Sen. Mel Martinez told the Washington Times he did not see the Schiavo memo until ABC News and the Post publicized it. But Sen. Tom Harkin told the Post that when Martinez handed him the memo, “[Martinez] said these were talking points — something that we’re working on here.”

How could Sen. Martinez describe the contents of the memo if he had not seen it? And who is “we?”

Then there’s Brian Darling, Martinez’s legal counsel (until last night, when he resigned). According to the Post, Darling is taking the blame for authoring the Schiavo memo.

Readers of this site will recall that nearly two weeks ago Josh Claybourn of In the Agora received a false tip from four people, two of whom claimed to work for Sen. Martinez. (The other two claimed to work for Sen. Rick Santorum.) Claybourn’s sources falsely stated that the Schiavo memo was authored and circulated by a young “renegade” aide working for Sen. Harry Reid. Two of Claybourn’s sources stated that they saw the Reid aide passing out the memo.

A few days before Claybourn’s story broke, the Prowler reported similar allegations, citing “Senate Republican leadership aides to both Sen. Rick Santorum and Sen. Mitch McConnell, as well as the Senate Republican Policy Committee.”

Did Darling give a fake tip to Claybourn to try to divert attention from himself? If so, who were his co-conspirators? Who exactly spoke to the Prowler and from whom did the Prowler’s sources get their information?

To date, Claybourn has not responded to my suggestion that he divulge the phone numbers of his sources. Will he continue to play nicey-nice with his sources now that they have been shown to be manipulative, lying smear merchants?

The story’s not over. Sen. Martinez and his former legal counsel may still have plenty of ’splainin’ to do.

Related: The Schiavo Memo and the Search for Answers

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