Breitbart Accused of Working With Liberal Activist to Disrupt Rubio Campaign Events
Matthew Boyle, Breitbart's Washington, D.C. Editor, has strenuously denied the accusation made by Politico's Hadas Gold.
Earlier this month, conservative news outlets widely reported that Politico’s Glenn Thrush had coordinated a story with the Clinton campaign. Wikileaks revealed that Thrush asked Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta to double-check if Thrush had “[messed] up anything.”
“No problems here,” Podesta replied. Politico defended Thrush in a statement to The Daily Caller, with spokesperson Brad Dayspring saying that “Glenn does this with everybody, on both sides of the aisle” as part of being “one of the top political reporters in the country…”
One of the many outlets to report the Thrush story was Breitbart, which has long had pro-Trump leanings and whose executive chairman Stephen Bannon resigned to become CEO of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Now, it’s Breitbart that’s in the hot seat, with an anonymous allegation reported by Politico’s Hadas Gold of collusion between the outlet and a prominent liberal activist.
According to Gold:
Aaron Black, an associate with Democracy Partners and a former Occupy Wall Street organizer, worked with the pro-Trump site Breitbart, tipping it off about his stunts, exchanging raw video and coordinating coverage, according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation.
While Black targeted multiple GOP candidates’ campaigns, Black’s efforts against Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) received tremendous media coverage. In February, Black and Rubio’s New Hampshire campaign chairman got into an altercation spurred by Black’s protests. Breitbart reported on the incident, with the headline: “Exclusive — Rubio NH Chairman: I Wrestled Scary MarcoBot Protester in Self-Defense!”
Citing “emails obtained by POLITICO,” Gold claimed that Boyle and other reporters “worked with Black beyond tipping them off about his movements.” According to Gold, “Boyle makes suggestions for how Black could phrase his quotes about Rubio” in the emails.
Both Breitbart Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow and Democracy Partners have denied collusion between their respective organizations. Breitbart’s Washington Editor, Matthew Boyle, wrote on Monday that his organization did nothing of the kind, citing a former Jeb Bush campaign staffer as his source for the New Hampshire video.
Gold declined to provide The Stream with the obtained e-mails. Boyle likewise declined to name or provide to The Stream what the Bush staffer sent to Breitbart. Boyle did tell The Stream that Breitbart “actually covered anti-Trump stuff Black was doing, too,” citing an article with nearly 7,000 Facebook interactions and 5,000 comments that covered an anti-Trump rally in New York City in April.
Boyle also noted that “We never once worked with Black on a story about Ted Cruz,” who was Trump’s last significant opponent before the media magnate unofficially sewed up the GOP presidential nomination.