Palins, gone fishin'
Posted: Monday, July 06, 2009 12:01 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Republicans
From NBC’s Andrea Mitchell
WASILLA, Alaska -- The latest Tweet from Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin -- on her time off with the family in Bristol Bay -- where she says they have gone for decades to do commercial fishing:
"Grateful Todd left fishing grnds to join me this wkend; but now he's back slaying salmon & working the kids @ the site; anxious to join 'em!"
She tweeted yesterday that she was going to join the work crew for one day picking fish.
Video: NBC's Andrea Mitchell and Vanity Fair's Todd Purdum talk about the response to Gov. Sarah Palin's resignation and why the Alaska governor decided to step down.
Over the weekend, her lawyer told NBC News that the local FBI office had taken the unusual step of issuing a statement confirming that there is no ongoing federal investigation into Palin's affairs.
Palin's attorney sought the statement to rebut blogs claiming she resigned because of an impending scandal. Attorney Tom Van Flein says those blogs are defamatory and has threatened to sue media outlets repeating them unchallenged.
Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who will replace Palin on July 26th, told NBC Sunday that she first told him of her plan to resign last Wednesday -- two days before her announcement. He believes that the pressure of continuing ethics challenges and mounting bills -- now estimated at more than $500,000 -- contributed to her decision to resign.
Video: Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell – who will take over for Gov. Sarah Palin when steps down at the end of July – joins NBC’s Lester Holt to discuss the former vice presidential candidate’s decision.
Palin's attorney also tells us that her legal defense fund has raised approximately $250,000 toward her outstanding legal debt. He stressed that 15 out of 16 ethics challenges against her have been dismissed -- including a challenge to the way she set up her legal defense fund.
In addition to Palin's book deal, she is being offered lucrative speeches and has been approached about talk shows. She is expected to earn millions on the book and other deals once she is out of state government -- after July 26.