On January 3, 2006, Jason Leopold posted a blog headlined "How They Got Caught: After Lobbyist Broke Off Engagement, Ex-Fiancee Told of Illicit Dealings to FBI" on rawstory.com.
On September 29, 2005, I posted a blog on HuffPo which quoted my source:
"...It all comes down to this guy Mike Scanlon. He is currently one of the guys working with Abramoff leading the Indian Gaming Lobby effort that is at the center of the current DeLay scandal.
"Scanlon first lands a job as Tom Delay's press secretary. While there, Scanlon has an affair with a girl who works in DeLay's office named Emily. Scanlon's wife was apparently no prize but was pregnant with his child when he started having this affair.
"So he leaves the wife and kid for this Emily. Emily eventually takes a job in the State Department...
"Sidebar: Emily became infamous for making the cameraman move the camera off Colin Powell in the Middle East when he was being interviewed by Tim Russert on Meet the Press.
"Scanlon starts his lobbying gig and making all the cash. Emily and Scanlon get engaged and she gets a huge diamond, like 5 carats. But sometime during their engagement, surprise, paradise falls apart. Scanlon actually starts having another affair, this time with a bar-maid from Rehoboth Beach.
"Emily finds out and is pissed--naturally. They break off the engagement and Emily keeps the ring--figures she'll make a pretty penny from it. Takes it to be appraised and it turns out it is junk--maybe just a really flawed diamond, or maybe a cubic zirconia, but it's not worth squat.
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, so Emily calls up the ex-wife and says if they put their heads together, they can piece together info about what Scanlon's been up to. So they chat.
"Within a few weeks, articles start appearing in the Washington Post about the investigation of Abramoff, and then the story of Scanlon's involvement breaks--and it was written by a State Department reporter...."