Former President Barack Obama is now under scrutiny due to potentially concerning revelations brought to light by a government watchdog organization. The details, uncovered through Freedom of Information Act filings by Judicial Watch, extend to Secret Service agents stationed at the Obamas’ Martha’s Vineyard residence. These revelations are likely to raise additional questions surrounding the death of the former first couple’s chef earlier this fall, as reported by Fox News host Jesse Watters.
“And now we are finding out the Secret Service did not perform well the day Obama’s chef drowned in Martha’s Vineyard,” Watters began. “Judicial Watch got its hands on documents that revealed the female companion that was paddle-boarding with [chef] Tafari Campbell when he died, goes by Ms. Taylor.
“And when Ms. Taylor tried to get Secret Service’s help to find Tafari right after he went under, two agents tried to start one of the boats, but had difficulties lowering the motor, so another agent went to get the keys for their Secret Service boat, and then when they got them, the boat wasn’t working either,” Watters revealed, citing the Judicial Watch materials.
“So they wasted precious time on boats that didn’t work. Until they commandeered the groundskeeper’s boat, and by that time, there was no sign of Tafari Campbell,” the host continued before tying the former president to the new findings.
“Another interesting nugget from those documents was that when Ms. Taylor sat for her interview with the police, it was conducted in Barack Obama’s office. It appears that he sat in on their interview,” Watters claimed. “That is not proper procedure. Your boss sits in the room and watches you during your police interrogation?
“Your boss, Barack Obama, sits next to the one person who witnesses the other employee’s death? Wait. Maybe they do things differently in the Vineyard. We definitely know Secret Service does things differently,” he added.
Watters has been closely following the developments in this story since the unfortunate drowning of Campbell near the Obama residence during the summer. In mid-October, recently disclosed documents obtained through a FOIA request provided more details about Campbell’s death, but they have also given rise to further inquiries.
“According to the report, Obama was on the scene shortly after Campbell went missing,” Watters said. “The report also states an unnamed female staffer jumped into the water when Tafari fell off his board, but it was already too late. He disappeared.”
“We also now know that Secret Service has surveillance footage of Campbell from Obama’s compound moments before he entered the water,” the host said.
“So we’re going to see if we can get that, and we may have that for you. Again, we’re very, very sorry for Tafari’s family. That was a serious, serious tragedy,” he said.
Judicial Watch was the first to obtain the report and released the information online.
“The documents were produced to Judicial Watch in response to a July 25, 2003, Massachusetts Public Records Law request for all records relating to the death of Campbell,” the group said.
“The documents show Campbell’s family told police that he had taken swimming lessons in 2019 but described his ability as ‘not a great swimmer.’ The drowning occurred in Edgartown Great Pond, which Massachusetts Environmental Police estimated ‘to be approximately seven to eight feet deep,’” it said.
“The records also show a female eyewitness, an Obama employee whose name is redacted, told state police that she saw Campbell ‘fall off his paddleboard, began splashing and became extremely panicked, yelling for help and subsequently went underwater very quickly.’ By the time she reached his paddleboard, the witness said Campbell had ‘disappeared into the extremely murky’ water,” Judicial Watch added.
The group also said that, according to the records, “Barack Obama arrived at the emergency response scene via motorcade.”
“The next morning, the eyewitness was interviewed in the Obama residence, seemingly with Barack Obama again present,” Judicial Watch noted.