched. Evidence was mishandled, photographs were severely blurred, and written notes were sketchy at best.
Two grand juries were convened to study these cases.
The grand jury looking into the death of Lyle Gibson—and Keith Palmer’s role in it—met in August and in less than a week returned a decision not to pursue charges against young Palmer. Keith was exonerated, and by fall’s election season, the press had dropped the story.
The grand jury looking into the possible involvement of Carl Webb in the death of Dr. Ferragamo met in July and took considerably longer but ended in November with an identical outcome—no charges were ever pressed. But the public reaction to Webb’s verdict was quite different from their reaction to Keith’s.
In both cases, the accused were judged in a court of law, but in the sometimes more explosive court of public opinion. Keith Palmer was vindicated and Carl Webb condemned.
Now Keith Palmer is one of the most in-demand speakers on the college circuit, while Carl Webb has retired from politics and is currently living in Cancun.
But this is not the end of the story. After a long investigation. I have uncovered another disturbing fact. Two weeks before Super Tuesday, three-quarters of a million dollars turned up in an offshore account in Dr. Ferragamo’s name.
According to sources in the Beverly Hills community, where Ferragamo had many clients, the therapist was suffering from chronic money troubles. His two ex-wives had both won large alimony settlements, and in the last several years his practice—and his income—had fallen off sharply.
Tracing bank records. I was able to follow the money trail back to an account operated by the Committee to Elect Hodges, a California political action group supporting Palmer’s opponent in this year’s primary race.
The Committee to Elect Hodges was quite active in Los Angeles and paid for negative television ads against David Palmer after he took a commanding lead over Hodges in the polls.
It seems clear from these revelations that Dr. Ferragamo was willing to violate doctor-patient confidentiality in an effort to secure funds to pay off his creditors. He took money from David Palmer’s political enemies to leak the story of Keith Palmer’s involvement in Lyle Gibson’s death.
Unfortunately, Ferragamo did not consider the ruthlessness of Carl Webb, or the lengths to which he would go to kill a story that would hurt David Palmer’s chances of winning the primary
If there is one happy note to this whole sordid affair, it is the fact that in late December, just before this book went to press. Maureen Kingsley accepted a job as a Washington reporter for Fox News.
COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES
CORONER’S OFFICE
CASS FILE: 01-0013
NAME: George Ferragamo
CAUSE OF DEATH: Severe Head Trauma
MANNER OF DEATH: Indeterminate: Accidental vs. Homicide
EXTERNAL EXAMINATION: The 5′9″ 160-lb. body la that of a normally developed, well-nourished white male consistent with the stated age of 47 years. Uniform flash burns of partial thickness cover 70% of
the exposed body surface.
The scalp shows an Irregular laceration, 5 cm. In length, in the superior midparletal skull, Immediately lateral to the sagittal suture. Male pattern baldness is present with the remaining hair uniformly singed. Both eyes have burn damage and are otherwise indeterminate.
The ears show flash burns and no Internal pathology.
The face shows total Involvement by flash burns. Singed, well-trimmed mustache and beard are present. Good dentition is seen.
The chest shows flash and flame burns of varying thickness, altered from above burns by the presence of clothing.
The abdomen shows flash and flame burns of varying thickness, altered also by the presence of clothes.
The external genitalia are only remarkable for irregular flash and flame burns.
The extremities also show varying thickness flash and flame burns.
The back shows less than 20% Involvement by flash and flame burns of varying thickness.
INTERNAL EXAM: The area of the calvarium underneath the above-mentioned skull laceration shows a circular fracture with the fracture lines radiating to the frontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital bones. The 1510-gram brain shows coup contusions underneath the area of skull fracture with contrecoup caontusions on the ventral brain surface. Minimal Intracranial hemorrhage Is noted. Laceration of the corpus callosum Is also observed.
The 400-gram heart has a smooth epicardial surface. The coronary arteries follow a normal anatomic course. The left main, left anterior descending, circumflex, and right coronary arteries are elastic, widely patent, and show occlusion with 25-30% atheromatosis. The myocardium la homogeneously red-brown, firm, and free of focal mottling or fibrosis. The endocardium and trabeculae carneae are smooth and glistening.
The valve leaflets and valve cusps are freely mobile and the chordae tandineae are delicate. The orifices of the coronary arteries are free of obstruction. The carotid arteries are elastic and free of atheromatosis. The aorta is elastic with minimal atheromatosis.
The House Special Subcommittee's Findings at CTU Page 14
