Stay ConnectedThe Week In Review is South Carolina’s most indispensable news program — hosted by the independent media outlet that exposed the Alex Murdaugh crime and corruption dynasty. Each week, we break down the most impactful stories published to our website, FITSNews.com.
New episodes drop every Saturday at 9 a.m. EST.
Copyright: © 2023 FITSNews Week in Review
Our founding editor Will Folks is back in the chair for this Saturday’s edition of the FITSNews Week in Review! In this episode, we treaded dangerously close to Real Housewives of Greenville territory – delving into the cast of characters tied to the sex scandal surrounding U.S. congressman William Timmons.
Missed that drama? Well, “it started with a whisper …” and yes, Will quoted (and even tried to sing a few bars) of that song in his expansive, entertaining take on the circus swirling around the family values “Republican.”
As a reminder, FITSNews doesn’t really care who politicians sleep with (unless they bill their dalliances to the taxpayer) – but we were dragged headfirst into this still-unfolding drama.
To recap: FITSNews never sought comment from the congressman on his alleged affair with a Charleston socialite. Nor did we indicate that we had any plans to publish a report on the rumored tryst (we hadn’t even really had a proper conversation about it in the newsroom). Also, FITSNews has a longstanding policy of not getting involved in the private lives of public officials – a policy Timmons and his team were no doubt well aware of.
Still, we were provided with an unsolicited 18-word statement in which Timmons asked for “prayers and privacy” as he and his wife, Sarah Timmons, worked through “some difficult private matters.”
In case you aren’t familiar with how these things typically go – and I’d hope for your own sake that you aren’t – it’s not exactly standard operating procedure to give a media outlet a quote about your affair when they are simply doing their due diligence on a tip.
It seemed to us as though Timmons almost wanted this story out there so it wouldn’t continue to fester. If he was hoping his indiscretions would slip quickly out of the news cycle, though, he was sorely disappointed.
In this week’s episode Will discussed the allegations against Timmons and the (at times ludicrous) public statements made by those impacted by the scandal in detail.
In other news, the ‘Murdaugh Murders’ crime and corruption saga is heating up and we were proud to give readers and viewers an exclusive look at the role geofencing (the use of cell phone location data to pinpoint who was at a crime scene) could play in the prosecution of the killer or killers of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh.
In our Murdaugh segment, we played a clip from researcher Jennifer Wood’s special report on this subject.
We’re continuing to keep our eyes peeled and our ears to the ground on this story – and have heard that major developments related to the case could happen in the very near future. Stay tuned.
Finally, Will took a moment to address this news outlet’s open microphone policy. We’ve had the privilege of publishing a lot of great guest columns lately, and announced earlier this week that we will be bringing on a new guest columnist to further broaden the idealogical spectrum on our site.
The team here at FITSNews – like our readers – doesn’t always see eye-to-eye. And that’s a good thing. No one person, party or ideology gets it right all the time – and we hope to provide a sort of intellectual proving ground where the best ideas compete against one another to see which ones come out on top.
One last programming note: For those of you covering the Bowen Turner saga, we will be covering the accused rapist bond revocation hearing next Wednesday in Orangeburg, S.C. In case you missed our recent coverage of a buddy-buddy reception given to a new judge by a powerful law firm (one with deep ties to the state legislature), give Will’s piece from earlier this week a read. The story didn’t make this week’s show … but it shone a light on the interpersonal relationships that threaten the notion of “blind justice” in South Carolina.
Happy weekend! In this week’s episode we finally put the partisan primaries in the rear-view mirror, we talk about Joe Cunningham’s struggle to find a female running-mate of color and end with the criminal proceedings that Alex Murdaugh associate Curtis Edward Smith is currently facing.
Krystle Matthews won the democratic run-off and is now the party’s nominee to run for U.S. Senate. Before voters went to the polls, investigative news outlet Project Veritas published an audio recording of a conversation between Matthews and an inmate at the Perry Correctional Institution in which she suggests financing her campaign with “dope money.” Listen to the call in the episode or read my piece for further context.
School choice advocate Ellen Weaver won 64 percent of the vote against Kathy Maness in the hotly contested Republican state school superintendent primary.
Former U.S. congressman Joe Cunningham – the newly minted Democratic nominee for governor of South Carolina – is desperately seeking a black female candidate to serve as his 2022 lieutenant gubernatorial nominee.
The problem? His first choice for the job – state senator Mia McLeod – told him “hell to the no,” according to sources familiar with the search process.
George Amos Tenney III, 35, of Anderson, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to civil disorder and obstruction of an official proceeding for his actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
In the episode I discuss Tenney’s future and the potential for further escalation of political violence should this kind of behavior continue to be tolerated by both major political parties.
We then give you a brief update on Tiger King star Doc Antle‘s indictments by a federal grand jury.
Finally, we cover the new charges that Alex Murdaugh and his longtime friend and alleged co-conspirator Curtis Edward Smith face.
The state grand jury has charged the pair with two conspiracy counts, including a narcotics count related to manufacturing and distribution of Oxycodone.
Smith was also indicted on four counts of money laundering, three counts of forgery, trafficking methamphetamine 10-28 grams, one count of unlawful possession of a Schedule II controlled substance and possession of marijuana.
More specifically, Smith is accused of cashing at least $2.4 Million dollars in checks — 437 of them! — over the course of eight years on behalf of Murdaugh.
Its been lonely here at FITSNews HQ this week with our founding editor Will Folks soaking up the rays (and possibly grease from fried fish). Easy, ladies
In Will’s absence we’ve pulled out all the stops to put together a great show for you. I’m most excited for you to see the special report put together by our researcher extraordinaire Jennifer Wood on the potential for federal involvement in the Murdaugh murders crime and corruption saga.
But before we debut Jenn’s special report I walk you through two other important developments: the fallout from last week’s partisan primaries and a new way for the governor to hold Palmetto State school district leaders accountable.
S.C. Attorney General candidate Lauren Martel led a “MAGA slate” protest of her partisan primary loss. Martel was soundly defeated in her bid against third-term incumbent attorney general Alan Wilson.
Martel’s protest was centered around the failure of election workers to be administered an oath required by law. While I am in support of following all laws that legitimize our elections, I characterized Martel’s challenge as “frivolous” in this week’s episode.
I gave slightly more credence to house district 43 candidate Mark Corral, who announced late Tuesday night that he too was submitting a letter disputing the election. Unlike Martel, Corral lost by a far narrower margin of 139 votes (or 3.84 percent) to incumbent Randy Ligon.
Corral protested the relocation of precinct polling places because he alleged that one location was moved outside of an adjacent precinct in violation of S.C. Code §7-7-910.
Both Corral and Martel had to prove that their races would have turned out differently had the issues they cited not occurred, and none of the candidates who challenged their primary results were able to cross that evidentiary threshold in a hearing held before the S.C. GOP executive committee on Thursday evening.
I then moved on to the run-off election in the Republican primary between candidates Ellen Weaver and Kathy Maness for the state superintendent of education position.
Potentially more important for the day-to-day operation of S.C. schools is how governor Henry McMaster‘s investigation into Richland School District Two proceeds in the coming weeks.
Following months of allegations of improprieties by district leadership, the governor has formally requested that S.C. state inspector general Brian Lamkin investigate the district and provide him with a report of his findings.
We end the episode with FITSNews researcher Jennifer Wood’s special report on RICO charges and what would need to happen for them to be applied in the Murdaugh case.
Between this week’s partisan primary elections, a visit from Wesley Donehue and our receipt of dozens of Alex Murdaugh‘s Jailhouse phone calls – this week has been busy. Luckily, Will breaks it all down for us in this episode of the Week in Review.
Nancy Mace‘s victory in the first congressional district was the biggest news of Tuesday night, and was a major win for former S.C. governor Nikki Haley.
Former president Donald Trump scored a proxy-war win when Russell Fry, the seventh congressional district candidate Trump endorsed and campaigned for, defeated incumbent Tom Rice. Rice vocally opposed former president Donald Trump‘s role in the havoc wreaked at the capitol on January 6th 2021. Fry notably voted to increase the state’s gas taxes as a member of the South Carolina General Assembly.
Joe Cunningham, the gubernatorial candidate backed by the South Carolina Democratic Party (SCDP), defeated primary opponent Mia McLeod. Cunningham “does not have a path to victory in the staunchly GOP Palmetto State – which saw a red storm sweep across its political landscape in 2020 (and is likely to see an even bigger one hit it this fall if national trends hold).”
We also checked back in on Brant Tomlinson. Tomlinson ran for Kershaw County council four years ago, only to have his campaign sunk by a photo of himself in blackface that he forgot to take off of his Facebook page. Tomlinson ran again this year, and made it to a run off election on Tuesday. Count on FITSNews to keep you appraised of any future electoral developments for this wannabe Jamaican bobsledder.
We covered more than just elections this week. The FITSNews team received dozens of Alex Murdaugh’s jailhouse phone-call recordings. We’ve released Alex discussing: selling assets before a court can order him not to, being shot in the head and the conditions he lives in at the Alvin S Glenn Detention Center.
We have been doing the ‘Week in Review’ for nearly half a year now and (incredibly) I have avoided saying anything overtly offensive or cancel-worthy.
Until this week …
In a failed attempt to insult Reddit users, I wound up doing a patently offensive imitation of Apu from The Simpsons – which is ironic because I was trying to imitate a Farsi accent, not a Hindi one.
Either way, the complaint department will probably be working overtime after this episode … because if that wasn’t enough, later in the program I insulted residents of West Columbia and Cayce, S.C. (but mostly those residing in West Columbia).
I will let you listen to see which body part I compared them to … (cringes).
It’s a shame I contracted such a severe case of foot-in-mouth because this was actually an informative, far-ranging show – one which covered a lot of ground related to next week’s partisan primary elections as well as the ongoing ‘Murdaugh Murders’ crime and corruption saga.
Hopefully, viewers and listeners will see (hear?) through the offending remarks …
Prior to signing off, I reached into our reader mailbag to share a few responses to our coverage … which is always an adventure.
Enjoy the show!
You asked for it so here it is... Our full interview with attorneys Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter
I missed last week’s editions of the ‘Week In Review’ due to illness, but executive editor Liz Farrell and special projects director Dylan Nolan filled in admirably … so before diving into this week’s news, I wanted to say a quick ‘thank you’ to them for stepping up.
There was a ton of news to cover this week, but I am not naïve enough to think the vast majority of you are here for my incisive political commentary – or even my take on the latest developments in the saga of Bowen Turner, the Orangeburg, S.C. accused teen rapist whose case has exposed any number of systemic flaws within South Carolina’s judicial branch of government.
Although, the Turner story continues driving the news as well as driving behind-the-scenes activity in the corridors of power in the Palmetto State …
Still, the big “get” in this week’s show was my exclusive sit-down interview with attorneys Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter of the Bland Richter law firm.
For many in our audience, Bland and Richter are household names given their ongoing involvement in the ‘Murdaugh Murders’ crime and corruption saga. And while we are only posting one segment from my lengthy conversation with the two lawyers in the ‘Week in Review,’ you won’t have to wait long for the rest.
Look for the full interview with Bland and Richter to be posted tomorrow (Sunday, June 5, 2022) as a standalone video …
SHOW NOTES …
BOWEN TURNER COMMUNITY FAIL
System’s Failure Built On Community Failure
SC CRIME WAR
Midlands Gang Leaders Meet With Law Enforcement
Feds Roll Out New Violent Crime Strategy In South Carolina
PARTISAN PRIMARY NEWS (DEMOCRATS)
Joe Cunningham Bows To The Pressure
SC Democrats Struggle To Contain ‘Debate-Gate’
PARTISAN PRIMARY NEWS (REPUBLICANS)
Nancy Mace, GOP Allies Unload On Katie Arrington
South Carolina GOP Ballot Questions Face Scrutiny
SC1: Poll Shows Neck-And-Neck Race
SC7: Poll Shows Big Lead For MAGA Challenger
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