*****Major UPDATE ****

Along with participation of CREW in the handling of the IMs, I’ve discovered another uber leftwing principal who also admits to having copies of the IMs and emails before they were posted, see below:

I’ve moved on to a new thread to keep up with the developments in the Foley story. What we know so far is that several principals, such as CREW, and ABC knowingly withheld information about Rep. Foley and had done so for many months, if not years before this story came to light. In light of that the FBI will be investigating. While the left wants us to believe that there was some sort of conspiracy involved, where GOP leadership hid the dirty truth about Foley, that simply isn’t feasible at this point.

According to sources involved in the investigation investigators will also be looking at who had copies of the IMs and emails and purposely held them for all this time. As obtaining evidence and witholding it is a federal offense, the focus of the investigation will be to the outside.

Mark Levin writes:

“Speaker Dennis Hastert asks a question I essentially posed earlier in the day:

Since the communications appear to have existed for three years, there should be an investigation into the extent there are persons who knew or had possession of these messages but did not report them to the appropriate authorities,” the letter from Mr. Hastert [to the Justice Department] said. “ It is important to know who may have had the communications and why they were not given to prosecutors before now.

I don‚Äôt believe in coincidence, and apparently neither does Hastert. The timing of this revelation has more to do about helping Nancy Pelosi and the House Democrats than protecting teenagers with whom Foley was communicating. What else explains the delay? I remain extremely curious about who had the instant messages, when they received them, from whom they received them, and how they became public only now. As in the Valerie Plame matter, where several news outlets helped the likes of Charles Schumer to perpetuate lies about the White House and encouraged his demand for a special counsel, some reporters (probably including Brian Ross of ABC News) know who and what are behind the timing of the Foley revelation and are protecting that aspect of the story to prevent the complete facts from becoming public until after the election ‚Äì that is, after the political damage has been done.”

Additionally at least one democratic member of congress had specific knowledge of the emails prior to their release last week, and while no names have been given out, one only has to look at the Melanie Sloan’s bio to get some idea.

More as the day progresses.

UPDATE I: Hotair is noting possible “doctoring” in some of the emails. UPDATE: More on the possible Dan Rathering here

UPDATE II: Interesting how the blog, Stop Sex Predators that appears to have started it all, l hasn’t had a post since September 29th. Even more surprising is the “secrecy” of the person that started the blog. That may be about to change. I’ll let you know.

Additionally I am performing some examinations of my own on the exhibits of emails posted that blog. There appears to be some type of “doctoring” of the “From” address. Check them for yourself. There is very definitely some overwriting taking place, but it’s unclear if it were just for clarity, or for other reasons. Notice that it appears some other printing underneath.

UPDATE II: They’re may be a possibilty that the one who runs Blog Active.com, and the one who runs Stop Sex Predators may be one in the same. That may be Mike Rogers, the infamous Gay Republican Outer.

Via Rogers site:

“Well the good news is that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is finally getting it. I called their Director of Communications, Bill Burton, to let him know that the Foley thing (and another case) were coming down the pike. While Burton promised to have someone email or return my call and didn’t, I am glad he followed up on my call and was ready on Friday to come out of the gate running.

The bad new is they are still not paying enough attention… There are others within reach… If the Democrats would only fight half as hard as the Republicans”

Rogers is miffed that the DCCC has been deleting his posts. No wonder as even they sense a major backfire if it get’s out that this was all a “Gay Republican Outing” that netted more than it bargained for.

Rogers seemingly isn’t ashamed to take the credit, per a post he made at the DCCC before it was deleted:

“Very exciting.

I am glad my work on this is finally coming to fruition. I spoke with Bill Burton at the DCCC about this and I’m so glad you guys were able to jump in on the heels of my work.

Obviously we didn’t have a chance of winning this seat, so this is great.

Good Job!

Mike Rogers
Blogactive.com

Posted by: Mike Rogers | September 29, 2006 09:55 PM

Note Rogers warns about another case coming “down the pike”. Of course these revelations migh just sideline that severely.

Fact is that Rogers admits to being in possession of the IM’s BEFORE they were posted on the web via his own comments on his site:

“As people know, it’s not always possible for me to disclose my role in some of the activities.

I can say this. I had the emails before they were on the net. Additionally, I had the additional emails, written by the page to a friend. The story was being written by a number of outlets and I provided additional information to reporters involved in the breaking of this story.

Was the central figure in reporting on Foley’s latest scandal? Never said I was. Was my work on the case important to helping make sure it came out before the election? Yes.

Did I have any idea that the GOP leadership was engaged in a cover-up? Nope. Do I love the fact that they are trying to spin this as ‘naughty emails?’ Yup. because it shows how out of tought they are about queer closet cases.”

Similarly there is a promise of that “down the pike” story:

“While the Foley scandal is great news for the Dems in Nov. John, when will we see the much touted outing of the Mystery Senator? This would be a great time to do it.. Give the Repubs the old one two punch!”

This of course refers to Rogers prior blackmailing of an unnamed Republican Senator back in January. In any case I imagine that as the “agenda” is exposed, the Democrats most likely will seen as the losers in the exchange, a fact the DCCC is already acknowledging.

UPDATE III: The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz writes today:

“On Friday afternoon, a strategist for Rep. Mark Foley tried to cut a deal with ABC’s Brian Ross.

The correspondent, who had dozens of instant messages that Foley sent to teenage House pages, had asked to interview the Florida Republican. Foley’s former chief of staff said the congressman was quitting and that Ross could have that information exclusively if he agreed not to publish the raw, sexually explicit messages.

“I said we’re not making any deals,” Ross recalls. He says the Internet made the story possible, because on Thursday he posted a story on his ABC Web page, the Blotter, after obtaining one milder e-mail that Foley had sent a 16-year-old page, asking for a picture. Within two hours, former pages had e-mailed Ross and provided the salacious messages. The only question then, says Ross, was “whether this could be authenticated.”

To some this seems to put a damper on a conspiracy theory of Ross (as if he hadn’t manufactured stories in the past), but the issue is WHO gave them to him and how long did he have them for. We have some of that answered now as it’s apparent that CREW was Ross’s source and that both seemed to have conspired to hold the story - for some reason - until now.

UPDATE IV: Gateway Pundit has more from Mike Roger’s “mission” to out Rep. Foley.

Now let me clarify again my position. As former law enforcement, a father and grandfather, I have ZERO tolerance for sexual predators. But in that same light I have absolutely no tolerance for cheap shots and thats who Mike Roger’s is, a cheap shot who evidently found a gold mine, and instead of bringing the issue to authorities he along with accomplises aforementioned conspired to withhold this information. As Gateway Pundit puts it:

“Foley abused his position and may have been involved in criminal activity. Democrats knew this for over a year. With 6 weeks before the November elections, they broke the dam loose!”

UPDATE V: This new Democratic Playbook using the Foley story, and in essence exploiting his victims, is far too orchestrated to have just been “put together”. Things that make you go “Hmmmmmmm”.

UPDATE VI: Well, now it appears that other pages are disputing Matthew Loraditch’s assertions. Told you so. Additionally, Brian Ross is asking for other pages to tell their story too, and guess what, stories are coming in involving other members of Congress, including - sources say - an old familiar name.