Bryant's team obtained phone logs between Woolman and Wolfe in discovery after the lawsuit was reinstated. The logs show calls between the two began on February 19, 2021, two weeks after Hinds County Circuit Judge Adrienne Wooten issued a blanket gag order oh the case:
Wolfe and Woolman spoke on the phone no less than 342 times between the first gag order and a second one issued on January 14, 2022. Undeterred by the order, Woolman and Wolfe (Sounds like a band or a law firm) spoke for 21 minutes that afternoon even though the order still barred attorneys and their staff from discussing the case with the media. Indeed, Wolfe herself reported on the gag orders in a February 4, 20222 and in earlier stories so there is no question she was aware of it. However, the order didn't stop Woolman from transferring copies of the text messages obtained in discovery by Mr. Coxwell to Wolfe, thus violating John Davis's attorney-client privilege.
The phone calls began to taper off after the Bryants filed their lawsuit on July 26, 2023 although Woolman and Wolfe spoke on the phone July 27 (15 minutes) and July 28 (22 minutes).
The phone calls curiously stopped on September 16, 2023 - the day after this website reported the former Governor subpoenaed Wolfe's communications with Jacob Black, attorney Brad Pigott, and attorney Gary Bufkin. Earlier post.
An analysis of the call logs (thanks to the magic of AI) now in the court filing shows that all five of The Backchannel series that won Mississippi Today a Pulitzer had a very high and curious correlation with communications with Woolman.
Backchannel Article | Preceding 5 days | Publication day | Following 5 days |
Introduction (4/3) | 9 calls, 146.1 min | 1 call, 30.1 min | 34 calls, 253.6 min |
Part One (4/4) | 10 calls, 176.2 min | 15 calls, 88.5 min | 21 calls, 168.6 min |
Part Two (4/7) | 28 calls, 319.2 min | 2 calls, 40.2 min | 20 calls, 101.9 min |
Part Three (4/12) | 20 calls, 125.2 min | 2 calls, 16.8 min | 10 calls, 67.8 min |
Part Four (4/14) | 13 calls, 91.2 min | 8 calls, 45.0 min | 11 calls, 106.0 min |
Part Five (4/18) | 10 calls, 67.8 min | 10 calls, 97.8 min | 27 calls, 238.4 min |
The phone calls began to taper off after the Bryants filed their lawsuit on July 26, 2023 although Woolman and Wolfe spoke on the phone July 27 (15 minutes) and July 28 (22 minutes).
The phone calls curiously stopped on September 16, 2023 - the day after this website reported the former Governor subpoenaed Wolfe's communications with Jacob Black, attorney Brad Pigott, and attorney Gary Bufkin. Earlier post.
Kingfish note: The implications of these logs are serious. Was a court order violated? Mississippi Today will no doubt argue it is protected by the First Amendment. However, Bryant's attorney is no fool and is no doubt going somewhere with this new line of attack. If the reporter knowingly ran with information that violated attorney-client privilege, can that be used against her in a defamation suit? Stay tuned.
16 comments:
Were any of the Pulitzer prize article's revelations untrue?
Just hypothesizing but I suspect the reporter was allowed to receive calls from the paralegal. Perhaps the reporter could be deemed as facilitating a violation, but I think not. First Amendment, you know.
I hope the reporter skates on this one.
RMQ
Wouldn’t it be funny if it turns out the Auditor’s office was feeding Anna Wolfe information?
lol
What is the Streisand effect? (Asking for a former
The phone calls are coming from INSIDE THE HOUSE
Seems to me that a Gov's text messages would be considered public records and, as such, accessible by the public. Seems to me a smart Gov would understand that fact when composing text messages and avoid any that might prove embarrassing if brought to the public's attention.
Mizz Wolfe, the clock is ticking .............
Kingfish is right -- the violation of the attorney-client privilege the issue. I think both Phil and John Davis will see some future reparations.
Those 700 calls were "wrong number" calls. That's her story and she is sticking to it.
IDGAF about Phil or Brett one way or the other, but Wolfe and company have a real problem on their hands. There's no way that everyone in the building (white, ganuche and probably even mama barksdale) didn't know that what they were getting was stolen data from an active criminal case. And this clearly was not a one time thing.
Ahhhh.... But are Favre's and Vanlandinghams public record?
But she is so honest and a wonderful person ððððððĪŠ
If I was a cub reporter like Anna who got outsmarted by the likes of Deputy Feel on my secret sources, I'd find another line of work.
Why wouldn't such esteemed journalists as Anna Wolfe & Adam Gancheau just request Bryant's cell phone records via Public Records Request instead of risking at a minimum the appearance of breaching attorney/client privilege? Lazy?
If it can be proven that the reporter had a prior relationship with the person giving them the information, then the reporter could be in hot water, too. That makes it much easier to prove the reporter knew she was getting information illegally, or from a person who violated certain laws to give it to her. It's a safe bet the motivations of both were the same - both just wanted to get Phil Bryant. And you may or may not like Phil Bryant, but next time it may be someone close to you. They need to nail this down.
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