There was a moment in last night’s press conference that the cameras didn’t quite catch, and that was Donna Watts-Brighthaupt showing up. It wasn’t immediately clear who it was on the sidewalk listening to the press conference, but it turns out that Ms. Watts was there last night, and she is denying parts of what his spokesman Natalie Williams said.
One thing that came to mind last night after the press conference, thanks in part to the prompting of author Ben Stanfield, is that it’s possible that Ms. Williams may have violated Ms. Watts’ privacy, and HIPAA, by revealing a course of psychiatric treatment and what she was being diagnosed with. This appears to be getting weirder and weirder. We won’t know until tomorrow if Councilman Barry will be charged with anything, but it sounds like the Councilman is doing some full court press for a reason, even if that reason is unclear.
I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.
Fox briefly caught her getting in a car during the live broadcast last night- I didn’t know if it was Watts or not, but it seemed like a safe assumption. I too wondered about HIPAA rights being violated- then I remembered that we’re dealing with Marion Barry, and that the normal laws of the country never have really applied to him as far as he’s concerned.
The sad part? He could even get convicted of something here, and he’ll STILL get re-elected. This is really the best DC can do for elected officials?