any other? >> no, i personally don't think so. i have been covering politics for a long time. i actually covered politics in new jersey before i came to the district of columbia. so i don't think any more corrupt than any other place. but the interesting thing about d.c., remember, it is not a state. it is a city and the council and the mayor still have functions that are very much like both city and state. so i think there's more room for scrutinizing them and it is very noticeable when you have three out of 13 councilmembers getting into some very serious legal trouble in the span of two years. >> how did you go about covering jeffrey thompson? >> i used to cover the mayor, the mayor's office, and i covered the 2010 mayoral campaign. i was actually assigned to cover

the day-to-day of the fenty campaign and that was the current mayor the time and he was the main opponent of vincent gray who was chairman at the time. so it covered the normal campaign. i was interested in watching fenty's downfall. everyone saw it coming. and it was my job. shortly after gray took office, i heard from the gentleman suleimon brown, who had run for mayor. he had a job in the administration, which was odd. the next thing you knew, he was fired. then he was calling and saying do you want to talk? next thing you knew, he disclosed serious corruption about being paid during the campaign to disparage fenty on the campaign trail. then there is a federal

investigation where they learned that there was something much bigger going on which they called the shadow campaign. and that was a parallel operation to the gray campaign that was done in secret that was not reported, and it was $650,000. which is nothing to sneeze at. allegedly, jeffrey thompson was the sole funder. >> you have to keep using the word allegedly, and it was in the article. why is that? >> he has not been indicted. he has not been charged. there have been several people around him who have been charged. but this is a very long investigation. his attorney is brendan sullivan, who is a very good attorney, and he is known for being able to get delays and he

actually delayed the prosecutors' ability to look at some evidence they had retrieved from some raids on jeffrey thompson's homes and offices more than a year ago. >> he represented ollie north and said, "what am i, a potted plant?" he also represented ted stevens, -- and he was convicted -- but the attorney general throughout his conviction.-- atrough that -- threw th conviction out. >>he is a $1000 an hour lawyer in this town. >> yes, he is and jeffrey thompson can afford it. >> you say in your article that vincent gray's attorney is bob bennett.

yet another big-time attorney. the interesting thing about bennett is that vincent gray's daughter is a very good attorney and she is kind of like a, i-- guess, one could call her a protége of bennett. so they have a relationship that he has had with vincent gray. when gray ran into this issue, he retained mr. bennett. >> let's catch everybody up on this. i know this is a d.c. thing. but i if this book before show some video, how much does the american taxpayer have to do with the district attorney of columbia? >> this is the nation's capital. you should also be interested because, despite the fact that you see the city and they see it

as separate from the federal and capitol hill, this is a city that is still governed by congress. taxpayers have a say in that. that is something that the district of columbia has struggled with. mayor vincent gray has made that one of his main platforms to finally get the city some representation on the hill. >> are they balancing their budget? >> the city is balancing its budget. >> vincent gray used to be the chairman of the city council.how many members? >> 13. >> who elects them? , the city, the voters. >>how many people live in the 650,000 seems to be the

magic number and it continues to go up. >> let show you adrian fendi, he was here for an interview in 2006. >> the philosophy about politics -- you have to understand what your charge is. my charges to be the ceo of the district of columbia, political leader and make sure all my employees at great public servants. i think that corruption happens and it happens because people lose sight of what they are in it for. sometimes they are following the money. sometimes they are following the power.i'm going to stay focused. >> has he ever been accused of being corrupt? >> yes. during the 2010 campaign, mayor vincent gray took followed and-- took fulladvantage of stories that i had written about the

administration, possibly favoring friends of adrian fenty. if you lived here, you saw television that had presented it that way. vincent gray's slogan was, character, integrity, leadership. that character and integrity took direct shots at the administration at the time. that was accused of being corrupt. >> but he was never indicted? >> no, there were never any investigations other than a d.c. counsel investigation. -- was ironically by other ironically by folks who ended up going to jail, the other councilmembers that you mention. >> qualm a brown, harry thomas, junior -- michael brown. let's show vincent gray, who

beat adrian fenty, in what year? >> 2010. >> how badly? >> it was handy. the polls show that adrian fenty was going to lose.but he was still trying to fight. >> i think adrian fendi was 36 years old. >>he was the youngest mayor in washington d.c. history.vincent gray really presented -- he was the exact opposite. he was more friendly and much older.folks got behind him. let's watch vincent gray. he was already mayor when this was recorded. this was not the campaign that we intended to run, tom. i said to many people that we got into this for the right reason. i probably could have stayed on as council chair or done nothing. i got out there to be involved

in this because i love the district of columbia. i am a native washingtonian. i am a product of the schools of this area. i am a product of the district redundant,.not to be i got into this for the right reasons. >> if you were not yourself, but looking at this from outside, what would you think? would you think that the administration is corrupt?mamma -- >> i think it is unfair to say administration. i have distinguished between the campaign and the administration. there is something about our administration that you want to put your finger on, and i would invite you to do that.but i think it is an unfair characterization. >> talking about the situation, >> what does that have to do with campaign versus governing? -- with this administration, in terms of campaign versus governing? >> i am looking at this mayor.is

the mayor corrupt? >> many people will have that question. i know who i am. i get up everyday and look in the mirror, and see someone that i respect. >> this has been going on for a couple of years. where are we in the investigation? >> we have seen five people indicted. two aides to the campaign making theilty. payments to -- >> who ran against gray and criticized him a lot but was paid supposedly or was he by the great people? >> he was definitely being paid. >> so he is a phony candidate?>> you could not: a phony candidate. he got into the race and then it was presented to him, i could get paid by beating up on fancy.

then we see three other people -- one person to pleaded guilty to her role in the shadow campaign. other people had affiliations with one of thompson's companies. s they admitted they had beentraw donors. we have not gotten to that part. what the federal investigators learned in this probe is that this idea that jeffrey thompson had this entire network of contributors that he tapped to give the campaigns. allegedly it was really just his money. we are not talking about $2000. we are talking about thousands and thousands of dollars.we not just talking about the gray campaign, but we are talking about federal

elections. we are talking about elections outside the city. he had a long reach.>> you mentioned $322 million earlier. jeffrey thompson has what kind of business? >> he had an accounting firm. the other business was a managed care firm where residents who cannot afford or do not qualify for medicaid or medicare use -- they are in the city program to get healthcare. he managed the care for those residents. we're talking about 100,000 >> there are only 600 and some in the district -- and 100,000 me that care. how much money did jeffrey thompson get from the district of columbia from all of the friends that he helped fundfor

his company? >> the d.c. charter contract alone was$322 million per year. at the end, it was up to that.we are talking about a company that $4 million --004 2000, for $4 million, and at that time the company made $26 million a year. this is a company -- man who really don't the company up. some may believe it was through corrupt means. but other folks say he was very savvy, very smart. he built this company up. one of the things i found reporting my story is this was .asically this circle of money get the money from the city and then he would give to charity and family and friends and then somehow the money would circle back around to the candidate who

would become councilmembers and then they would approve his contact -- contract. >> in your article, there's is a lot of photography. here's a picture of thompson says mother and son.here's a picture of dorothy height -- haight, i know she is deceased now. >> she was a civil rights and a women's rights icon. if you ask anyone, they would tell you that she was an incredible woman. and jeffrey thompson met her when he was a young accountant. she became a client. after he began making money and making a lot of money, he saw her organization, the national council of negro women, of which she --s president for decades, she it was a group he really wanted to help and give to.

what is astounding is the national council of negro women, the organization have the only black owned building on pennsylvania avenue. and jeffrey thompson was instrumental in helping to buy the building.>> you tell the story -- >> i was able to tell the story. the article took a lot of research and i was able to look up lots of things. luckily, c-span records so many things that are important to the public and you recorded her memorial service. and jeffrey thompson retells a >> we are going to run a clip so everybody can see what jeffrey thompson looks like. again, he has not been charged with anything. has there been a grand jury? >> there is. i should say that one of the reasons we feel so comfortable writing about him in many court

documents, the court documents name an unnamed and unindicted ---conspirator and it is the it is a perfect description of jeffrey thompson. >> did you try asking whether he is the one? did you talk to the lawyer? [laughter] >> of course, i talked to brendan sullivan. he is known for not talking to the media and not allowing his clients talk to the media until the case is completed and he sticks with that script. and i respect that. >> here is jeffrey thompson at the funeral. >> when it came time to buy the contract on the building, the day before it was to be done, i was in a meeting with my partners at my accounting firm and i received an early call -- urgent call

from dr.haight. i told my secretary of would call her back. she insisted on speaking with me. thompson, my son, you must come now. now. i dropped everything, got in a cab and went to see her. when i walked into her office, it was like the winds were out of her sail because a certain gentleman on who's shoulder she climbed to achieve success and for whom she had opened many doors dared to walk away from this mission.-- dare to back away from his commitment. i said, what will we do? we must get this deal completed, she said.i said, give me a few minutes to reflect. before i left her office she said, mr. thames -- mr. thompson, see what you can do. >> have you ever met him? >> i have met jeffrey thompson. >> did you talk to him ever about all of this?

>> i certainly tried. way before i started researching ihis article, i ran into him -- was leaving a social event. he was walking in and i actually said oh, mr. thompson, i am nikita stewart. i've been calling you. you never returned any of my calls.i remember he said, no. >> how this he? >> 58 years old. >> where is he from? fromvanna.-- originally savannah, jamaica, in the parish of saint elizabeth. >> how did he get to the united states? >>he moved here with his father and of the siblings before he moved here -- he comes from a very large family -- and to have his siblings had passed away.-- two of his siblings had passed away. , according topset

several of her family members, and she just needed to get away. and she decided to come to d.c. to stay with relatives. and then the rest of her family followed her a few years later. >> how old was he when he came to the united states? >> he was only 19 is old. he had an education in jamaica. but nothing that would really transfer to the united states. so he had to basically start from scratch your and he earned a ged and then he went to the university of the district of columbia. >> who was the first person he met in politics that paid off-- i do not know if it is a fair way to say it -- paid off for him and make connection and he was able to have a relationship with a politician? >> then -- there were several people he met along the way. i do not know if i could pinpoint the first person but he had a relationship with alexis

herman who ended up being the secretary of labor under president clinton. that was a big connection for him because it opened up the world in the white house. he attended the state dinner for nelson mandela. >> were they dating? >> yes, they were. so he ran in those circles. and then he was very helpful to delegate eleanor holmes norton, we all see on colbert, and i think that is the way the restof the country sees her. here, we see her as a nonvoting delegate was always trying to get to d.c. the right to vote. in 1990, when she was first running for the seat, she ran into some tax troubles and she turned to jeffrey thompson for advice. that is outlined in donna brazil's autobiography. it's interesting to see how this

man, who everyone -- when this story broke two years ago, people were like who is jeffrey thompson? i've never heard of him. especially a lot of the local mainstream media. but i can remember seeing his photo in a lot of the black weeklies basically documenting his charities. so i knew this jeffrey thompson person. i knew he had city contracts. but i don't think people understood what a behind-the- scenes player he was, starting from years ago, both locally and in the federal government. >> i want to run a 2.5-minute piece that we found on "the washington post" website are-- of you. what is the origin? that is new. >> you know, the story used a lot of new technology that we are trying at "the washington post," and maybe technologies the wrong word.

you go to our website and you read my story in a different template than what you will see with other stories, they wanted to try this video, similar to what "frontline" was doing.i was game. we did it. >> is this the first television you have done? >> no. >> from its television have you done in the past?-- how much have you done in the past? >> just local television. in 2008, i was assigned to the inauguration of president obama. at the time, president-elect obama. i made a few television appearancesbecause i was one of the main reporters. >> so people would know, this was four pages, which in a newspaper devoted to this on sunday, july 14, how can people find it want to read your whole

story? >> go to washingtonpost.com and write in jeffrey thompson or you can look for investigation -- there is a bookmark menu at the if you click on. that, my story will -- will be peer. >> this will be cap everything we were talking about two and a half minutes. [video clip] >> three years ago, mayor adrian fendi and council chairman vincent gray faced each other in one of the most contentious and expensive elections in d.c.'s recent history. fenty raised $5 million to hold onto his seat. vincent gray raised only $1.2 million. but he won the public over as an affable and effective chairman. fenty. fancy -- shortly after he took office in

2011, brown, who also had run for mayor, said he was paid and promised a job in return for disparaging fenty in the papers. -- during the election. federal investigators soon discovered much of brown's story was true and they uncovered a bigger secret, the shadow campaign. was spent and,000 never recorded on great's behalf. allegedly, just one man was behind that money. jeffrey thompson. a jamaican immigrant who moved to the united states in the 1970s, thompson earned his ged, went to college, and built a small empire. he cofounded an accounting firm and he owned d.c. charters health plan, which had $22 million in revenues, the largest city contract owned by single vendor. he also rubbed elbows with the likes of oprah winfrey and

dorothy haight. he gave back of the poor and was known as a top fundraiser for candidates. but federal investigators allege that the donor contributions bumbled by thomson actually came from him or his firm. to date, five people have pleaded guilty. one of his campaign aides pleaded guilty to destroying evidence that showed a payment no sue lamon brown -- suleimo brown. jean clark harris, an associate of gray and thompson admitted her role in the shadow campaign. from the accounting firm pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor, saying they were straw donors and involve their relatives in the scam. >> where was that actually taped? >> that was in the wilson

building, at city hall in they-- they don't call it city hall here. they call it the wilson building. it is a beautiful facility and we decided it would be a good setting for the story. >> how long did it take you to do? >> two hours. [laughter] >> let's go back to the mayor. as he sits in the job right now, all of 2011 and all of 2012, has he been charged with anything? >> he has not been charged and no evidence has emerged in any court documents saying that the mayor was aware at all of the payments to brown or that he had any awareness of the shadow campaign. >> i think i read in your piece that the shadow campaign offices were next are two vincent gray for mayor posters.-- right next

door to vincent gray for mayor offices. have you seen them side-by-side yourself? >> yesterday. >> explain what a shadow campaign is and how it works and why jeffrey thompson is in this mix. >> this takes a lot to explain, but i will do my best. basically, you have a campaign going on, a regular campaign you see. then you had another set of folks who were in an office right next to the vincent gray campaign. there were so many things going on, several workers complaining about the other workers because they felt they were getting paid more and there was a lot of confusion as to who is paying them, etc. it wasn't until a year later that folks started putting things together when federal investors began asking questions and they realized, wait a minute, the folks who were next door to my we can find any record of them in the campaign

finance records that we see. so how did those get paid and who is in charge of them? and that is how it went back to allegedly jeffrey thompson. >> how did he allegedly raise this money, the $650,000 that was in the shadow campaign? >> it was his, according to court documents that describe him, but don't name him. >> in the district of columbia, has ever been a republican mayor? >> no. well, not in home rule. >> has there ever been a white mayor? >> no. >> in this mix of the investigation, the u.s. attorney's black. >> yes, he is. >> can you tell us anything about him? >> ron machen is tough. he takes his time. the public may know him best with this kind of -- i don't

want to call it phone tapping situation with reporters. he is a little in that mix. but locally, he has made corruption, especially government corruption and corruption in politics, that is something that he is trying to eliminate, not only in d.c., but in other jurisdictions. -- and many people has he orvicted or copped a plea whatever it is since this process in 2011? >> in this particular investigation, there have been five people. but if you expand it into looking into the other council members, you've had several-- nohael brown, kwame brown,

relation, harry thomas, junior. you have federal agencies that he looked at. the numbers are actually much greater. i couldn't even sit here and to tell you how many people have been convicted or pled guilty during his tenure. the number is quite high and he is very serious about this public corruption. >> michael brown is the son of ron brown who is secretary of commerce.-- who had been secretary commerce. he had died flying over bosnia some years ago. what did michael brown do that got him indicted.he is going to prison. >> it is an awful situation because it was a bribery case. and it was a sting operation. this occurred after the council members were already being scrutinized for corruption.

machen's office set up a sting --eration were guys who were some guys pretending to be contractor saying, can you help us get this contract? now we have video of him accepting cash. around here, it is a redskins mu g, and the dollar bills were all balled up and placed into the mug. a bad situation. what is interesting about that case is in his guilty plea, he admits that even though he was only pleading guilty to the sting operation -- he admits that years ago, in 2007, he accepted $25,000 from jeffrey thompson. and disguised it as a personal

loan to his campaign. it is obvious the the federal investigators are sending some kind of message in michael brown's plea because that isn't even anything that he pled guilty to. they just threw that into that folks know we know it has been going on all these years. >> what do you suspect -- i know this is a tough question -- but what do you suspect with jeffrey thompson? will he be indicted? >> yes.i believe he will be indicted. >> what is the timetable? >> i wish i could show you.-- i wish i could tell you the timetable, but i can't. after my story, we had another story written by my colleague, and i was contributed. she covers the u.s. attorney's office. jeffrey thompson has signed a waiver. he has waived his rights to the statute of limitations and this

can be five years or six years. now the federal investigators have more time to investigate. so there is no telling how long this will last. our belief is that the thinking of the u.s. attorneys offices that once they charge jeffrey thompson, they have to be ready to go to trial. and brendan sullivan is, like, bring it on.they have to be ready. apparently, you don't want to mess with brendan sullivan.>> how is a guy like vincent gray, the mayor, paying for bob bennett? >> the mayor makes $200,000 a year. vincent gray was a career -- he used to work at the department of health for the city. he was the director of the department of health under mayor -- sharon pratt many years ago.

i'm sure he has some money saved up. i wish i could answer to you how much is bob bennett charging, but i don't know the answer. >> probably not too far from brendan sullivan. $1000 an hour. did you expect vincent gray will be indicted, the mayor? >> i don't think i have any comment on that. i am really not sure. you asked me one day and i think the federal investigators are going to do something. and you asked me the next day and i say maybe not. it is one of the situation where, in my story, i point to a meeting that he and jeffrey thompson had for one of jeffrey thompson's friends told the one thing about the meeting and a friend of the mayor's another-- friend of the mayor says another thing happened. and it will be a he said/she said situation. i don't know what kind of

evidence the u.s. attorney's office has, if any, that mayor gray was aware at this was happening on his behalf.>> here is another "washington post" person, a columnist talking about this. i want to throw him into the mix because he has been unrelenting saturday after saturday after saturday. here's colbert cain.-- colbert king. [video clip] >> i admire the debate that took place where brown just lambasted fenty with some very scurrilous fenty ani gave opportunity to respond, but he did not. we did not the time that suleiman brown was being paid to behave that way. i saw him do the same thing the next night at another debate.>> did you think all of these people thought they could get away with it? >> yes. where are the pressure

points, including "the post"? >> i was saying this two years ago. many things that folks are being charged with i believe, based on my reporting, that many of these things were going on in the past, but technology caught up with people. i was able to build the suleiman brown story.i remember telling him, can i just see your cell phone records? i just documented all the times that he received calls from members of vincent gray's campaign. you could show when they first started talking to him, the days of the debate. >> remind people what so him on brown's role is all this. cracks on remind him of what suleim brown's role in all of this? >> he was a minor candidate and no one was paying attention to them. but in the debates he was very

lively and his main thing in the debates he would eat up on andrew infinity. -- fenty. , goad a slogan, go gray brown, any color but just don't go fenty. fenty was very shaken in the debates at some of the things that suleiman brown was saying about him.what i found his things just caught up with people. today you can easily look at campaign finance records and see the pattern. you can set up your own database. it is very easy to do that. let's remember, 10 years ago or 15 years ago, you would have to go through campaign finance reports by hand to figure out the patterns.and to see things. with jeffrey thompson, the washington city paper has done a very good job ofdocumenting all of the money from the network. not that all of that money was corrupt. but you can definitely see the

pattern of how many employees were giving and how many of his relatives are giving. and showing that they were easily bundled all on the same date. cracks can you explain to -- >> can you explain to the outside world how marion barry continues to be in public office? >> he is very charming. >> he has been in mayor four times, in prison six months. caught up in a cocaine arrest at the vikings hotel, or whatever. >> vista. m excuse me, the famous vista video. not paying taxes, picked up for speeding. he had trouble where he was making sure that one of his girlfriends got some money from the government.how does it just keep on rolling? >> marion barry knows the law. he recently went ahead and told the d.c. counsel -- now the d.c. counsel has an ethics board because of everything that

occurred in the last two years they review the conflicts of interest, etc., of council members and he told the ethics board, hey, there are these i took some money from them. it was a gift. it did not influence what i have done, but i thought i should report it.and right now the council trying to decide what to do. >> they have already voted 12-0 to take his committees away from him? >> yes. >> what can they do to him now? >> they could push the we -- to refer it to the u.s. attorney's office. but that office is very busy. >> he actually reported? >> yes. that is why i think the marion barry's begins, ok, yes, -- i do not know whether you quel it missed the -- misti

or clever. i did it. you're not going to uncover something. he is going to be upfront with you. >> what is he, 78? >> yes. >> did somebody give him a kidney? >> yes. all theory i explain connections jeffrey thompson has had over the years. he gave marion barry's son a job at one time. contract to a woman who had given marion barry a kidney. marion barry has had a lot of health problems over the years. but he is still here and he is very much -- seems like he will be here much longer. jeffreyer explain how thompson did his work and how he contributed to all of these campaigns? you call him the governor the

district. >> yes, the governor of the district of columbia, that is a name he apparently gave himself. he calls himself the governor. i think you are trying to get me to start earlier with mayor anthony williams. >> two mayors, three mayors ago. >> yes.he ran the city for eight years. he was actually a friend of jeffrey thompson.and jeffrey thompson, through marion barry the search, was on committee for a chief finance officer for the city and he tapped his friend anthony williams for the job. >> we have a picture of anthony williams on the screen. >> basically, you have asked how he worked. he worked very hands-on. if he was going to give to you, he wanted to see you.

he wanted to shake your hand. he wasn't just going to write a check and let that be the end of it. he also wanted to show you that he could raise a great deal of the money for you. so one of the things that i wrote about in my story is, when he would have these fundraisers in his office, he would get checks from each employee and he would look at the checks. and if they were sizable, he would place them in his jacket pocket. and if they were not, he would give them to his secretary. and he liked to give the candidates the large checks and bundles to show what a great fundraiser he was. >> i want to show you some politics of all this. we found this on the rush limbaugh website.

just to show you what is talked about in the conservative radio environment to the outside world. [video clip] >> this is natural, folks. i will answer the question for you. why are all d.c. mayors corrupt? that is the question. why are all washington, d.c. -- it's not my proposition. cnn did this. cnn did the story. cnn asking the question -- why are all washington mayors corrupt? let me answer that by answering another question asked by asking another question. what party do they come from? they are all democrats. what kind of democrats are they? they are all liberal democrats. you want to know why every washington mayor is corrupt? it's because they are all liberal democrats. that's what they do. yeah, marion barry is just said the b-i-itch set me up. that was in the cocaine room.--

that was the cocaine staying in a hotel room. >> what do you say to that? >> i would say it is unfair to call all d.c. mayors corrupt. i also believe that there is corruption everywhere. it is in every city, in every party. --am personally independent. registered independent. i registered independent when i was 18 years old. i just believe that people in power often do things, either --cause they are pensive or either because they are tempted or sometimes they compromise their values or their ideals in an effort to, you know, get what they really need. what i mean by that is, you know, it happens all the time. we see it on the hill.

you say you believe this one thing and this is the bill you are pushing. all of a sudden, somebody throws this rider onto the bill and you really don't believe in that but you really need to get the bill passed. and to me, that is a form of corruption at a very low level if we wanted to find corruption i don't even know how we are going to define corruption. but i think that it is unfair to say that all liberal democrats are corrupt. and i say this as a person who covered politics in kentucky, in new york, new jersey. i have seen corruption in all of the parties and i have seen it among all ethnicities. not that that is what he was saying.but i just have. >> where are you from?>> i am originally from fort hood, texas. i am a military brat. my family spent some time at fort clayton in panama.

and my parents met in fort campbell in kentucky and that is where i went to high school and college. >> i went toege? western kentucky, university, which is in bowling green, kentucky.the home of rand paul. >> how did you get into this business? >> my brother had a paper route when i was a kid and that was back in the days when the papers would be dropped off at the house at 5 a.m. and i would help my brother fold them and then put the rubber bands on them.we were not that fancy back then. we didn't have the bags. so that is what i did in texas. and i wasn't very good at folding. i was a little busy reading. but my brother wasn't paying me anyway. but i have always said i'm glad andbrother didn't do lawns, instead wanted to be a paperboy,

becauseotherwise i would be in the lawnmowing business. >> what did you do after college?>> my first job was at the courier-journal in louisville, kentucky. i covered everything from courts to cops to city hall and then i went to begin newspapers in-- newspapers innett white plains, new york and i covered politics in westchester county. then i went to "the star-ledger" in new jersey where i covered newark city hall. i saw the rise of cory booker. >> how did you get to "the post" and how long have you been there? >> a funny story i like to tell. when i was in high school, i was very much a journalism nerd and i went to a camp at northwestern university. i met several campers and one camper i always stayed in touch he had gotten a job at "the

washington post." there were like, do you know anyone we should be looking at? he said, yes, nikita stewart. so "the post" called me and i have been there since. >> when? >> that was in 2004. >> i only know another nikita and his name is khrushchev.where did that name come from? -- orhink he died in 1972 i think he died in 1970 one and thereabouts. i was born in 1972 and my mother liked the name, and here i am. >> back to "the post," when did jeffrey thompson story start for you? when did they say we are going to do a piece? as you know, nobody gets four pages in the newspaper. >> i joined the investigative team in december and i wrote a memo of things i wanted to

pursue. at the time, they decided i should pursue a story i was working on -- i will not reveal it in case i actually finish it. i was focused on this agency for a few months. but the other story i wanted to pursue was jeffrey thompson. i wanted to pursue the jeffrey thompson story first -- i wrote the memo and they said you should pursue this agency first. so, i did. then the jeffrey thompson situation started heating up. they knew things were going to be happening. the time to do this jeffrey thompson profile is now. so i approached my editor about it and he was great and he said, yes, that is what you should do. and that is what i did. i think we came out with a great story. i was grateful that "the post" gave me the time to finish the

story.-- at the time and the resources to complete this kind of story. right now, the news industry is going through a transition. it has been a transition for the last 10 years now. it's tough. i know we have limited but when i presented going to jamaica at first they were like, i don't know. then my editor said, you should go to jamaica. >> and why? >> i wanted to go to to jamaica because we were following the money and just to really dig deep into who jeffrey thompson really is. and i think we were able to show that. >> you have a picture here of barry thompson.he is walking down what looks like a lonely road. >> he is one of jeffrey thompson's brothers.

we actually traveled to jamaica with michael dufile, a wonderful photographer. he has won a number of pulitzers. and he happens to be from jamaica. he is from kingston. it was great to have someone to -- who was from jamaica to be at my side during that time. jeffrey thompson's town, we are areaing about a pretty rural with dirt road and driving --oh, my goodness -- luckily, "the post" was good enough to want toa driver.>> i show some of the photographs of the screen of the area down in jamaica. you can see the young kids on the bicycle. there are several other pictures. how this he? >> barry thompson is 72.

>> that is a bar scene. >> yes. there are lots of bars in jamaica. basically every other shop is a beautiful beach where jeffrey thompson would go and swim as a child. >> we had the head of police department here a couple of months ago. we asked her about the corruption thing. look how she handled this thing. -- house -- how she handled this question. [video clip] >>when you are a police officer and they are elected officials i look at the days when marion barry was going through his criminal issues -- it's embarrassing. this is the guy who signs your paycheck essentially. so when these things are going on, i try to keep the police

department focused and we don't have time to get sucked into politics.we've got to stay focused. the metropolitan police department is a shining star in this city. we had integrity. -- have integrity. we have an incredible reputation for customer service and responsiveness and we do a great job at fighting crime. don't get distracted by that crap. stay focused on what you have to do . >> what did you think it was she said? >> i like the way she uses "crap." [laughter]she has done a tremendous job staying above the politics in the city. she could easily have been sucked into the fenty administration drama here and-- drama. she is one of the reasons that some folks were upset with fenty at the very beginning. fenty came into office when the city was still in majority black. you had a lot of black leaders behind the scenes pushing for

things. and there are some people in the city who would believe that the police chief should be black or at least they did years ago before her. and adrian fenty tapped her. now, the sopne down. -- fop would beg to differ on how successful she has really been. >> the union? >> yes. you live here. you know that the city is probably much safer than it was 10 years ago. >> it went from 400 murders to 100. >> and that happened during cathy lanier's tenure. and when mayor grey took office, he kept cathy lanier on. i think that shows how she can, kind of just stick to the police

department. whatever is going on over in city hall, we are not going to get involved with it. >> one more time, we have to tell folks how to see your article. >> go to washingtonpost.com and andto "the governor of d.c." you will see my story. >> that was a july 14, 2013 story. any other articles you are working on right now? >> nothing really other than lots of follow-ups to the jeffrey thompson story. and of course, when he is indicted, as we expect, i will be part of that coverage also. >> who was the maddest at you and "the post" after this article was published? >> that is a tough one.

this article was something that i have never experienced before. i received so many calls, even from people who have criticized me since i started covering this beat or since i started covering the city back in 2006. who were, like, this was an incredibly fair article. and that is all i ever asked people. i just want to be fair and i want to be accurate. and i hope i achieved that. i only received, like, one really hateful e-mail. it was basically from someone who felt that i was tearing down a black man. let's remember that there is still a lot of racial tension in the city, and that is how that person felt.

but i tried to show people are complicated and i think politicians, like these special beings and the people who love politicians are these special beings, to me, they are almost not human. all i want to do is kind of humanize them to show people that there is good and bad in everyone and sometimes good people do bad things and sometimes bad people can do some good things that you may not have heard about. so that is what i strive to show in all of my writing and recording. >> nikita stewart, we are out of time and we thank you very much for joining us.>> thank you. copy of this program, called --

[captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] next, live, your calls and comments on "washington journal" and at six 30 p.m. eastern, virginia congressman bobby scott holds a town hall discussion on the healthcare law. of all the handsome young officers who were surrounding my grandmother, who was 23 years old at the time and very beautiful, my grandfather had been trying to talk to her but could not because of the handsome young men around. but then they all rush to go up there to do whatever they had to do, what they were trained to

do. they left her standing there. she knew her father was up there and she fell in behind them. i grandfather fell in behind her going up the steps. they came running back calling out, don't let her -- her father is dead. when she heard that, my grandmother fainted right back into the arms of the president. he caught her tenderly and gently. >> this week, the encore presentation of our original series "first ladies -- influence and image" looking at the public and private lives of our nation's first lady. this week, anna harrison to allies. -- eliza johnson. all this month at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. waveis morning, third cofounder matt bennett discusses efforts to influence policy on the economy, immigration reform, national security, and other issues. then kaiser health news correspondent looks at how the healthcare law affects hospital serving medicare patients. data, university of maryland professor talks about the

special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children, commonly known as wic. "washington journal" is next. ♪ good morning. august 12, 20 13. attorney general eric holder is set to announce that low-level, nonviolent drug offenders will no longer be charged minimum mandatory sentence -- sentences. it is part of an overall package to reform american prisons. he will make the remarks at the american bar association today in san francisco. we want to begin there. what is your take on the attorney general's proposal to reform the prison system in this country? republicans -- democrats -- independents