Fact Checking Breitbart’s Statement on the Leaked Photo
Here’s Andrew Breitbart’s statement on the photo that was leaked by radio shock jocks Opie and Anthony:
Earlier today, a photograph resembling one that I had withheld from publication in the Weinergate saga was released without my knowledge or permission.
Prior to the publication of our story on BigGovernment.com and BigJournalism.com this past Monday morning, it was necessary to show the pictures I had received from our source to several news producers, including several at major news networks, to prove that the additional material I described really did exist, which some have continued to doubt.
This morning, I showed a photograph, which our source claims Weiner sent her, to radio hosts “Opie and Anthony” of the Sirius XM radio network on my mobile device. Somehow, without my knowledge or permission, apparently a picture was taken of my mobile device, and subsequently published by Opie (Gregg Hughes) on Twitter.
His co-host, Anthony (Anthony Cumia), stated today:
“In regards to the photo of Anthony Weiner that was leaked by members of The Opie And Anthony show on 6/8, I want to make it clear that Andrew Breitbart had no knowledge that this photo was being made public. A phone with the photo was being displayed and a camera in the studio caught it. It was then uploaded to twitter [sic], again, without Andrew Breitbarts [sic] knowledge.”
I regret that this occurred.
There are at least two big lies in this statement. First:
…it was necessary to show the pictures I had received from our source to several news producers, including several at major news networks, to prove that the additional material I described really did exist, which some have continued to doubt.
In fact, two nights ago, Andrew Breitbart went out drinking with Anthony and several others — and according to Anthony, showed the picture to numerous people, even leaving his laptop computer unattended with the picture on the screen for long periods of time.
One of those people was right wing flamethrower Ann Coulter. Here’s Anthony’s photo of Coulter reacting to the picture; notice that his computer is apparently there, but Breitbart is nowhere to be seen.
Last time I checked, Ann Coulter was not a “news producer.” How many other people saw the photo that night? It’s anybody’s guess, but claiming that he only showed it to “news producers” is a big fat lie.
The next lie:
This morning, I showed a photograph, which our source claims Weiner sent her, to radio hosts “Opie and Anthony” of the Sirius XM radio network on my mobile device.
Again, this is far from the whole story, because in fact Breitbart passed his phone around to the entire studio. He didn’t show it just to Opie and Anthony — he showed it to everyone in the studio, as Opie explains in this video statement:
Youtube VideoIf Andrew Breitbart really did expect the photo to remain private, after showing it to just about anyone who wanted to see it, including everyone in the studio of a pair of shock jocks known for staging radical pranks, the question is, “Just how dumb is Andrew Breitbart?”