More bad news from the one-time leading Republican candidate. According to an investigative report in the Washington Post today, one of Fred Thompson's friends - and a fundraiser for his campaign - has a background as a drug dealer.
Republican presidential candidate Fred D Thompson has been crisscrossing the country since early this summer on a private jet lent to him by a businessman and close adviser who has a criminal record for drug dealing.
Whoops. The "businessman" Philip Martin has multiple convictions for dealing in marijuana and cocaine from the 1970s and 1980s, as well as a conspiracy charge. Martin is one of the Thompson campaign's co-chairs, and lends his private jet to Thompson, who used it as recently as last week.
ABC News has more on the case:
Police files show Martin was convicted of or pleaded guilty to multiple felonies in the 1970s and 80s and started and folded dozens of businesses in the 1990s. More recently, former investors have been chasing millions they say they are owed by Martin's former companies.
Asked on Meet the Press today, Thompson said: "He is my friend and he is gonna remain my friend." That's what friends are for. Otherwise, Fred says he didn't know about Martin's past.
