December 03, 2015
Thom Carroll/PhillyVoice
Milton Street speaks to reporters on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2015, outside the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.
After several delays, Milton Street finally held his sidewalk press conference on Thursday, where he promised to present incriminating pornographic images and videos related to the ongoing "Porngate" scandal.
But, if that was the stated intent of the press event, which Street has touted since mid-October, he didn't speak much about pornography at all.
No images were presented – though, he said he had some to release "at some point" – and the only comment he made on the "Porngate" case was to call for the firing of three Philadelphia prosecutors who have been named as part of the scandal.
Instead, Street wanted to discuss an assortment of other things, including a political corruption case involving several Philadelphia area legislators and an informant named Tyrone Ali, his own distaste for political lobbyists, and his opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement. He also touched again on his Wednesday meeting with presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Street said he spoke with Trump, during one of the Republican candidates campaign stops in Virginia, mostly about inner-city violence and the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
"Black lives matter no matter who kills them," Street said. "White person gotta kill a black person before black lives matter? So, the only value that black people see that black people have is when a white person kills them. Black person kills a black person, it's just business as usual."
He said his "message to Donald Trump" was that "until Black Lives Matter goes into the black community and stop the black on black crime, clean up your own house, before you go into someone else's house to try and clean it up."
"So, I have a problem with Black Lives Matter," he said.
With so much on his plate during the day's press event, held on the sidewalk in front of Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams' Center City office, Street made sure to help clarify his message with a handout that addressed four major points:
• A call for Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams to fire three prosecutors – Frank Fina, E. Marc Costanzo and Patrick Blessington – who have been identified as participants in the "Porngate" email exchange. (In fact, City Council passed a resolution Wednesday asking Williams to do the same thing.)
• Asking for Tyrone Ali, who served as a confidential informant in a corruption sting that targeted elected officials and political lobbyists, to be prosecuted for what Street alleged was 2,000 counts of felony crimes.
• Requesting that the district attorney's office release information that Street believes would have exonerated State Rep. Vanessa Lowery Brown (D-190th District), whose trial on corruption charges is expected to start next week.
• And, asking the Williams to file a petition to have the conviction of State Rep. Harold James (D-186th District) vacated, after James pleaded guilty to corruption charges back in April.
Street said he was going to file a petition with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Review Board to look into the district attorney's office for alleged misconduct relating to the Ali corruption case. But that petition is in the early stages and being researched on by "volunteer" lawyers, whom he would not identify.
Street's daughter, Renee Street-Toppin, used the press availability to tell reporters how her father ended up on stage with Trump during a political rally Wednesday night.
Neither Street nor his daughter said they were Trump supporters, though Street said he respected Trump and wanted to invite the candidate to visit the city.
Though, Street said, he'd like to take Trump to neighborhoods throughout the city, including "South Philly, you know, North Philly, Kensington Avenue and let him see the real deal."
"He indicated he would do that, so, we will see," Street claimed.
So how did the paths of Street and Trump cross? Street-Toppin said that she was invited to the Virginia rally as a friend of a pastor at the Richmond Christian Center in Richmond, Virginia, and she brought her father as her guest.
"The invitation was strictly for me, but he said, you can bring someone, and of course, I chose to bring my father," she said.
