Yesterday evening, TPM reached Doug Joo, the Washington Times' fired chairman, at his home phone number. Joo repeatedly denied that any rift in Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, which owns the newspaper, had caused the staff shakeup and resulting chaos at the Times.

They are not "directly related," Joo told TPM. "They have nothing to do with the Times."

Joo is a church member, but what he said is in direct contradiction to what multiple sources have told TPM: that the Moon family feud is directly related to the Times' current problems. (Check out Justin Elliott's reports on this here and here).

Joo repeatedly referred TPM to his lawyer, Robert Cary, a partner at Williams and Connolly LLP.

"It's better to speak with my lawyer," Joo said. "He knows all my emotions. He knows all my ideas. He knows my plans for the future."

TPM has e-mailed and called Cary seeking comment. He has yet to respond.

According to Cary's bio on the law firm's website:

The subject matter of Mr. Cary's civil cases has ranged from real estate to securities to breach of contract to products liability to defending allegations of civil fraud. The greatest number of Mr. Cary's civil cases have been defending lawyers and law firms against allegations of legal malpractice.

And this:

He has also represented a number of crime victims. Mr. Cary is well-known for his representation of U.S. Senator Ted Stevens, who was wrongly indicted less than 100 days before he was to stand for re-election.

And just in case you've missed out on this week's drama at the Washington Times: Several executives were fired, the paper's top editor is MIA, security on management's floor was beefed up, the family that runs the church that runs the paper is a mess, staffers fear for their jobs, confusion reigns and the very survival of the paper is in question. Quite a week.