William Timmons Affair, Murdaugh Cell Data Evidence, Open Microphone Policy - Week In Review 7/8/22

Our founding editor Will Folks is back in the chair for this Saturday’s edition of the FITSNews Week in Review! In this episode, we treaded dangerously close to Real Housewives of Greenville territory – delving into the cast of characters tied to the sex scandal surrounding U.S. congressman William Timmons.

Missed that drama? Well, “it started with a whisper …” and yes, Will quoted (and even tried to sing a few bars) of that song in his expansive, entertaining take on the circus swirling around the family values “Republican.”

As a reminder, FITSNews doesn’t really care who politicians sleep with (unless they bill their dalliances to the taxpayer) – but we were dragged headfirst into this still-unfolding drama.

To recap: FITSNews never sought comment from the congressman on his alleged affair with a Charleston socialite. Nor did we indicate that we had any plans to publish a report on the rumored tryst (we hadn’t even really had a proper conversation about it in the newsroom). Also, FITSNews has a longstanding policy of not getting involved in the private lives of public officials – a policy Timmons and his team were no doubt well aware of.

Still, we were provided with an unsolicited 18-word statement in which Timmons asked for “prayers and privacy” as he and his wife, Sarah Timmons, worked through “some difficult private matters.”

In case you aren’t familiar with how these things typically go – and I’d hope for your own sake that you aren’t – it’s not exactly standard operating procedure to give a media outlet a quote about your affair when they are simply doing their due diligence on a tip.

It seemed to us as though Timmons almost wanted this story out there so it wouldn’t continue to fester. If he was hoping his indiscretions would slip quickly out of the news cycle, though, he was sorely disappointed.

In this week’s episode Will discussed the allegations against Timmons and the (at times ludicrous) public statements made by those impacted by the scandal in detail.

In other news, the ‘Murdaugh Murders’ crime and corruption saga is heating up and we were proud to give readers and viewers an exclusive look at the role geofencing (the use of cell phone location data to pinpoint who was at a crime scene) could play in the prosecution of the killer or killers of Paul and Maggie Murdaugh.

In our Murdaugh segment, we played a clip from researcher Jennifer Wood’s special report on this subject (but you should absolutely click here to watch the full video).

We’re continuing to keep our eyes peeled and our ears to the ground on this story – and have heard that major developments related to the case could happen in the very near future. Stay tuned.

Finally, Will took a moment to address this news outlet’s longstanding open microphone policy. We’ve had the privilege of publishing a lot of great guest columns lately, and announced earlier this week that we will be bringing on a new guest columnist to further broaden the idealogical spectrum on our site.

The team here at FITSNews – like our readers – doesn’t always see eye-to-eye. And that’s a good thing. No one person, party or ideology gets it right all the time – and we hope to provide a sort of intellectual proving ground where the best ideas compete against one another to see which ones come out on top.

So stay tuned for more guest columns, and know that if you’ve got something smart to say – we’re glad to give you a place to say it.

One last programming note: For those of you covering the Bowen Turner saga, we will be covering the accused rapist bond revocation hearing next Wednesday in Orangeburg, S.C. In case you missed our recent coverage of a buddy-buddy reception given to a new judge by a powerful law firm (one with deep ties to the state legislature), give Will’s piece from earlier this week a read. The story didn’t make this week’s show … but it shone a light on the interpersonal relationships that threaten the notion of “blind justice” in South Carolina.

Intro 0:00
Timmons Affair: 1:47
Murdaugh Murders 15:23
Open Mic and New Columnist 24:30
Bowen Turner/Outro 29:27