Speculation Centers on a Republican Former Page
By Elizabeth Williamson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, October 7, 2006; Page A07
Likable and popular with female pages, a committed Republican who even as a teenager knew how to parlay chance meetings into political friendships, Jordan Edmund has emerged as a key figure in the Foley page scandal.
The former House page has been targeted by conservative blogs as the young man on the receiving end of former representative Mark Foley's sexually explicit online instant messages, which have engulfed the GOP in a scandal that could affect the outcome of the Nov. 7 congressional elections.
Edmund has hired a lawyer, Stephen Jones, who will not acknowledge whether his client was the one who corresponded extensively with Foley for nearly a year. Jones said he is going public with his client's name to help Edmund fend off conservative attacks and a barrage of media inquiries. He said he will represent Edmund when he is interviewed early next week by the FBI....
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Edmund's allegiance to the GOP, say some, raises one of the biggest questions about him: Why would a young man with seemingly such a bright future in the Republican Party save messages so potentially damaging to it?
"He's a very personable guy and . . . certainly a rising star," said one page who served with Edmund in 2002 and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. The page said Edmund was known among some fellow pages that year for boasting of his friendship with Foley....
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