MSNBC pointed to a report by the Washington Post, which claimed that Kentucky Republican senator Rand Paul used certain passages from an earlier case in his class-action lawsuit with former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli and the conservative activist group Freedomworks to shutter the surveillance programs of the National Security Agency.
The Washington Post said the true author of Paul's lawsuit was former Reagan administration lawyer Bruce Fein. He was quoted by the paper, who said, "I am aghast and shocked by Ken Cuccinelli's behavior and his absolute knowledge that this entire complaint was the work product, intellectual property and legal genius of Bruce Fein."
Even Fein's ex-wife and spokeswoman, Mattie, chimed in. Telling Dana Milbank of the paper, she said, "Ken Cuccinelli stole the suit. (Paul, who) already has one plagiarism issue, now has a lawyer who just takes another lawyer's work product."
MSNBC said that Paul and Cuccinelli had used Fein's work without consultation with the attorney, and also failed to provide remuneration in the process. The news outlet also said that Fein's work with Paul's political action committee known as RANDPAC was identical to the lawsuit supposedly authored by the senator, former attorney general and the activist group.
What's confusing in this is that a RANDPAC forwarded an email supposedly coming from Fein himself, which the news outlet had confirmed, and the email refuted his and his wife's comments about the alleged plagiarism. It read, "Mattie Lolavar was not speaking for me. Her quotes were her own and did not represent my views. I was working on a legal team, and have been paid for my work."
Fein might have turned around from his earlier claims. The Washington Post said Fein received an email from Paul's top political operative Doug Stafford, which read that he is expecting Fein to be given credit, or at least get involved in the suit in the future, but was disappointed with his initial outbursts. "That is crazy and makes no sense if your interest is to work as part of the team. None," Stafford wrote to Fein.
