{"id":5177,"date":"2023-08-28T13:37:40","date_gmt":"2023-08-28T18:37:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=5177"},"modified":"2023-08-28T13:37:47","modified_gmt":"2023-08-28T18:37:47","slug":"outcry-as-police-cover-up-information-in-death-of-obama-chef-including-unidentified-woman-with-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=5177","title":{"rendered":"Outcry as Police Cover Up Information in Death of Obama Chef, Including Unidentified Woman with Him"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If Barack and Michelle Obama were actually trying to build up conspiracy theories around the still-murky death of the family\u2019s personal chef in July, they couldn\u2019t be doing a much better job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonherald.com\/2023\/08\/22\/the-obamas-chef-died-from-an-accidental-drowning-on-marthas-vineyard-massachusetts-medical-examiner\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Boston Herald reported<\/a>&nbsp;on Tuesday, the office of the Massachusetts Medical Examiner last week officially ruled the death of Tafari Campbell an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/medical-examiner-rules-whether-not-obamas-personal-chefs-death-accident\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">accidental drowning<\/a>, but so little information has been released about the circumstances that First Amendment advocates and conservative critics are engaged in an outrcry over what is still being withheld.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And there\u2019s plenty to make the most fair-minded observers suspicious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Campbell, 45, was found dead July 24, a day after disappearing while paddle boarding in Edgardtown Great Pond near the Obama estate on tony Martha\u2019s Vineyard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">BREAKING: Obama&#39;s personal chef Tafari Campbell&#39;s cause of death has been released after he was found dead outside of Obama&#39;s estate last month.<br><br>According to MA Office of Public Safety &amp; Security spokesman Timothy McGuirk, Campbell&#39;s death has officially been ruled a drowning &amp;\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/kLqvLYhYtF\">pic.twitter.com\/kLqvLYhYtF<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CollinRugg\/status\/1694138329623921140?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 23, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That\u2019s obviously a tragedy for Tafari, who left behind a widow and twin sons. But drowning accidents happen every day, even in enclaves for the rich and famous like Martha\u2019s Vineyard. The race goes\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/verse\/en\/Ecclesiastes%209:11\" target=\"_blank\">not to the swift<\/a>, after all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The story could be told in day, causing a ripple in the ebb and flow of the news cycle, but then left largely to the friends and family who survived to carry on the important business of living, while the rest of the country moved on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead, it appears that a veil of secrecy has dropped over the death, shrouding what should be simply mundane details in an aura of mystery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officials have still not publicly identified the woman who was paddle boarding with Tafari. She\u2019s been known to have been a fellow Obama staffer and the Daily Mail reported last week that she was 26, but other than that, she\u2019s a cipher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His toxicology report \u2014 which would give an idea whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the death of a man whose body was found only 100 feet from shore \u2014 has not been released, thanks to Massachusetts law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If Tafari was inebriated or suffered from some sort of medical condition that made it impossible for him to save his own life, the public hasn\u2019t been informed, and that\u2019s a major question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even people who can\u2019t swim will struggle mightily to keep themselves alive, and 100 feet, under the calm conditions needed to go paddle boarding in the first place, should have been do-able for a man who knows how.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And that mystery feeds the idea that there\u2019s more to Tafari\u2019s death than a simple accident in a resort area at the height of summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This isn\u2019t tinfoil hat stuff either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First Amendment advocates and media representatives told the Daily Mail that the authorities need to come clear \u2014 for instance by releasing the 911 call which the Daily Mail reported was made by a Secret Service agent to report the potential drowning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe 911 call absolutely should be released,\u201d Robert Bertsche, general counsel of the New England Newspaper and Press Association, told the Daily Mail in an article published Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cSo should the other details about the now-completed investigation by state or local authorities. That\u2019s not merely the law \u2013 it\u2019s a sound public practice \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBy refusing to disclose the investigation details, the police have spawned a cottage industry of rumor-making and malign speculation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s natural for members of the public to ask: \u2018What do they have to hide?&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s particularly natural under the circumstances, when every American who follows the news knows good and well that a drowning related to another famous politician \u2014 oh, say, to pick on out of a hat,&nbsp;<em>Donald Trump<\/em>&nbsp;\u2014 would be front and center news all over the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Local, state and federal authorities \u2014 not to mention family and friends of the deceased \u2014 would be being hounded, staked-out and harassed by the establishment media for any crumb of information, with the air resounding with calls about the public\u2019s sacred \u201cright to know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The name of Tefari\u2019s companion, in particular, is of public relevance. She apparently witnessed the incident first-hand and apparently tried to reach Tefari to help. A simple accounting for why she was unable to do so shouldn\u2019t be that hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And before we get into pearl-clutching about stoking rumors about the 45-year-old man paddle boarding with a woman half his age, there\u2019s nothing on its face that suggests impropriety on its face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And even if there were, this is a country that has been through the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/bill-clinton-monica-lewinsky-affair-manage-anxieties\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bill Clinton presidency<\/a>, with its&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/leaked-picture-reportedly-epstein-appears-show-bill-clinton-sexualized-pose\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">infamous blue dress<\/a>&nbsp;and even&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/meaww.com\/bill-clinton-monica-lewinsky-cigar-episode-oval-office-impeachment-american-crime-story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">more infamous cigar<\/a>. Followed by the ceaseless degradation of human sexuality that has been relentless throughout the 21st century. It\u2019s a good bet that hanky panky by a chef \u2014 even the Obama chef \u2014 would barely make a headline, much less a scandal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So, what is it about this particular woman, at this particular time and place, that apparently has the powers-that-be in Massachusetts willing to stonewall the public to keep her name and role out of it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead of the wall-to-wall coverage every honest American knows would have blanketed a death at Mar-a-Lago, the Tafari death has gotten negligible coverage.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/08\/23\/us\/obama-employee-tafari-campbell-accidental-drowning\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CNN<\/a>&nbsp;gave last week\u2019s \u201caccidental death\u201d announcement a story consisting one new paragraph and the rest of it background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Summer interns on most news organizations do more work than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tom Fitton, president of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/dems-trump-attack-backfires-accidentally-set-stage-prosecute-biden-judicial-watch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">conservative watchdog group<\/a>&nbsp;Judicial Watch, said Americans deserve to know more \u2014 especially about the woman who was with Tafari and what coordination there has been between the Secret Service and local and state investigators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(This is Massachusetts, remember, a state so liberal a Democratic heavyweight could practically&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/chappaquiddick-cnn-tweet-kennedys\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">get away with murder<\/a>&nbsp;if he felt like it.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/powerful-people-tried-to-block-release-of-kennedy-film-chappaquiddick\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Oh, wait<\/a>&nbsp;\u2026)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s simple information. What\u2019s the state secret about this other than to protect Obama, to protect him from embarrassment or having to answer questions on this,\u201d Fitton said, according to the Daily Mail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is why people don\u2019t trust what they\u2019re told about cases such as these.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat otherwise looks to be a simple tragic accident becomes something else because the government withholds information improperly to protect a politician.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be fair, the Daily Mail noted that Bertsche said Massachusetts authorities are&nbsp;<em>always<\/em>&nbsp;too tightlipped when it comes to giving the public information \u2014 that it\u2019s not just the Obamas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said the group Center for Public Integrity gave Massachusetts an \u201cF\u201d in 2015 when it came to public information and that in 2020, The Boston Globe successfully sued the state for its failure to follow public records law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But that actually doesn\u2019t excuse anyone in a situation like this \u2014 it just makes it worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fact that a crime in South Boston might go unsolved is important to South Boston, and maybe the whole city, but it would be tough to find an American outside of the New England area who would care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, Democrats and the establishment media still haven\u2019t shaken their regard for former President Barack Obama as a kind of messianic figure of the New Socialist Age, and his wife, Michelle, is still&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/political-icon-says-michelle-obama-will-become-dem-nominee-president-vp-role-will-bought\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">considered presidential material<\/a>&nbsp;in some quarters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Massachusetts owes the country more. The Obamas owe the country more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And when they don\u2019t pay up, they\u2019re forcing even the most non-conspiracy-minded American to ask: \u201cWhat do they have to hide?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Original Article: <a href=\"https:\/\/ijr.com\/outcry-police-cover-information-death-obama-chef-including-unidentified-woman\/\">https:\/\/ijr.com\/outcry-police-cover-information-death-obama-chef-including-unidentified-woman\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ijr.com\/author\/wj\/\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If Barack and Michelle Obama were actually trying to build up conspiracy theories around the still-murky death of the family\u2019s personal chef in July, they couldn\u2019t be doing a much better job. As the&nbsp;Boston Herald reported&nbsp;on Tuesday, the office of the Massachusetts Medical Examiner last week officially ruled the death of Tafari Campbell an&nbsp;accidental drowning, but so little information has been released about the circumstances that First Amendment advocates and conservative critics are engaged in an outrcry over what is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-democrats"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5177"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5177\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5178,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5177\/revisions\/5178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}