Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he was the victim of a fake news hit on Tuesday, and has turned over to Capitol Police a document that purports to detail lurid sexual harassment accusations by a former staffer.
Why it matters: This was an apparent effort to dupe reporters and smear a senator — both symptoms of an amped-up news environment where harassment charges are proliferating and reporters have become targets for fraud.
– The former staffer told me in a phone interview that she did not author the document, that none of the charges ring true, and that her signature was forged.
– She said she had never heard of the document before Axios took it to Schumer’s office for comment on Tuesday.
– Matt House, Schumer’s communications director, told me: “The document is a forged document and every allegation is false. We have turned it over to the Capitol Police and asked them to investigate and pursue criminal charges because it is clear the law has been broken.”
– House continued: “We believe the individual responsible for forging the document should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law to prevent other malicious actors from doing the same.”
……..
A source close to Schumer said the document is full of errors:
– “The document contains an allegation of inappropriate behavior on September 16th 2011 in Washington, but Schumer was in New York City.”
– “It contains an allegation of inappropriate behavior by Schumer on August 25th 2011 in Washington, but Schumer was in France.”
– The source tells Axios that reporters from the Washington Post, CNN, BuzzFeed, The New Yorker and ABC all inquired about the document Tuesday.
……..
- Discussion
-
Good to push back on the #deza-based Russification of US politics. The Usual Suspects have really done it now. https://t.co/1Rrl3xYAZu
— John Schindler (@20committee) December 13, 2017
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.