RECEIPTS FROM THE HEARING
ANL wants to prove the letter was crafted with public readership in mind and was happy for the public to read it if Mr Markle were to leak it.
MM's lawyers had earlier said: "The claimant did not suspect, let alone expect, her father would do so (make public the contents of her letter), not least because of its contents and how they reflected upon him. The contention that she thought it was possible are ludicrous."
ANL then produce the texts between MM/JH and Jason Knauf where they discuss the letter.
Obviously everything have drafted is with the understanding that it could be leaked. So I have been meticulous in my word choice. But please do let me know if anything stands out for you as a liability.
Given that I only ever called him daddy, it may make sense to open as such, despite him being less than paternal. And in the unfortunate event that it leaked, In case it should be leaked, it would pull at the heart strings.
"I also don't know if I know why you're doing this" - I'm on the fence about it. The rest of it is in the spirit of facts, without it seeming orchestrated or litigious. Simply is a call for peace and a reminder of what actually happened.
Honestly Jason I feel fantastic. [Untintellible] and real and honest and factual. And if he leaks it then that's on his conscience.
He then reads the contents of some emails between MM and Jason about Finding Freedom.
MM to Jason: Given we are being asked to cooperate, I need to share that I won't be comfortable if this person's authority is [unintelligible]. Can we set up a chat? I feel he needs to be back-briefed as soon as possible if there is any conversation about working with them moving forward.
Jason(?) to JH: Morning sir. Please see attached topical areas Omid and Caroline wish to discuss. Please can you decide if you wish to share these with the Duchess. My view is that it is not a good idea for the Duchess to open this up to her friends, but I am happy to facilitate it either way. I think both have a natural instinct to want to balance the record in defense of the Duchess, so being able to say hand on our heart that we did not facilitate access will be important, and for all of her friends. Let me know what you think. I will see them this week to help them with factual accuracy and context.
JH to Jason: I think definitely share this with the Duchess. Make the suggestion that you have here. She will be a 100% supported(?) and I totally agree that we have to be able to say that we had nothing to do with it, Equally we have to give them right context and background to help to get some truths out there. The truth is very much needed and appreciated, especially around the Markle wedding stuff. At the same time we can't put them directly in touch with her friends.
Then MM responds with a number of things she wants to be discussed in the meeting between Jason and Omid and Caroline. She then says, "Please let me know if you need me to fill in any other blanks".
This is in direct contrast to MM's position that she and her husband did not "contribute to the book (Finding Freedom)".
The lawyer then says this: "Also, bafflingly, there is a witness statement from Mr Scobie, who is one of the authors of Finding Freedom. This is rather curious and they both should be in error on this point."
The lawyer then reads part of Scobie's statement, which says, "Any suggestion that the Duke and Duchess collaborated on the book is false.
Jason says in his witness statement that he had several conversations with MM about the book (of which, presumably, there is evidence). The lawyer says if this goes to trial the Palace Four can provide more documents.
In the court of public opinion, this does prove, as Jason has said several times, that the palace staff did try to help her and were cooperative.
If ANL wins the case, they can thank Jason. If they don't, he's still provided hard evidence to the world of exactly how cold and manipulative MM can be.
