News/Commentary

Obama was at scene where family friend died in an accident

October 23, 2023 | | Print Article

New details emerged about the mysterious death of former President Barack Obama’s personal chef, including the politician’s whereabouts and the existence of surveillance footage.

As agencies in and around Obama’s Martha’s Vineyard estate worked to squash details about the death of former White House sous chef Tafari Campbell, ruled an accidental drowning, truth seekers took their own steps to shed light on the tragedy.

On Friday, those efforts bore fruit as Fox News host Jesse Watters and Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton produced the response to information requests submitted to the Massachusetts State Police.

Speaking to the July 23 paddleboarding incident near the Obama residence where neither the president nor Mrs. Obama were said to be present, the Fox News host said during Friday’s edition of “Jesse Watters Primetime,” that “The Massachusetts State Police responded to our FOIA request and released their report, with some redactions.”

“According to the report, Obama was on the scene shortly after Campbell went missing,” Watters continued. “The report also states an [unnamed] female staffer jumped into the water when Tafari fell off his board but, it was already too late; he disappeared.”

“We also now know that Secret Service has surveillance footage of Campbell from Obama’s compound moments before he entered the water,” the host added, before telling viewers that he would be endeavoring to obtain however much of that video as possible.

Noting Massachusetts Public Records Law had allowed his organization to obtain 40 pages of records from the state police, Fitton went into greater detail in a lengthy post on X Friday that indicated Obama had been present “for a witness interview in the death investigation” of his personal chef.

“The records, which are heavily redacted, indicate Barack Obama arrived at the emergency response scene via motorcade,” continued Fitton. “A short time later, a cold, wet woman, who was a witness, arrived. The next morning, the eyewitness was interviewed in the Obama residence, again with Barack Obama present.”

While the identity of the female staffer who had been with Campbell at the time of the accident remained undisclosed, the report did qualify the chef’s swimming ability according to family members who, “The documents show…told police that he had taken swimming lessons in 2019 but described his ability as ‘not a great swimmer.'”

“The records also show a female eyewitness, an Obama employee whose name is redacted, told state police that she saw Campbell ‘fall off his paddleboard, began splashing and became extremely panicked, yelling for help and subsequently went underwater very quickly,'” detailed Fitton. “By the time she reached his paddleboard, the witness said Campbell had ‘disappeared into the extremely murky’ water.”

According to her statements, they had been paddle-boarding on their knees until she decided to stand and the chef followed suit, only to readily lose his balance and fall into the water. After her attempt to help him, the reports stated that she sought the aid of the Secret Service detail posted at the residence who were credited with contacting 911 and attempting their own rescue of the man who had disappeared in the water.

Less than an hour after the initial call, Obama was said to have arrived at the incident command post via motorcade and the report stated, “[Redacted] informed me that he and [redacted], [redacted] were not present at their residence ([redacted] Edgartown) at the time of the incident and had been out for dinner, therefore, CAMPBELL would not have been working for the evening. [Redacted] thanked us for our efforts and departed the ICP a short time later.”

Another strange detail highlighted by Fitton was that Campbell’s body was located separate from his clothing.

The reluctance by authorities to release details about the accident only served to stir up theories of a cover-up and potential malevolence as noted by New England Newspaper and Press Association general counsel Robert Bertsche. In August he had said in part, When the government keeps secrets, the void inevitably gets filled with conspiracy theories, and that leads to suspicion and distrust of government.”

“That doesn’t serve the legitimate interests of law enforcement — and it certainly doesn’t serve public, which has a right to know how the police reached their conclusion,” Bertsche said, adding, “By refusing to disclose the investigation details, the police have spawned a cottage industry of rumor-making and malign speculation. It’s natural for members of the public to ask: ‘What do they have to hide?'”

In addition to acknowledging the existence of surveillance footage from the residence that would purportedly show Campbell and the unnamed staffer entering the water to paddleboard and the Secret Service response, the state police had notified Judicial Watch, “The Department conducted a diligent search of its records and is unable to locate any body worn and cruiser mounted video recordings. The Department is in the process of reviewing responsive records and will supplement this response.”

The slow roll of details left many still highly skeptical of the official report as they sounded off on social media.

Kevin Haggerty
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