Ashley Biden Alleged Cocaine Tape Seller Withdraws Under Fire

Washington lawyer Thomas Dunlap is under fire for attempting to sell a video of Ashley Biden, the 27-year-old daughter of Joe Biden, allegedly snorting lines of cocaine at a Delaware party last month.

The New York Post claims that Dunlap showed it 90 seconds of the 43-minute tape, which purportedly shows Ashley doing lines of coke with a red straw in front of witnesses and later shouting "Shut the F-- Up!" The newspaper reported that the seller wanted $2 million before dropping his price to $400,000.

Radar Online reported that Dunlap has since dropped the client after he learned the tape was recorded on a hidden camera, complaining about all the "negative attention."

Dunlap told RadarOnline.com early Sunday that he is no longer involved in the attempted sale of the video and informed his client he would not continue to represent him. The lawyer said he did not want to be involved due to circumstances surrounding the publicity of the matter.

According to the New York Post, the video in question shows a woman who looks like Biden talking and snorting several lines of cocaine with a straw.

The video ... shows a 20-something woman with light skin and long brown hair taking a red straw from her mouth, bending over a desk, inserting the straw into her nostril and snorting lines of white powder.

She then stands up and begins talking with other people in the room.

Vice President Joe Biden, who coined the term "drug czar" in 1982, has not yet commented on the story.

Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, adds that fellow lawyers are stunned by Dunlop's behavior:

While most people are shocked by the craven acts of the still unidentified friend, most lawyers are equally shocked by the involvement of a member of the bar in allegedly shopping this tape to tabloids for the highest bidder.

Biden is a social worker for a Delaware child-welfare agency.

Comments

[juxtapostle]

To all the people who want this story buried:
At fault are the prohibitionist drug laws, not the rat and his lawyer.

Joe Biden has been a prohibitionist zealot and profiteer, and he deserves nothing less than to face the wrath of his convictions. Biden's prohibitionist tendencies have hurt untold millions (over 20 million marijuana arrests alone). If he and his daughter get their pride hurt, it is little recompense for harm done.

Drug use is morally inert. On the other hand, prohibition breeds violence and lawlessness, and is morally corrupt to its holy core. Ever wonder how many people have suffered blackmail due to drug prohibition? Prohibition is why this Biden-cocaine story is even remotely newsworthy.

If we do not air the dirty laundry, things continue to stink.

[CitizenFarmer]

Leave them alone, just like you left the Bush girls alone.

[dugum]

Why are people surprised by Thomas Dunlap's behavior, involved with the peddling of a scandalous tape, and his accusation that the woman is Joe Biden's daughter. He's a lawyer. A lawyer plus the prospect of a lot of money equals typica behavior and the composition of Dunlap's morality.

[bogues]

If this is indeed, Ms. Biden, I do hope she will get immediate help for her problem. Tragically for our country, so many are now involved in the use of these kinds of drugs and rather than try to ruin lives and careers over a tape like this, people should reach out and offer to help those who find themselves in this kind of situation.

[juxtapostle]

Once documented incident of cocaine use at a party hardly constitutes a 'problem'.
Use is not abuse
(unless your a prohibitionist - in which case, you've got self-righteousness on your side a violent jihad to fight).

[Nina28]

Dunlap dropped the tape after founding out it was a fake look-a-like. To save face (which is futile at this point) he stated the video was obtained via concealed camera which somehow would complicate things, like say, a slander/defamation lawsuit by the Bidens which they would definitely win and Dunlap realized it just wouldn't be worth the pithy price he asked for (which went down)

What a pimp. Yah, like that would stop it's circulation if it was real -- hidden camera or not.

[asqueroso]

"Dunlap dropped the tape after founding [sic] out it was a fake look-a-lik­e." is this fact or speculation?

also, truth is an absolute defense to defamation. do you really think ashley biden will sue anybody here? if not, what does that tell you?

[Right-turn]

Radar Online reported that Dunlap has since dropped the client after he learned the tape was recorded on a hidden camera, complaining about all the "negative attention.­"

This does not mean it is not her on the tape, it just means they did not like the way it was obtained.

The VP has some pull, he probably crushed this through his contacts.

[Caymus77]

Where is the PROOF that this is Biden's daughter snorting the coke?
There are plenty of brunettes out there who look like Biden's daughter.

You ASSUME VP Biden had a hand in this,where is your proof of that?

[Treeske]

Who cares, go after those overseas tax evasive accounts and name them!

[dontvote4him]

Who cares. That means "damn it wasn't a republican".

[dontvote4him]

Who care, it's wasn't a republican so no big deal.

[powerlift2201]

If it were a republican the tape would be authentic. The woman has yet to be indentified. Therfore the tape is most likely a fake, which means, who cares. Of course if this happened a year ago people would be calling for both Bidens' heads.

[mmmdonuts75]

Doesn't anything get vetted anymore? Since when is it okay for a major newspaper to report heresay about the Vice President of the United States' family? Ethics, people!

The video in question "shows a woman who looks like Biden".

We PAY for these newspapers by surfing their ad ridden pages, clicking those advertisements or buying their printed versions (also ad ridden). And we're getting RIPPED OFF.

[JinMN]

Set up:
Update
http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2009/03/exclusive-ashley-biden-cocaine-scandal-setup-friend-could-face-jail-time

[dontvote4him]

Yes a set up. Wonder who forced her to hold that straw and lower her head down to those waiting rails?

[Lemmy]

Joe didn't do a very good job as a father.

[Virgil Kane]

It's a vast right-wing conspiracy­...don't' you know?

[tiredofit10]

why is this still on HuffPost? NYPost probably has dropped it by now. Let me tell you something, if that rag the New York Post did not bite, it is not authentic!

[Themosticles]

Of course A. Biden was snorting cocaine! Of course people were uh . . .pressured to dummy up. This article may very well be non news, but what I want to know is . . . . who wrote it? And here it is on this blog, nevertheless . . . .Biden Senior as well . . . . What a cretin and a blackguard that foot in the mouth machine is. This Obama Administration is an utter embarrassment to us all. I can`t wait to see how Europe drags Obama over the coals. Europe of all places! What a facade from top to bottom!

[mbonmik]

Is this really true? How much do you trust the sources? What is the motive for the story? How sad if true. This is embarrassing for VP Biden and Pres Obama to have a story like this out right before going to Europe. True or not , is it just another distraction or a slight of hand by the administration so we will not notice what the other hand is doing? Just because we are all getting paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to manipulate us.

[petef59]

republican psychosis due to lack of an alternate budget plan?

[ryancammer]

wait, i'm trying to connect the dots here... so, you start off talking about being absolutely positive ashley biden doing some rails (which i don't doubt... but, was it good coke?). then you move on to questioning who the author of the article was, in response to being "pressured to dummy up" (not sure what that means). then, you move on to insulting the vice president with impertinent metaphors, and then, you finish by stating that the obama administration is an embarrassment, and you can't wait to see him dragged over the coals. thus, the administration is a facade.

so let me get this straight:

Ashley Biden and Cocaine
People and Dummy Up
Non News and Unknown Author
Blog And Joe Biden
Biden and Cretin
Obama
Europe and Obama
----------­----------­----------­----
therefore Facade

ummm, huh? your logic follows no rules i've ever studied. perhaps your prose is more of a creative piece, like a haiku, or a poem. if so, i recommend you study iambic pentameter, or some other structure. perhaps you could submit your master work to the atlantic, or some other periodical that may be interested in publishing it. or, are you trying to identify with the readers through raw and expressive language, with unique syntactical structures?

if so, i don't think it's working...

[Themosticles]

Au contraire! I think you got it very well.Logic­ally, I start off with the more minor news (as in this article) and expand and link it to the bigger picture. I do indeed insult Biden Senior and I also plain insult Obama. They are most deserving of insults. Yes, your posting is most pedantic and quite replete with big words I highly doubt you understand clearly.Wr­iting well means using the right word at the right time. I agree that a large vocabulary and mastery of syntax is helpful.Bu­t words thrown about merely because they are big only confuse and detract from the writing.Yo­u have done a wonderful job of that! I admit my posting was brief, but I considered it rather a trial balloon to see if such a misguided blog as this one would even post my more lengthy and even more well written comments.W­hy go to the trouble to write such comments only to have them . . . uh . . . airbrushed away. Thanks for helping me get my comment posted. And I wish you a most pleasant day. And as your day passes, stop by a computer somewhere and google Classical Liberal to learn why I am opposed to the so-called "liberals" who are ruining this country.Be­tter, read Liberal Fascist by Jonah Goldberg. In return I will try to stomach It takes a Village by H.Clinton.
Now, you must have read that worthy tome, being as knowledgeable as you . . . uh . .

[NoCheapShotsPlease]

hmmmm 24, last i heard that was an adult. this is no big deal! the "famil.y values" folks will have a field day.

[URKiddinMee]

Instead of debating how sleazy the attorney may or may not be (And we all know that they ALL are) why not ask "Is it Ashley Biden?" and if so, "Why does SHE rate a pass on illegal behavior?"

[ChelseaC]

So is the young woman in the video Ashley Biden or not?

Just a note--- not every attorney is sleazy.

[Vixter]

Same reason that M. Phelps rated a "pass" - if that is what you call having your picture on the front page of major news sources - there was no legal evidence. How do you know it was really Ms. Biden, and not photo-shopped? Maybe the lawyers' so called "client" realized that he would have to testify in court, ergo chance of being disbarred (oh yeah, it was his 'client').

BTW, as is stated in the above article, the WOMAN is 27 yrs old. When do whining re. pubes decide that you are an adult, therefore responsible for your own actions? Oops, I forgot, look at Wall Street,,,I gather you never have to take responsibility for your actions if you can sucker some one into your reality of NO.

[dontvote4him]

How does she rate? It's called being a democract.

[firstfreeze]

typical demo hypocrisy. do the crime, do the time

[petef59]

it is a rumor---what is this the USSR? turn in and convict in one day--who cares about evidence?

[NetworkGuy]

Just ask Rush!

[kashifsaeed28]

Public figures are always in so much media scruitiny for some of the things that people from everyday life might commonly do.

My blog:
http://project-you-are-not-alone.blogspot.com

[Vixter]

Ashley Biden is a public figure??

[Blufftonian]

Bristol Palin is a public figure?

Jenna Bush is a public figure?