The nation's most scandalized lobbyist, Jack Abramoff, was set up for criminal prosecution on trumped up charges. As Lynched! documents, the scandal was conceived by a cabal of lobbyists close to Sen. John McCain, who conspired with tribal dissidents and the Washington Post to leak false allegations against him into the media, which were then promoted throughout the country with the assistance of PR firms. The scheme played out in the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, where McCain held all the levers of power. Abramoff was ultimately prosecuted under ambiguous honest services fraud statutes, which have since been declared unconstitutional. As the author reveals, Abramoff was innocent on every single count. Full coverage of the scandal, how it was created and driven by special interests, along with the truth of what was going on behind the scenes, is provided in this groundbreaking book. For more information, videos, etc., please visit: www.susanbradford.org. Lynched! is the first in a series on the Abramoff scandal.
Susan Bradford is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist, author, and columnist. Her most recent book title is: Lynched! The Shocking Story of How the Political Establishment Manufactured a Scandal to Have Republican Super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff Removed from Power During her four-year investigation of the Abramoff scandal, Bradford interviewed over 400 sources who participated or were otherwise privy to the key events at hand, including lobbyists, attorneys, tribal leaders and dissidents, agency and elected officials, reporters, Committee members, activists, corporate executives, among many others. She also acquired substantial corroborating paperwork from Indian tribes and other former clients and associates of superlobbyist Jack Abramoff. At the invitation of tribal members, Bradford lived on Indian reservations and attended tribal gatherings. In 2007, Bradford became the first journalist to uncover that the Abramoff scandal had been manufactured by tribal dissidents and their lobbyist allies, including Scott Reed. She has been breaking new ground on the Abramoff investigation ever since.
Prior to writing this book, Bradford served as a ghostwriter and editorial consultant to UK High Commissioner Akbar Ahmed. The articles she co-authored with Ahmed were used by Undersecretary of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs Karen Hughes as part of her listening tour to the Middle East. Bradford also developed editorial materials for Ahmed's Jewish-Muslim dialogs with Judea Pearl, the father of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
Bradford holds a BA in English from the University of California, Irvine and has worn many hats within the field of journalism. As an undergraduate, she spent a summer interning at the CBS-TV national news bureau in Los Angeles. Bradford also worked as a reporter for City News Service, a wire service which provides local news coverage to major broadcast and print media in Southern California. During the weekend, she wrote scripts for anchors at KNX (CBS) news radio in Los Angeles. As the first student member of the Hollywood Women's Press Club, Bradford served on the HWPC's Board of Directors, Scholarship Committee, and Golden Apple Awards Committee.
She then became production assistant for the PBS Red Car Film Project, helping to produce a documentary on the federal government's anti-trust litigation against Standard Oil, General Motors et al., for conspiring to restrain trade, corner markets, and run the Red Car Rail System out of business. The documentary featured her grandfather, Judge William C. Dixon, who successfully prosecuted the National City Line case before the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the federal government. The case generated national headlines and was eventually featured on CBS's 60 Minutes.
Following her passion for foreign affairs, Bradford pursued an MA in International Relations at the University of Essex, which houses one of the most rigorous and competitive Government Departments in Europe. During her postgraduate matriculation, she founded the European Review, which became the departmental publication for the university's Centre for European Studies. As Editor, she successfully solicited contributions from heads of state within Britain and the European Union, including, for example, Baroness Margaret Thatcher, Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Sir Leon Brittan, among others. She also secured one of the last interviews with Baron Robert Rothschild and covered an anti-NATO debate in the Russian state Duma, the Britain in the World conference, and a Council of Europe Summit in Madrid, which launched the euro.
In addition to studying at the French Huguenot school, Le Chambon sur Lignon, in France, Bradford spent a summer studying abroad in Hamamatsu, Japan. She also earned a postgraduate certificate in New Approached to Public International Law at the University of Helsinki and a certificate in Congressional Operations from Georgetown University.
As a postgraduate, Bradford was appointed Senior Research Fellow to the Atlantic Council of the UK (NATO Public Affairs office), where she advised ACUK Director Alan Lee Williams and edited and produced publications for NATO-affiliated organizations. She also served as Essex representative to the NATO Universities Advisory Committee where she organized university conferences for NATO leadership across the UK. She then joined Sir Harold Atcherley to found a local branch of the European Movement, a nongovernmental organization established by UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill to help educate the public on the benefits of European integration. Thereafter, Bradford served as publications coordinator for a local branch of the European Movement and was later promoted to the EM's London Strategy Group.
After graduating from Essex, Bradford worked as speech writer for UK Shadow Foreign Secretary Michael Howard. In addition to participating in political strategy sessions, she managed the Robin Cook portfolio. Years later, when Howard became Tory party leader, Bradford was interviewed live on BBC-TV to discuss his qualifications to serve as Prime Minister.
After her stint at Conservative Central Office, Bradford relocated to Washington, DC, where she joined Fox News Channel as freelance producer at the Assignments Desk. In this capacity, she helped produce video packages for Paula Zahn's Edge and Brit Hume's Special Report. Next she worked for the Voice of America as Assignments Editor coordinating the VOA's national and international news coverage.
At the height of the North Korean conflict, Bradford was appointed speech writer to Korean Ambassador Sung Chul Yang. In this capacity, she wrote speeches for the ambassador and embassy diplomats on the U.S.-ROK relationship and the strategic, economic, and cultural integration with North Korea -- and for Korean President Roh Moo-hyun during his visit to Washington, DC.
Bradford's articles have been published in the European Review, Washington Times, UN Vision, Associated Press of Pakistan, Pakistani Link, Smart Girl Politics, Alif-Aleph UK, and elsewhere. She is currently working on several book projects.
Bradford's professional biography is maintained in Marquis' Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in America, and Who's Who Among American Women.
