Michelle Malkin and Brian Maloney advance the Air Ameriscam story with today’s installments. The first of the two installments is “Inside Air America: Al Franken’s lying lies” at Michelle’s site. The second is “The liars’ club” at Brian’s site. David Lombino also keeps up with the story in today’s New York Sun: “Franken signed Air America’s payment pact.” Lombino managed to contact Franken for comment yesterday:
Mr. Franken and Piquant have said the transfers to Gloria Wise were the work of Air America’s former chairman, Mr. Cohen, and his now defunct Progress Media. Less than two months after the network’s launch in May 2004, Piquant LLC acquired the radio network from Progress Media. Piquant has said Mr. Cohen has had no affiliation with Air America since May 2004.
In an interview with the Sun on August 1, Mr.Franken said he did not know anything about the transfers from the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club until late the previous month. He said he did not know whether the $875,000 was absorbed by the radio network or not, and he characterized the network’s decision to pay back Gloria Wise as a “moral obligation.”
Yesterday, Mr. Franken stood by his earlier statement. He said that, on the advice of his lawyer, Gunnar Erickson, he signed the agreement last fall that erased legal claims he had against Messrs. Cohen and Sorensen because they owed him money, but he said he did not see the list of liabilities that included the Gloria Wise transfers.
“I am not an investor, and I didn’t see this thing,” Mr. Franken, the comedian and best-selling author who hosts Air America’s daily show “The O’Franken Factor,” said.
Some day the Minneapolis Star Tribune will take notice of the Air Ameriscam scandal involving Minneapolis’s own Al Franken, but apparently not any time soon.
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