Goodness, What A Surprise! Looks Like Strauss Kahn May Have Been Unjustly Accused

[veremchuka]

Well in the other DSK thread that ended up getting locked, I said right up front that I had doubts about this story. If he was guilty I said throw the book at him but I really thought this was a setup and that the maid was compliant. I had the gall to suggest that a man takes great risk forcing a woman to perform oral sex on him! But I was criticized for suggesting this and that a man has power, presumably ultimate power per my critic, over women. Now we see there was more to this story and surprise the maid's statements are in doubt.

Yes, where exactly does DSK go to undo the damage, the loss of his position? He's no siant, he's well know for womanizing so he is not squeaky clean. But this type of setup and damage is all too easy. The maid's story just did not pass the smell test to me from day one.

And even if it was consensual, and even if she walked into the room and said "How about it, big guy?": does anyone here think that it's remotely normal for the head of a major international organisation and potential candidate for President of a state with strategic nuclear weapons, to have a casual sexual encounter with a hotel employee ? What does that - on its own, without any need to dig into his past - tell us about him?

That he is a sleaze but he is a man and sex is sex. Don't like that answer? It's a fact of life.

 

[BigNick]

... he is a sleaze but he is a man and sex is sex. Don't like that answer? It's a fact of life.

I'll try that argument with DW and let you know how I get on. Provided the hospital has WiFi, that is.

In the meantime, I note that all the charges against DSK are still in place. This was always going to be about he said/she said, and it was going to need a lot for her story to stand up in court against this "colossus of the world stage". I've seen what happens in sexual harassment cases at work, and when a big boss denies that anything happened with the slightly bimbo-ish intern, it isn't the intern whom the other suits are listening to.

 

[MichaelB]

William Saletan at Slate.com has an excellent summary of what specifically has changed and led to the DA's letter to the defense. Collapse is an understatement. See here Strauss-Kahn's accuser discredited: A victory for corroboration and justice. - By William Saletan - Slate Magazine

My if this true, I wonder where Strauss Kahn goes to get his job and reputation back.

He showed very poor judgement. If he can't keep his business where it belongs, he doesn't deserve either. Of course, he may still become French PM - it's not like he's run out of options.

BigNick, that picture was priceless.

Whatever happens to DKS, once judicially resolved I suspect the accuser will start to look for a new place to live - back in Guinea.

 

[BunsGettingFirm]

I'll try that argument with DW and let you know how I get on. Provided the hospital has WiFi, that is.

I hope she likes the county jail's amenities, or is the fact that a woman puts you in a hospital not a crime worth punishing?

 

[youbet]

Whatever happens to DKS, once judicially resolved I suspect the accuser will start to look for a new place to live - back in Guinea.

She won't be leaving....... Now free of any possibility of prosecution for her past "questionable" activities, she'll be able to stay to profit from book and movie rights..... or at least from hefty payments for interviews from the usual scandal magazines. The American public eats this stuff up and that will make her a wealthy woman. Monica was a fool to not have profited from her caper will Bill any more than she did. I don't think this lady will make that mistake.

 

[MichaelB]

She won't be leaving....... Now free of any possibility of prosecution for her past "questionable" activities, she'll be able to stay to profit from book and movie rights..... or at least from hefty payments for interviews from the usual scandal magazines. The American public eats this stuff up and that will make her a wealthy woman. Monica was a fool to not have profited from her caper will Bill any more than she did. I don't this lady will make that mistake.

If this is corrrect

The first test, according to a June 30 letter from the district attorney's office, is the woman's previous application for asylum, submitted to the Immigration and Naturalization Service in 2004. In it, she claimed to have suffered persecution, beating, and incarceration in her native Guinea. After Strauss-Kahn's arrest, investigators asked the woman about her life in Guinea. Her story didn't match what she had reported in the application. According to the letter, she admitted to investigators that what she had reported on the application was false.

her asylum will be revoked and she will have to re-apply for immigration to the US, but only after she first leaves.

 

[haha]

What I wonder is how many asylum applications are similarly flawed. Much of the world does not believe in our boy-scout Dudley DoRight ethos.

This woman has already claimed one rape that she has since recanted. Isn't this all we need to know?

To get some really good tutoring on welfare fiddles find a way into an immigrant community.

Ha

 

[youbet]

If this is corrrect her asylum will be revoked and she will have to re-apply for immigration to the US, but only after she first leaves.

We'll see.......

My personal take is that there will be less political risk to the gov't officials involved if this whole thing is just allowed to fade away as opposed to pressing for a deportation that will result in a media frenzy full of controversy. There is recent precedent for this thinking. I think it occurred in Boston and involved a relative of a very high ranking US elected official.

I'll put a note on my calendar to Google this at the end of the year and follow-up unless the outcome is already widely known.

BTW, the letter from the states attorney's office was a great read. Thanks for posting it.

 

[MichaelB]

What I wonder is how many asylum applications are similarly flawed. Much of the world does not believe in our boy-scout Dudley DoRight ethos.

This woman has already claimed one rape that she has since recanted. Isn't this all we need to know?

To get some really good tutoring on welfare fiddles find a way into an immigrant community.

Ha

The "correct" answers do not guarantee a successful petition for asylum, but all other answers usually end with "petition denied".

"All we need to know" for what? The DSK trial has to go on, and US Homeland Security really cannot move against the woman until his trial is resolved or it will look like a conspiracy. She will be here for a while longer, but after that...

We'll see.......

My personal take is that there will be less political risk to the gov't officials involved if this whole thing is just allowed to fade away as opposed to pressing for a deportation that will result in a media frenzy full of controversy. There is recent precedent for this thinking. I think it occurred in Boston and involved a relative of a very high ranking US elected official.

I'll put a note on my calendar to Google this at the end of the year and follow-up unless the outcome is already widely known.

BTW, the letter from the states attorney's office was a great read. Thanks for posting it.

If it were simply US Immigration I would be inclined to agree. Since they are part of Homeland Security, they need to be more careful - especially as they have generated so much ill will and bad press. If any part of her new background info proves correct (drug money, etc) I see no chance for her staying. Still, I look forward to your follow-up at year end and appreciate the effort. Too many of these stories just fade away.

We have friends that have been granted political asylum and truly qualified. Their view is all these folks should be returned home pronto and that US immigration in general should be more rigorous.

 

[kcowan]

I think the fact that she admitted lying freely implies that she has been paid off to do so. She will probably retire to The Caymans with a nice fat bank account. She seems to be a woman influenced by payments. Maybe the $100k in her bank account was trumped by an offshore payment of $1000k?

After all, why would a woman with a history of lying suddenly change her story on her immigration form? What is in it for her other than getting the charges against DSK dropped?

 

[BigNick]

What is in it for her other than getting the charges against DSK dropped?

Well, so far the charges have not been dropped, and now he's facing the likelihood of charges of attempting to rape his step-goddaughter.

 

[MichaelB]

I think the fact that she admitted lying freely implies that she has been paid off to do so. She will probably retire to The Caymans with a nice fat bank account. She seems to be a woman influenced by payments. Maybe the $100k in her bank account was trumped by an offshore payment of $1000k?

After all, why would a woman with a history of lying suddenly change her story on her immigration form? What is in it for her other than getting the charges against DSK dropped?

Could be. Also could be she was questioned by the police, then the DA's office, her statements were later compared with her immigration application and they were different - and she admitted to misrepresentation after being confronted with the conflicting statements. We may never know. Still, the US system of justice presumes innocence, and that is what DSK is entitled to despite being such an idiot.

 

[veremchuka]

I'll try that argument with DW and let you know how I get on. Provided the hospital has WiFi, that is.

That's amusing.

It seems to be working for him, I see his wife by his side through it all, this is not the 1st time (nor do I expect it will be the last time) he's been involved in a seamy sex scandal. I predict that if he is freed and cleared of all charges he will return to France and be elected. No one cares, especially in France and Europe in general.

Even in the USA they don't care about sex scandals, like I said for men sex is sex and that's all it is. Look at Clinton, he's still revered by the left and if he could run again for president I have no doubt he would win.

You need to be the head of the IMF, or president and then your wife will look the other way!

 

[MichaelB]

The strange case of DSK is back in the news. Both the FT and the NY Review of Books have an article (same author, NYRoB is longer version) alluding that he may have been set up for political purposes. People do love a good conspiracy.

What Really Happened to Strauss-Kahn? by Edward Jay Epstein | The New York Review of Books