Republican Thompson flew on jet lent by drug dealer: report

0 Comments | AFP, November, 2007

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson has been campaigning around the country using a private jet that was provided to him by a businessman and close adviser, who has a criminal record for drug dealing, The Washington Post reported on its website Saturday.

The newspaper said the businessman, Philip Martin, has also been helping Thompson raise money for his White House bid.

Martin is one of Thompson's four campaign co-chairmen. He has been friends with Thompson since the early 1990s, and campaign aides jokingly began to refer to Martin as the head of "Thompson's Air Force," the report said.

Thompson's frequent flights aboard Martin's twin-engine Cessna 560 Citation have saved him more than 100,000 dollars because until the law...