Just to review the timetable, McCain's VP pick was announced on Friday, August 29th. Throughout that weekend, (Saturday, the 30th and Sunday the 31st) the Internet rumors grew that Trig was Bristol's child. On Monday, September 1, which was Labor Day, the McCain campaign announced that Bristol was five months pregnant, in a direct attempt to "prove" she could not have been Trig's mother which theoretically "proves" that Sarah is. (Which of course it doesn't.)
And, again, apparently some time on September 1, 2008 the photos that we are going to be discussing here were either removed or "made private" on Mercedes Johnston's MySpace page. I don't know which, and if anyone out there can clarify the exact time table and process on this that would be great.
There are four pictures total, three clearly taken simultaneously as follows:
The first photo is of Mercedes Johnston alone with Trig, the second of Gov. Palin with Ms. Johnston, and the third is ... I believe... Bristol with Mercedes Johnston. Originally several websites identified the young woman in the third picture as Willow, an identification I originally agreed with, but now I am almost certain that it is Bristol.
Each of these photos had a caption. Here's a screen shot showing all three of the photos with their original captions.
The "breaking news" from Audrey is that I now know where the photos were taken. One of the reasons I have hesitated doing a post about these photos is that I could not pinpoint either their location or their date. It's been stated that they were taken in a birthing suite, probably at Mat-Su. This was important because it would have required that Trig would have been less than 48 hours old, and we would have been looking at a photos of both Bristol and Gov. Palin at a point less than two days after (it was most likely) that one of them had given birth.
I can now state that these photos were taken in the Palin home. I had always felt that the location might be a kitchen due to the tile floor and what I thought was part of a refrigerator to the left in the picture with Gov. Palin,. I also had suspected that it might be the Palin home from the beginning, given Gov. Palin's bare legs (which would be unlikely in Alaska in April unless you were at home... not really "going out" attire.) But I couldn't prove it. Now, however, thanks to several interviews done in the last 48 hours, we have solid video of the inside of the Palin home - and there's no doubt. Here's a screen shot.
The door, the corner of the island, the refrigerator.. they all match.So.. what does this change? Where does this leave us? Well, first, by proving that this is in the Palin home, we lose the "datability" of the photos that we would have had if it could have been proven that they were taken in a hospital setting. While Trig is young here - very young, he could be as old as several weeks, in my opinion. If he is, say, three weeks old, (and he could be) saying, "Gov. Palin doesn't look postpartum here," is moot. She doesn't look postpartum. Neither does Bristol. So... I would conclude that these photos per se are now useless for drawing any conclusions about who "appears" more likely to have had a child.
What we're left with are these odd odd captions. Mercedes refers to Trig as "My new Baby Brother," and Sarah as Mommy in Law. In another photo, not taken the same day, Mercedes refers to Bristol as her "sister-in-law." Here's that photo. I thought I had a screen shot of it with caption intact but cannot find that. If anyone has it please send it or post the link. However, I believe that the full original caption is: "My sister in law. Oh how I love her."
First, nowhere has it been published or stated in any way that Levi and Bristol are married or were married as of early spring 2008. It's been stated officially that they plan to marry next summer. So Mercedes referring to Bristol as her sister-in-law last spring is clearly a term of endearment based on a future event. She thinks of her already as family. But does she think of her as "sister-in-law" because Bristol has already had a child with her brother, or does she think of her in that way merely because the two teens plan on marrying? We can't know. However, within the frame of mind that her brother Levi and Bristol Palin are an established and going to be married couple, she visits the Palin home after Trig is born.
Then she refers to Sarah as Mommy in law. Why? One possibility is that she's thinking about Sarah completely based on her (Sarah's) future relationship with her (Mercedes') brother, and using this term in that context, something that has nothing to do with Trig. Because vis a vis Trig, Sarah is either Trig's mother or her grandmother. But she's Levi's "future" Mommy in Law so "she's sort of my Mommy in Law now too." This isn't a great explanation, but it's possible.
The "my new baby brother." This is the most puzzling. One possibility is that because she already considers Bristol her "sister," any of Bristol's siblings are her siblings too. This is again weak but it is an explanation. (In spite of the fact that even after a marriage, if Trig is Sarah's child, Trig would be Mercedes' brother's brother-in-law, and NO relationship to Mercedes at all.) But if Trig is Bristol and Levi's child, then Trig is Mercedes' nephew. Does Mercedes not know this term and she's substituting the only thing she can think of? I honestly don't know.
I've thought about this for a long time, and have come to the conclusion that it's almost impossible to draw any resonable conclusion.
First, we cannot date these photos reliably. When people believed they were taken within a couple of days of the birth, they had some value as Gov. Palin does NOT look like someone who has given birth literally hours earlier. But now, saying that they could have been taken anytime between around the 22nd of April and the 10th of May, they lose all value.
Second, Mercedes' captions make no sense if Sarah is the mom, or if Bristol is the mom. In neither scenario is Trig Palin Mercedes Johnson's brother, and in neither scenario is Sarah Palin Mercedes Johnson's Mommy in Law. Either way, you can't make it fit.
However, we are left with two interesting observations. If Sarah Palin was NOT Trig's mom, if there was a huge guilty secret to hide, would you really let a teenager come in with a camera, take pictures and glibly walk out of the house? That seems very unlikely.
Then, though, there is the other side of the coin. Like many other pieces of evidence that may have pointed to Sarah Palin not being pregnant/ Trig's mother, these were scrubbed from the Internet on or around September 1, 2008. If there is a completely innocent explanation, why didn't Mercedes Johnston give a simple statement to the press as to when the pictures were taken, and her thought process behind the captions? Being casual and nonchalant about these photos would have been a very strong piece of evidence that Sarah is Trig's mom. They didn't do that.
So... again... the only conclusion I can come to is someone is trying to hide something. What?
66 comments:
Well, maybe neither Sarah or Bristol is the mother, yet another Palin may be the father?
I'm not sure too much can be made of the wording, Audrey. As you and I have discussed, I refer to my daughter's fiance' mom as "the mother-in-law" (albeit sarcastically) and my grandfather and grandmother used to refer to each other as "Mother" and "Daddy."
Families sometimes use these familial terms as pet names, and while I still have real questions about this story, I think in this case the wording is more indicative of the Trig being Sarah's than Bristol's.
But that said, I have to really pat you on the back for pinpointing the location of where the photos were taken. Excellent sleuthing, my dear. Just excellent.
If Mercedes is married to Track, I think it would all make sense.
Audrey, *thank you* once again for your detailed and logical discussion of this strange situation. I have posted here before regarding these photos and what the meaning of Mercedes' captions might be, and why no one in any of the photos looks like they have recently given birth. I am sticking to my theory that Trig was adopted, whether from a family friend (Levi's mother, whose age fits the Down Syndrome at-risk group and would fit the 'baby brother' comment) or anonymously. But Sarah Palin did not birth this baby.
I do think however that Sarah Palin would have allowed Mercedes to take the pictures; either she was in the "sacred family circle" as Levi's brother and as such could be trusted to take pictures of Trig, or at the time, pre-VP, faking one's pregnancy would not have had the repercussions in Alaska that it would at the national level. I do think Sarah Palin is clueless when it comes to teen behavior, as surely she would have anticipated Mercedes posting the pictures on MySpace or Facebook, social networking sites that are the Holy of Holies for teenagers everywhere, where no information is too private or off-limits for sharing with the entire world.
The pictures have to have meaning, or else as you say, they would have remained on the site, and all the details regarding the birth of Trig would be out in the open.
Please continue trying to find the truth. As I have also said before, surely someone knows the truth. And as we know, the truth shall set you free. But in dysfunctional families, as the Palin family may well be, many secrets are kept from the world and never told, mostly out of fear.
--Reader from Ohio
Audrey, just to let you know that I tried to log onto a link that was posted on your "What I'm Up To" post and I couldn't pull it up. It kept logging me out of the search engine. The link is the following one:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/55562.html
I would be interested in knowing if anyone else is having that trouble or if it is something with my computer. I'm wondering if this link has been scrubbed by the Palin people to further hide the truth about Trig's birth.
Audrey, a juicy post! I also thought that the pictures looked like they came from Palin's home, and I kept watching that dreadful piece by Elan/edited by Fox for verification--you have a perfect shot. One theory: could those have been taken by one of the Palin children with a phone camera, maybe for Track? and then one of the children sent or copied them to Mercedes? Or maybe Levi took them? It's still curious about the lack of color... Mary g.
You know, I've got a theory about SP's labor story....this of course only applies if she actually is the mom.
Consider her various stances. She has said before that she was troubled over having a baby with DS - she didn't tell her family that the baby had DS(although one interview seems to imply that she told Todd), and she waited to announce her pregnancy publicly until birth was eminent.
She is also adamantly pro-life, so abortion is out of the question.
Yet she is also an evangelical Christian who believes that God controls everything.
Is it possible that her not telling her family about DS, her waiting to tell the public about her pregnancy signals that maybe she was hoping she would miscarry?
She'd have to tell her family about the pregnancy - they couldn't help but notice, being in such close proximity. But it could be hidden from everybody else.
Then there's her extremely suspect story of going into labor and flying from Texas to Seattle to Alaska, then driving an hour to a small clinic.
Perhaps she was trying to passively do damage to the baby. Putting its life into God's hands. If she were to have the baby on the plane, or in the car, chances are he wouldn't have the medical care necessary to thrive, possibly survive.
So, if it was God's will that the baby not survive, so be it. And if she miraculously gave birth without problem (which she did) then it was God's will as well. She would accept it either way.
Emotional distress (such as learning that your baby will have DS) can cause people to do extremely reckless things.
Is it just me, or is that theory I just painted not too crazy?
I read somewhere before (but now I can't find it) that Sarah and Todd had a bet and if Todd lost he would tattoo her name around his finger as a wedding band. Is this out there anywhere? Is this a common thing to do in Alaska? I think that if Bristol were pregnant with Trig it is VERY likely she's already married to Levi. He already has his name tattooed around his finger.
The thing I find interesting is that in these latest interviews Sarah is doing with Fox and Today, she speaks about the topic of Trig's birth so vaguely. She repeats over and over that rumors suggested that she was not pregnant and was not Trig's mom, but she NEVER once mentions that real suspicions were that BRISTOL was Trig's mother, not some random surrogate or something. She never once even utters Bristol's name, while mentions and shows the other ones over and over. She has kept Bristol off the stages of the rallies, off the televised interviews...almost like she doesn't exist. When Matt Lauer brings up Bristol's current pregnancy in the interview aired today, she changes the subject as quickly as possible.
Sarah says she could have put an end to the rumours of Trig's parentage if someone asked her, but to this day has never produced a birth certificate, or her actual medical records. A doctor's note from a hospital run by your church members doesn't cut it, Sarah.
So, I am still of the opinion, that until I see concrete proof, her bizarre and dangerous birth story is still far too unbelieveable. Couple that with the fact that she threw her own teenage daughter under the bus, and exposed Bristol's pregnancy to cover own ass. Here America you have either a bolface liar, or assuming all her stories are true, a power hungry narcissist who will do or say anything for her own gain, at the cost of her own daughter, and baby's life.
I want just one of these stupid reporters to ask her the real question of why she never released her actual medical records instead of revealing her teenage daughters current pregnancy to "prove" the fact that Bristol could not have given birth to Trig.
FW from VA
Audrey, another thought on the captions--since Palin had decided on the deception at least by March when she started announcing that she was 7 months pregnant, the others also involved--the Johnstons--would need to know. I think the strange wording reflects the confusion at this early stage--Mercedes must have known who Trig's mother was, but the plan was for Bristol to marry Levi at a more politically appropriate time. Trig is a baby brother--that is, her "sister"-in-law's and, therefore, HER baby brother, too. Mercedes is responding to two narratives which she hasn't yet figured out how to separate. Clearly giving birth is a momentous event, and Mercedes seems very close to Bristol. Mary G.
Good post, Audrey. Keep it coming. As Palin does her rounds on major media, trying to scrub her image and make us forget the dots that don't connect, thank goodness you're on the job.
--Mercedes being careless with terms makes sense. (I'm learning more and more about Alaskan education and language-use from SP.)
-- Sarah P being ignorant about facebook and the consequences of photos makes sense.
--Allowing a close friend (or relative) into the "sacred family trust" makes sense. Especially people who are used to doing whatever or saying whatever they please in their isolated communities. For instance, "Bristol and Levi are too young to deal with this DS baby, so her dad and I will raise him as our own, Ok, everybody? But we must keep it a secret."
But there's one other possibility. Don't these pentecostals refer to each other as sister and brother? Is Mercedes of the same religious bent? That doesn't solve anything, but it could be.
Also, doesn't Bristol look happy! She never looked this happy on the campaign trail. If she did indeed bear this child, she would have recovered much quicker than her older mother.
Just something to note: I have been reading about Sarah's whacky religion. Seems those involved call each other "bother" or "sister." It explains Levi's sister calling Trig her brother, but does not explain calling Sarah her mommy-in-law. I cannot say why, but I believe Bristol and Levi ARE married, but Sarah does not recognize it because it was not done at the whacky church. I hope that baby Trig will be returned post-haste to his loving parents, Levi and Bristol.
Excellent analysis, Audrey, and I particularly respect how you attempt to remain objective in looking how the evidence works (or doesn't) with various scenarios.
One thing though that might bear pointing out: regardless of whether or not Sarah gave birth to Trig, at the time these photos were taken, she was officially and publicly his mother. And at the time these photos were taken, Bristol was officially and publicly Trig's big sister.
Even if Bristol had given birth to Trig, by the time he was brought home from the hospital he had been adopted/claimed by Sarah, so Bristol and Trig would be, legally/publicly, siblings. I can't imagine that even in the family circle anyone would be allowed to refer to them otherwise. Mercedes may or may not have been in on the deception in this scenario, it depends a lot on what contact she had with Bristol before the birth and exactly how long after theses photos were taken, but in any case she would not be far off the mark in referring to her brother's finacee's younger sibling as her "baby brother [in-law]".
I think anyone's who's been around teenagers of today might understand what's possibly going on with the captions, though it still doesn't mean they make sense. In an era of "celebrity", and six degrees of separation, the Palin First Family is Alaska's version of celebrities, and a relationship w/ them enhances a teen's own rep, especially on Facebook. For Mercedes to claim a closer familial tie, based on her brother's current or perhaps future marriage w/ Bristol, it's not that far of a stretch for Mercedes to take on the terms of endearment that her brother would use. I mean, you can imagine a teen saying... "The Governor, she's my mommy -in-law! Well, not really, she's my brother's mommy in law, but you know... Well, not really, they're just dating, but they might as well be married.... " That's just the way teens are, not really caring about the particulars, but they do care about the connections.
Also, totally unrelated, but back to the shots at the RNC of Bristol & Levi... I've often thought that it looked from her chest that she was "overdue" for a breast-feeding session, as all the moms out there might remember, not the chest of someone newly pregnant. And as someone who knows a bit of what goes on at those conventions, it's very possible that there was absolutely no place & no time where they could be assured of privacy, if Bristol was indeed the one breastfeeding Trig. She would under a constant security presence, and there's media all over just looking to sniff out something like that. That's my theory.
ps
Never have posted here before, but have been reading & appreciating all commentary for awhile. Keep up the good work, Audrey.
One more thing: imo, fundamentalist Christians believe that children are the property of their parents. Therefore, if Todd and Sarah decreed that it was best they raise Trig,and not Bristol, that's the way it would be. No questions asked. Not among friends, family or anyone else who believes the same way.
I still wonder that if that's the scenario that took place, and then Bristol got pregnant again, and then Palin got the VP nod-- it was a comedy of errors nobody planned on.
The key may be that because Trig was DS, Sarah and Todd, felt it was best if they "raised" him-- even though she really didn't want to.
Bristol is the key, and she is amazingly out of sight most of the time. WHich is what you would do if you didn't trust her, or secretly blamed her, for spoiling everything.
Audrey,
I'm fairly new to your blog, but very interested in the subject matter. I'm not sure if this has been brought up: is it possible that SP knew of someone who was due to give birth to a downs baby and, wanting to look the part of a "pro-life hero", proceeded to conduct a private adoption w/birth mother and concoct crazy birth story as her own? Just wondering if this has been tossed around, crazy as it sounds??
Peace!
Be sure to watch the second part of Matt Lauer's interview with SP on the Today Show.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/27657223#27657223
Just as she did in the interview with the ADN, she herself brings up the "goofy" rumor that she is not Trig's mom -- claiming that if the MSM did their research, they could disprove that rumor. Unfortunately, Matt didn't follow up on that with a statement about her finally releasing her medical records (the ultimate proof) on the eve of the election. I guess she felt that the campaign "proved" that she is Trig's mom by saying Bristol was 5 months pregnant and that should be enough.
Interestingly, in both the NBC and ADN interviews, she followed up her comments about Trig with the same story about her not banning books as mayor. I believe that it has been proven that she did, in fact, make an inquiry with the Wasilla librarian about potentially inappropriate books.
When someone is not telling the truth about something, sometimes they feel the need to keep repeating what they see to be the "truth" -- kind of feels like that's what SP is doing by continuously talking about Trig and the book banning. If she repeats the same story to enough reporters, maybe people will start believing her stories.
Interestingly, Bristol did not make any appearance in the NBC interview - but the rest of the family (Willow, Piper and Trig) were there.
MOre to come on this I am sure.
TO Anonymous attempting to bring up the McClatchy site. My computer reports: We're sorry, We can't find the requested page.
The page you requested may have moved or expired. Yet another match thrown on the dry tinder of our conspiracy theories!
Also, the first comment, writing "another Palin may be the father," reminded that I have been thinking for some time something much more sinister than what has been put forward on this matter. NB, Alaska has the highest rate (BY FAR!) of rape and incest in the US. Don't THAT put a scary slant on the possibilities?!
Sarah Palin For Senator?! Bring is on, baby, bring it on!!!!!!!
Audrey,
These pictures have always been quite perplexing, particularly since they were scrubbed during the great cover-up on September 1, but not quite quick enough.
They are highly probative of a couple of things, however, which are somewhat conclusive:
1) The Palins and Johnston consider themselves family. Any secret could be confidently kept within that circle.
2) The clear connection between The Palins and the Johnstons is through Bristol and Levi (not Sadie and Track as some have speculated without any evidence).
There are also some reasonable inferences one can draw from the appearance of the pictures on Sadie's web site:
3) Trig is almost considered a Palin 'family' baby; the direct relationship of Trig to any of the Palin women is not clear. This would be typical of a family cover-up for an unwanted pregnancy resulting in a birth.
4) It is quite likely that they know Bristol is pregnant with Levi's child already, probably making her more than four months pregnant. But perhaps they were just behaving as a married couple -- betrothed at least -- so that producing a child would not have been considered a scandalous result. Hence, what would be the reason to cover-up a Bristol/Levi child?
5) Further, if Bristol were Trig's mother from another man other than Levi, would the families still be so close with Levi planning to marry Levi officially? It seems unlikely for any teen male I've ever known. Stranger things have happened.
And there is one other comment which Audrey tosses out but doesn't pursue: 'Neither Sarah nor Bristol looks post-partem'. I have to agree, although their clothes make that difficult to assess.
Now, those who speculate that Sadie may be Trig's mother would have to explain why Sarah would fake a pregnancy for her. Nothing reasonable comes to mind, even if Track and Sadie were involved, although there's no evidence of that at all.
So, who would they ALL cover for, including sister-in-law Sadie? And why scrub these pictures where neither Sarah nor Bristol looks post-partem and the captions are ambiguous?
I've made my conclusion clear in earlier posts and these pictures only support that hypothesis. Sadie appears as attached to Trig as Bristol and Sarah do. Appearances can be deceiving, but these were impromptu pictures and, hence, are more probative as evidence.
One other point: The circumstances dictate that Trig is VERY young, on the order of just a week or so old. That would be typical for close "family" such as Sadie to come by, hold the baby for the first time, and take and post pictures. I find it hard to accept that, given the captions and what we now know of Bristol and Levi, Sadie wouldn't be with the baby until weeks later.
Dangerous
P.S. Good to have you back Audrey. We're with you.
Sorry to throw out yet another peculiar Palin family terminology issue, but check out the article by Adele Stan in the November 11 HuffPost: as a kind of throwaway, she talks about Sarah Palin referring to daughter Piper as "sister".....my head is starting to hurt:
"In the Wasilla segment of Lauer's interview, the adorable grade-schooler, Piper Palin, was asked how she would feel if, when she's 11 years old in 2012, her mom came to her and said, we're going run again. (Lauer was not specific as to which office.) Piper turned up her palms and said, with a little laugh, 'I don't know.'
Her mom didn't miss a beat. 'Would you want to do it again, sister?' asked Sarah Palin as she stirred the casserole.
Piper suddenly knew the right answer. 'Yeah,' she replied."
After all, she hadn't done it for naught."
Great analysis Audrey...keep plugging away!!
As far as the baby brother caption....in her interview with Matt Lauer, Sarah speaks to Piper, calling her "sister". Maybe like the country/continent issue...they don't know the difference between daughter/sister, or nephew/brother.
I have original shots from the web site...
I have read thru the additional comments and have the following to add, based on the original post... it's a little confusing, so hopefully it makes a little sense...
While Trig is young here - very young, he could be as old as several weeks, in my opinion. If he is, say, three weeks old, (and he could be) saying, "Gov. Palin doesn't look postpartum here," is moot. She doesn't look postpartum. Neither does Bristol. So... I would conclude that these photos per se are now useless for drawing any conclusions about who "appears" more likely to have had a child.
******* At the VERY most he was 3 weeks old…. Based on the date of the posting of the original pics to the web site, and comments made on them, dating to May 2008.
chances are very very slim that he was more than 2-3 weeks old – I also have pics of Trig/Sarah/Todd and “friends” with Trig on May 5th – a “baby shower” for Trig… Trig is about 2.5 weeks old in these pics. *********
What we're left with are these odd odd captions. Mercedes refers to Trig as "My new Baby Brother," and Sarah as Mommy in Law. In another photo, not taken the same day, Mercedes refers to Bristol as her "sister-in-law." Here's that photo. I thought I had a screen shot of it with caption intact but cannot find that. If anyone has it please send it or post the link. However, I believe that the full original caption is: "My sister in law. Oh how I love her."
********* I have the original screenshot, it was from Mercede’s prom – which was April 12, 2008. I believe this to be the date, because on Mercede’s original myspace it listed her school as colony high, in palmer, AK – and a very good friend of SP’s has pics and stuff, saying that it was this past Saturday, ‘i.e., 4/12/08.
Now, if that is Bristol, she clearly does not look like she is just 6 days away from giving birth….. so if that is Bristol and if Mercede’s prom was 4/12 – then clearly Bristol palin is NOT trig’s mother…. **************
First, nowhere has it been published or stated in any way that Levi and Bristol are married or were married as of early spring 2008. It's been stated officially that they plan to marry next summer.
*********** This isn't necessarily, a valid point – why would they marry NEXT summer, after their baby is already 6 months old? It does not take a long time to get married, takes about 5 minutes – I know, cuz that’s about how fast I was married.
I digress – we can know… at the time of these pics, Bristol Palin would have “barely” been pregnant – there would have been no reason to refer to Bristol as ‘sister-in-law’ in early April, where Bristol would probably not even realized she was pregnant, based on the now “official” due date of Dec 18, 2008 – she would have gotten pregnant in middle march and would have had to wait until probably May to realize that she was pregnant. ***********
Then she refers to Sarah as Mommy in law. Why? One possibility is that she's thinking about Sarah completely based on her (Sarah's) future relationship with her (Mercedes') brother, and using this term in that context, something that has nothing to do with Trig. Because vis a vis Trig, Sarah is either Trig's mother or her grandmother. But she's Levi's "future" Mommy in Law so "she's sort of my Mommy in Law now too." This isn't a great explanation, but it's possible.
********** While it is possible, it’s unlikely, that a teen who would have no relationship with Sarah other than through marriage or a birth would refer to her as ‘Mommy in law’ – and why would she refer to Sarah so far in the future as her brother’s mother-in-law… *********
The "my new baby brother." This is the most puzzling. One possibility is that because she already considers Bristol her "sister," any of Bristol's siblings are her siblings too. This is again weak but it is an explanation. (In spite of the fact that even after a marriage, if Trig is Sarah's child, Trig would be Mercedes' brother's brother-in-law, and NO relationship to Mercedes at all.) But if Trig is Bristol and Levi's child, then Trig is Mercedes' nephew. Does Mercedes not know this term and she's substituting the only thing she can think of? I honestly don't know.
************** This one to me is the easiest to explain – let’s look at the pics comments:
My self and my new baby brother, TriggyBear:) Most adorable little man ever
Ok, here it is:
Mercede LOVES and ADORES her big brother – he is her BEST FRIEND – she even says so in her myspace page… she also puts the little heart next to it….
It’s MORE likely that a teenager girl who adores her big brother to refer to his son, as HER baby brother… than it is a teenager girl that has no blood or marriage relation to refer to an adult’s child as ‘her baby brother’….
Yes, MJ would be Trig’s aunt if Levi is the dad, but she would have NO relation to Trig if Sarah is the mother…
There is no reason whatsoever for MJ to refer to Trig as her NEW baby brother unless he is related to her blood-wise….
Now the other picture… I always thought it was Willow, but I guess I have proven myself wrong after looking at multiple photos…
So, why does MJ refer to her, Bristol and Trig as “FAMILY LOVE” –they are not family at all in any way, regardless of whether BP & LJ were planning on getting married more than a year later. There is also the little heart ascii text with that pic as well.
Also, the pics were scrubbed not just from MJ's site, but every pic of SP on the governor's site between Aug 07 and after April 08 were scrubbed too -- why? they are pics of her doing official state business, and yet, they were removed, but google images still had them cached...
Also the ring that Bristol was seen in earlier pics, being worn on her middle finger, left hand, was clearly on her 'wedding' ring finger during the convention.
anyways, i have the other pics if you want them. :) ********
Is it also possible that they planned to give Bristol's baby up for adoption but when they found out the baby was DS the prospective parents backed out leaving Sarah to come up with plan B (announce pregnancy at what was now 7th month and keep baby as her own)? Or something like that scenario that made her have to fake pregnancy so late....
Wouldn't it be interesting if Bristol has "gone rogue?" WHERE IS BRISTOL? Let her SPEAK! Her disappearance is very intriguing.
From those photos I'd say Bristol looks like she could have been up during the night feeding a hungry infant. She looks proud but tired. Sarah's in full makeup and looks well rested.
There is a 4th photo missing from your collage- the one with Sarah Palins parents holding the "new born" baby. Lets try to find that one and post it. It is quite possible that Trig Palin was born at the Palin home. So, this set of photos may be family visistation of the new born. That would expain why the baby photo was not posted at the Wasilla Hospital Baby Web site. Home birth, no witnesses.
I am suspicious that Sarah is NOT the birth mom since photos and videos of her do not demonstrate a third term mom-to-be. If Mercedes facebook site did truley list Sarah as mother-in-law, then that is the case. I thought the photo taken at the Republican Convention of Bristol holding Trig and Levi kissing the baby told us the truth. The fact that they have tatoos ring fingers, tells me they are already married or were so intent on getting married that they did so to spite any parental control.In the end, Sarah Palin decided to raise Trig so her daughters life would not be ruined, so she faked the pregnancy. Then, Bristol turns around and gets pregnant again!
The line about "baby brother" does throw me off. I would never say that about my nephew. Is this just a term of inderment, low intelligence or something more... could Track have had an affair with Mercedes mother? And it is her brother? Could this be Sarahs baby and Mercedes thinks of him as a baby brother if their families are already joined through a marriage of Bristol and Levi.
There is no way a woman with Sarahs career goals would adopt someone eles child to be a good friend. So, that is absolutely out. Could she have hidden a trouble pregnancy hoping she would miscarry? Even risking it all with a long flight home after breaking her water? Yes, quite possible. She did not want this baby. Hid it from her kids, parents and co-workers up to the end. Hoping that she would miscarry. For all I know,
I just don't know. It still does not all make sense. But, the families know the truth, and teenagers talk....so the truth will come out.
Thank you for continuing the sleuthing. I think it is important, especially if Palin wants to continue in the political spotlight.
The alternatives to Bristol being the mother do not explain why she was the one who moved to Anchorage and didn't attend school. Also in the pictures of Trig, the body language of the people holding him seems to have Bristol holding him facing her whereas most of the other pictures show him being held for the cameras, facing out.
Also the touching picture of Levi kissing Trig at the RNC was not what you would expect of a friend who is a teenaged boy.
Keep at it.
sandra in Oregon
OK... so here's an off-the-wall idea.... When I look at both Sadie and Levi, I see a resemblance to Todd. Could it be that the families were so close that Todd fathered them, possibly by artificial insemination? I haven't heard anything about Levi's father in the news, just about his mother.
If Sadie grew up knowing that Todd was her father, then when Trig was born, she would logically consider Trig her brother regardless of whether Sarah or Sherry Johnston was the mother.
I know that's stretching everything a bit, but something unusual has happened here and Sarah seems to keep many secrets. Of course, it would be totally unlikely that Levi and Bristol would ever get married if they're actually half-siblings... My head is spinning with these admittedly unlikely scenarios.
Good work, Audrey - the cabinets, fridge AND the brown chair are in both pictures.
I agree with "Sunfish"; she brings up the library and Harry Potter EVERY TIME she discusses the "goofy" rumors about Trig.
I have also heard her repeat the phrase "Belly of the plane" about 3 times now when asked about her clothes. Why does she keep saying that? Is that to prove she couldn't get her hands on them? She even said "piles" of clothes/belly of plane in one interview. Would you "pile" clothes from Neiman's in a greasy belly of a plane? I would think her "nice" stylists would take special care of these clothes (a la Rachel Zoe, stylist to the stars) if they were to REALLY be returned to the stores.
It's just WEIRD.
The more I think about this, the more I believe that Triq is Bristols child. After the rumours started, they announced that Bristol was 5 months pregnant. She had a "bump". But, after you givr birth, you will have a bump. Especially if your a partier and not in the best of shape. Hell, even if you work out all the time, that baby fat just does not melt away instantly.
Then Palin, who supposedly flew all the way to Alaska in labour??
WRONG!
I am a mother of five. The more you give birth, the faster they come out. And, she would have been huge! Because, the more babies you have, the bigger you get because your stomach muscles have already been stretched multiple times.
So, if Bristol is pregnant now, why is she hiding? After all, it was Mommy Dearest who announced it to the world.
Still, it just does not make any sense at all.
Sarah, where are your medical records? Or even just the part about Triq's birth? Or are you that narcissistic, you need constant attention? You won't put it to rest even for the sake of your own daughter?
You are a selfish, celf-centered wench. Grow up!
Good work, Audrey; I’ve updated my blog overview post on the pregnancy.
Speaking of “eight months pregnant” for Bristol, I suppose it’s about time for Dr. Johnson to start warming up her voice more, isn’t it?
I should have elaborated. If Mercede is married to Track, (and clearly the Johnston and Palin families are close, so it isn't a stretch at all) that would make Sarah her mother-in-law, Bristol her sister-in-law, and Trig her brother -in-law. It would explain all those captions perfectly.
I don't think she is Trig's mother.
Emily, your thoughts are the same as mine when I first heard the story. At the time a faked pregnancy just seemed too hard to pull off. But after watching and listening to her the last two months, I think anything is possible. However, I still think your theory is valid.
One of the things that hasn't gotten any air time is that Sarah's doctor's note said that all her pregnancies were full-term except the last, with Trig. Now, I agree that there are too many discrepancies in that story to pass the smell test. But I also want to point out that the doctor's disclosure would indicate that Sarah herself was pregnant with Track when she eloped (allegedly to save the expense of a big wedding). He was born less than 8 months after Sarah's marriage. Another dent in her holier-than-thou image, at the very least.
Eventually the truth will come out; it's just a matter of time. Let's not lose sight of a couple of other pieces of the puzzle that really don't make sense... one is that the rumors of Bristol's pregnancy date back to at least a week before Sarah announced that she was pregnant, and Sarah herself apparently discussed it then with a newsman who later became one of her staffers. Also, several cyber-sleuths have searched the caches of various search engines and found that there was a page announcing Trig's birth on April 18th, on the Mat-Su website, but it was removed. I actually checked this out myself as I wasn't sure I could believe it, and indeed when I searched for Trig Palin on the Mat-Su site, it brought me to the April 18th announcements -- indicating his page was there but has been removed. As I understand it, more sophisticated searchers found that the page that had been posted previously did not list the parents. If Sarah is the mom, why would the birth announcement not so state, and why would it have been removed? That remains very perplexing. There are simply too many discrepancies for her story to be credible.
These pics lead one to believe that Bristol and Levi are already married which would explain the "mommy-in-law". Its not unusual for sister-in-law/brother-in-law to just think of themselves as sisters and brothers which would explain the baby brother.
Now why would they be ashamed if Bristol and Levi were already married? Wouldn't they want the world to know? It would make the teenage pregnancy even more acceptable.
I think they are already married and Mercedes knew she couldn't publicly claim Trig as her nephew. Instead she called him her "baby brother" probably dropping "in-law". They probably don't want the public to know about the marriage because it will cause more digging.
If you type this into Google, you'll find it brings you to the April 18th listings at Mat-Su -- which indicates that there was a Trig Palin page there at one time:
trig palin site:www.matsuregional.com
"There is no reason whatsoever for MJ to refer to Trig as her NEW baby brother unless he is related to her blood-wise…."
That is a good point! And why would Mercedes even be there taking pictures and speaking so affectionately of Trig if she were not related? Clearly, Mercedes is related to Trig by blood, which makes the liklihood of Sarah being his mother pretty slim.
One other scenario I'm not sure has been discussed: Could it be that Bristol did not want to go through with the pregnancy, but her mother made her? And being a smart-alec (sp) teenager she may have said something like this to her mom, "Well, then, you take care of the baby after its born." Maybe Bristol went "rogue" on her mom? But being as they are family she would not blow her mom's cover and has gone along with the charade. Maybe she's punishing her mom for making her have the baby, but is also having mixed feelings about the whole thing?
Just a thought.
Now Intrigued (fka Appalled)
Anonymous said...
These pics lead one to believe that Bristol and Levi are already married which would explain the "mommy-in-law". Its not unusual for sister-in-law/brother-in-law to just think of themselves as sisters and brothers which would explain the baby brother.
YES - EXACTLY RIGHT!
resent Bristol pics:
http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Detail.aspx?axd=DetailPaging.Generic%7c1&axs=0%7c83564964%2c83512530%2c83512512%7c0&mode=c&id=83564964
Audrey, You missed this one! Compare the woodwork in the MySpace pictures to the pic taken by KTUU on the evening of Trig's birthday AT MAT-SU and you will see the woodwork is the SAME as the MySpace pic.'s, Pic.'s were likely taken at Mat-Su and I think there it is likely that the 3rd picture(not Sarah nor Mercedes) is NOT Bristol, possibly Willow or someone else. They all "look alike" up that way!
http://www.ktuu.com/global/story.asp?s=8194634
Yes, a teenage girl whose teenage brother has fathered a baby would be very likely to think of him as a "little brother," because they are all so young and still in their families of origin, not living on their own as adults...
It takes a while for the actual relationship to crystallize in such circumstances, especially when the child has been "adopted" by its grandmother, and legally speaking, will be more like a baby brother (albeit in-law) than a nephew.
The natural response is to use a relationship term that "fits the picture" rather than what may be technically correct. Who would call an infant his or her brother-in-law??
It is definitely Bristol in the pic, not Willow -- Bristol has more delicate features -- and she does look proud, tired and happy.
Sarah.hoax...
Sorry, but I did not miss this one. I have more screen shots that I did not post. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that these were taken in the Palin kitchen. Look carefully at the cabinet to the right of the refrigerator in the picture where Palin is cooking... then look at the same cabinet to Palin's right (our left.) Everything matches, including the hardware. In another screen shot from the Matt Lauer interview, I have a clear shot of the chair... it's obviously the same chair Mercedes is sitting in.
I stand by this one. It's the Palin kitchen.
Anonymous at 6:52. Every one of those pictures is Willow. The sisters look very much a like, but I am sure they are NOT Bristol.
Emily, I've been thinking along your lines as well. First of all, Palin apparently told no one but her husband that she was pregnant with a DS baby--and didn't tell anyone she was even pregnant until about 6 1/2 mos. in early March. It's pretty clear, if hers, this baby was definitely not planned, given her career goals. Learning the baby had DS was even more devastating--she has said it took months "to get her arms around" that. If you look at Palin on election night and compare her then to the start of the campaign, it's clear she has lost an awful lot of weight, most likely due to stress. So if she's one who loses weight due to stress (unlike me who eats like there's no tomorrow when under stress), she could've actually been losing weight while pregnant from stress and therefore didn't look that pregnant. Her face is March looks fairly thin compared to the year before. Also, that could've contributed to the baby coming early and perhaps may have resulted in a miscarriage, so maybe the emotional stress did cause her to subconsciously try to miscarry?
As far as the crazy trek back to Alaska from AZ, if she told no one about the baby having DS, and with her knowing that she might be on the short list for VP, she might have been terrified of having a DS baby delivered anywhere but her home hospital for fear of what the national press might say about it. At her home hospital, she could control the press coverage and the angle taken. So, no, don't think your theory is crazy.
As far as the pics, definitely the Palin's kitchen. Bristol appears to be wearing a pair of jeans. Not sure what kind of bottoms Palin has on (if any...haha) but she is wearing a U. of Idaho Vandals sweatshirt. Those pics don't really tell us much.
For the Anonymous poster directly above Sarah.Hoax: That is a picture of Willow Palin next to Bridgette McCain. Though the caption says it is Bristol, it is in fact Willow.
Sarah.Hoax: Great find on those pictures. I've seen them before. However, if you'll watch through the Palin home videos that are coming out in the past couple days, you'll see that the grandparents are actually standing in the Palin's house. So that's actually more likely evidence toward the notion of a home birth versus a hospital birth.
Trig looks perfectly pink and healthy here, also. Since the date of the article is the date given for his birth, it stands to reason that these are "that day" photos.
Audrey, do your stuff!
On a different matter possibly relating to the official story of the chronology of the VP nomination, when and why did Bristol get the Arizona sweater in the photo with Mercedes?
I just read through all the comments. It became mindboggling until I saw this:
http://tinyurl.com/5st849
And it all became clear. Bristol and Levi are Trig's parents. The resemblance between Levi and Trig is clear.
The profile of the Mercedes Johnston MySpace page, on which these photos appeared, was re-set to "private" at approximately 3:15 p.m. PDT on Monday, September 1. (That time is accurate to within three minutes.) At that point the photos were no longer visible to the general public on MySpace.
Great job identifying the locale. Gotta hand it to you, Audrey -- it sure looked like a medical office to me. Based on the Israeli filmmaker's video, I would not have thought it could be the Palin kitchen.
In regards to calling Piper sister, people might call friends sisters but I wouldn't have thought a mother would call her daughter sister, unless maybe Piper is in on the whole scandal and they are "brainwashing" her into believing she IS the SISTER of Trig.
dipsydoodlenoodle
QUOTE Anonymous 2.14pm
There is a 4th photo missing from your collage- the one with Sarah Palins parents holding the "new born" baby. Lets try to find that one and post it. It is quite possible that Trig Palin was born at the Palin home. So, this set of photos may be family visistation of the new born. That would expain why the baby photo was not posted at the Wasilla Hospital Baby Web site. Home birth, no witnesses.
Good theory! That might well be the case!!!!!
They may have taken Trig to the hospital for a check up at a later date, hence Todd was seen pacing the halls? Or it is a fake? Or Todd was pacing because it was his child from the result of an affair?
Quote Anonymous 4.10pm.
One of the things that hasn't gotten any air time is that Sarah's doctor's note said that all her pregnancies were full-term except the last, with Trig. Now, I agree that there are too many discrepancies in that story to pass the smell test. But I also want to point out that the doctor's disclosure would indicate that Sarah herself was pregnant with Track when she eloped (allegedly to save the expense of a big wedding). He was born less than 8 months after Sarah's marriage. Another dent in her holier-than-thou image, at the very least.
Well noticed; it certainly is a point to be remembered.
dipsydoodlenoodle
In regards to the photos by anonymous at 6.52pm ( http://tiny.cc/Dq0G6 ). I think the girl marked as Bristol looks like Willow but then I'm no expert and since Bristol has been missing for so long how come she suddenly appears and Willow disappears?-you'd think they would have all 3 girls there! Is it just a mis-type by the article?
Dipsydoodlenoodle
Regarding this pic and post:
"resent Bristol pics:
http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Detail.aspx?axd=DetailPaging.Generic%7c1&axs=0%7c83564964%2c83512530%2c83512512%7c0&mode=c&id=83564964"
I think that is Willow. Willow is the one with the widow's peak (I think they call it). Now even she looks a little sad ... she must too be sick and tired of the whole whirlwind life of her mother's by now. I really don't think that is Bristol.
Picture clarification:
The kitchen in the Frank Elan video is the kitchen in the governor's mansion in Juneau. That's where all the Elan footage was shot as far as I know. He never came to Wasilla / Anchorage. So that's why it's so different.
The photo of the Sarah Palin's parents, the Heaths is definitely shot at Mat-Su Hospital, and it was shot the afternoon of April 18th by KTUU, an Anchorage TV station. There's no reason to assume otherwise. KTUU stated they were at Mat-Su with the Heaths, and enough people would recognize the hospital environs that if they were really somewhere else, they would have been called on it instantly.
It is not as far as I can tell a photo. It is actually a screen capture. Here's the link.
http://www.ktuu.com/global/story.asp?s=8194634
I still believe that Bristol is Trig's mom. Here's why:
1) Bristol missed 5 months of school with "mono". Nobody is sick with mono for that long. The missed time coincides with the last five months of pregnancy.
2) Bristol was involved in a minor traffic accident at about the time she was pregnant. The other party involved said she looked prego and was pulling into a pre-natal clinic. Records of that accident have been pulled off the police website.
3) No birth record for Trig is available online. The date that he was supposedly born does not list him or the parents name on the Mat-Su website. There are other babies' names - just not Trig's.
4) Nobody flies for 12 hours after their water broke. So Sarah, you lied. If a doctor allowed that, he should be stripped of his license.
5) Photos of the governor just a month or two before she "gave birth" show a very fit woman.
6) Nobody has seen Bristol these last couple of months. If they did, they could confirm whether or not she looks "pregnant".
7) The clincher will be when Bristol actually has her baby next month. If she has a "miscarriage", then that cinches it. I guess they could always adopt a newborn and say it was her's though. I wouldn't put it past them.
I have always been very keen on separating fact from fiction in this matter. That's why, Anonymous at 7:05 a.m., I approved your comment, even though it contains information that we know to be untrue. As long as false information is repeated about this matter, it allows those of us who are investigating this matter to be attacked. Here's what we know:
1. I cannot find a shred of evidence that Bristol was out of school for five months or that it was ever claimed she was sick with "mono." This began as far as I can tell with the initial explosion of Internet rumors on August 30, 2008. The best information I have is that Bristol was in school at West High School in Anchorage through late February, 2008.
2. The accident happened on a public highway near a family practice clinic. It as also near a shopping center and other things. The other driver has stated specifically that he did NOT notice whether she was pregnant or not. The accident happened at a time that if Bristol was Trig's mom, she would have been around 25 weeks pregnant. This was February in Alaska and she would have been wearing heavy winter clothing. Her name WAS removed from online record of the accident sometime after September 1. The record itself is still visible.
3. No birth record is available for Trig on-line. According to some Google cache experts it was there at one time and then removed. Others say that the record one finds when searching is an "artifact" of the fact that other pages link to that page, and no record was EVER present. I do not know. About 2/3rds of births that occur at Mat-Su are listed on the website. 1/3rd are not. Trig's birth is listed in the local paper some days later, however.
4. "No body flies for 12 hours after their water broke." Agreed. To do so would be insane. "If a doctor allowed that, he should be stripped of his license." Agreed.
5. "Photos of the governor a month or two..." Photos taken prior to March 1 show a strikingly and consistently non pregnant governor. After the announcement of the pregnancy on March 5th, the situation changes. Photos exist from April in which she clearly appears pregnant.
6. There have been a couple brief sightings of Bristol. We have a photo of her from October 18th in New York and one from Wasilla on November 4th. She clearly appears pregnant on November 4th.
7. When/if Bristol gives birth will be very telling. I believe public scrutiny on this birth is a great deal higher than might be believed from what has been said in the main-stream-media. I do NOT believe that there will be any shenanigans. This is way too late to claim a "miscarriage." Any loss of pregnancy now would have to be considered a "still birth." Since I think it is highly probable that Bristol is pregnant, it would be impossible to "adopt" a baby mid December, because you would still have a pregnant Bristol running around. I also do not believe that any physician would be involved in inducing a teenager weeks early. No nurses or staff would go along with this. It would certainly result in a loss of medical license, and if the baby's health were compromised in any way, could result in criminal charges. As in go to jail. Doctors as a group don't like to go to jail, OR lose their medical licenses.
Getty Images has been alerted to their mislabled picture. I think it is Willow, not Bristol. (Picture #83564964) I spoke with someone on their help desk via IM.
@gracer -- Regarding Palin's weight loss: yeah, I noticed that too. She is much thinner now that she was at the beginning of this campaign, and, in my opinion, than she was last winter and spring. I don't think, though, that her propensity to lose weight when stressed out indicates that she was pregnant with Trig; indeed, I think quite the opposite. Because she is so thin now, and because her face is so thin now, when we look at pictures of her last February or March or April, we're more likely to say, "well, her face does look fuller," or "I guess I can see kind of a bump," when I don't think those things are true at all. We're conditioned by her thinness now to think that, since she looked heavier last year, she could have been pregnant then, when really she just hadn't undergone the immense physical and emotional strain -- and subsequent weight loss -- that campaigning for two months entails.
I agree that the photos are from the Palin kitchen. However there is no way a newborn would be dressed that way. They tend to be clothed very well and swaddled tightly. It helps them settle easier. The photos are at least a week old.
When Lauer ends the first part of his interview, he segues the next segment by saying he will be with "4 of the 5 Palin children." I was excited by this because it would have been an 8 month pregnant Bristol. But she never showed up. There was a quick shot of Willow and lots of Trig and Piper. Where was Bristol or does anyone know what was up with that? "4 out of 5" is at 10:20 mark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6WueqIyFqo
Congrats on the great detective work about the shots being in the kitchen - I've updated the Palin Baby Question website to agree with your assessment!
Thanks again!
Palin Baby Question
I agree the whole thing is suspicious (that's why I'm reading your blog), but there is a simple explanation for the photo comments.
Namely: Trig is Sarah's kid (or Mercedes believes that he is) and Mercedes is either secretly married to Track, or secretly engaged to him.
In this case it would make sense for Mercedes to use the term "mother-in-law" for Sarah, "sister-in-law" for Bristol, and "baby brother" for Trig (technically brother-in-law, but understandable to drop the "in-law" in this case).
Of course, just because Mercedes believes Trig is Sarah's son doesn't mean that he actually is.
These photos are among the strongest "evidence" of Sarah's lie. I think the "Family Love" caption on the photo of Mercedes, Bristol and Trig is the key clue. This photo is "family." The references to "in laws" here and in the prom photo make clear that she considers Bristol to be married to Levi; and Trig is part of her family too. I don't think there is any doubt about it.
On another note, it occurred to me that Sarah probably didn't use the announcement of Bristol's pregnancy only as cover for her own lie, but also as punishment for Bristol's behavior in getting pregnant (again). I think many of us (myself included) thought she threw Bristol under the bus -- but the reality may be that she thought this was fair punishment for Bristol's promiscuity. Just a hunch.
This one is really being over-thought. This all reads very much like a teenage girl who is enamoured with the idea of being connected to the Palin family. Look back at that Prom picture in which she refers to Bristol as her sister-in-law. They aren't yet, but its just a projected, bubbly term of endearment.
The same with the "family love" caption. With "mommy in law" she is recognizing both the mother and the expected family connection (regardless of its not legally correct phrasing). The same family connection thing continues by calling Trig a "brother". Yes, it's her brother's future brother-in-law, but this is simply giddy teenage girl short-hand which again emphasises her connection to the Palin family.
You're trying to apply stark logic to a teenage girl's picture captions???
Was Mercedes going to marry the oldest Palin kid, Track? Maybe they were engaged before he shipped off to the armed forces. That would explain all of the captions and it would have nothing to do with Bristol or Sarah.
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