Andrew Breitbart

Judge: Sherrod Defamation Suit Against Breitbart Can Proceed

Ryan J. Reilly | July 28, 2011, 10:54AM

Shirley Sherrod and Andrew Breitbart

Federal Judge Richard Leon has tossed out two motions to dismiss former USDA official Shirley Sherrod's defamation suit against Andrew Breitbart, Zoe Tillman reports for Legal Times.

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Anthony Weiner

Leaked Emails Show Tip To Breitbart About Weiner Tweet

Benjy Sarlin | June 2, 2011, 3:37PM

The ongoing scandal surrounding a lewd tweet sent from Rep. Anthony Weiner's (D-NY) Twitter account took yet another turn for the weird Thursday as alleged e-mails between the person who first noticed the photo and conservative media guru Andrew Breitbart were leaked.

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Andrew Breitbart

Andrew Breitbart Says He's 'Excited' For Shirley Sherrod Lawsuit, Claims It's All About Pigford

Ryan J. Reilly | March 29, 2011, 11:50AM

Andrew Breitbart

HOUSTON, TEXAS -- Andrew Breitbart says he still stands by everything he's said about Shirley Sherrod, the former U.S.D.A. official who filed a lawsuit against him charging he defamed her by "publishing an intentionally false and misleading clip" that damaged her reputation.

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True The Vote

Tea Party-Backed Anti-Voter Fraud Effort Touts Non-Partisanship At First National Conference

Ryan J. Reilly | March 28, 2011, 3:25PM

Anita Moncrief and Christian Adams

HOUSTON, TEXAS -- When you talk about conservatives who rail against the supposed scourge of voter fraud and support voter identification laws that many expert say depress turnout among Democratic-leaning constituencies, there's a few big names that invariably come up.

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James O'Keefe

James O'Keefe Skips Breitbart For NPR Hit

Benjy Sarlin | March 9, 2011, 11:10AM

James O'Keefe and Andrew Breitbart

James O'Keefe, whose hidden camera outfit Project Veritas claimed another major scalp today with the resignation of NPR CEO Vivian Schiler, departed from his usual symbiotic relationship with conservative media guru Andrew Breitbart in releasing his latest project.

As Mediaite notes, some observers are questioning if this reveals fissures between the two. O'Keefe posted his famous ACORN videos to Breitbart's "Big Government" but gave news site The Daily Caller first crack at his latest video. Breitbart turned on O'Keefe in the press last year after a colleague of O'Keefe's revealed to the press that the conservative filmmaker was planning an elaborate prank in which he would lure a CNN reporter onto a boat with a hidden camera and attempt to seduce her.

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Shirley Sherrod

Sherrod Statement On Breitbart Suit: He Never Apologized

Eric Lach | February 15, 2011, 11:30AM

Former USDA official Shirley Sherrod

Shirley Sherrod has issued a statement addressing the defamation suit she filed against Andrew Breitbart in D.C. Superior Court last week. Sherrod was forced to resign from her USDA job last year, after Breitbart posted an edited video of a speech she gave to a Georgia NAACP chapter.

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Andrew Breitbart

Breitbart Changes Tune On Why He Released Sherrod Video

Eric Lach | February 14, 2011, 3:28PM

Shirley Sherrod and Andrew Breitbart

When TPM asked Andrew Breitbart last July if the release of an edited video of Shirley Sherrod was timed to impact a Senate vote on restitution for black farmers, he said no. Now that she's suing him for defamation, he's making that restitution the issue.

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Andrew Breitbart

Sherrod Suit Accuses Breitbart Of 'False And Defamatory Statements'

Eric Lach | February 14, 2011, 1:40PM

Shirley Sherrod and Andrew Breitbart

TPM has obtained the complaint filed by Shirley Sherrod in D.C. Superior Court against Andrew Breitbart. The suit alleges that Sherrod was forced to resign last year after the defendants "ignited a media firestorm by publishing false and defamatory statements."

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Andrew Breitbart

Shirley Sherrod Sues Andrew Breitbart Over Video

Eric Lach | February 14, 2011, 10:36AM

Shirley Sherrod and Andrew Breitbart

Shirley Sherrod, who was fired from her USDA job last year after Andrew Breitbart posted online an edited video of her, has filed a lawsuit for libel and slander against Breitbart in D.C. Superior Court. The suit was filed on Friday, and Breitbart was served with it this weekend, while attending the Conservative Political Action Conference, according to The New York Times.

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New Black Panthers

Breitbart, Adams Respond To Criticism Of Their Role In New Black Panther Case

January 29, 2011, 11:40AM

Former DOJ Official J Christian Adams and Andrew Breitbart

Two Democrats on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights say that J. Christian Adams, the former Justice Department lawyer at the heart of the scandal over the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case, isn't credible because he contributes to a "race-baiting" website run by conservative pundit Andrew Breitbart.

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voter fraud

True The Vote Signs Breitbart, Fund, Von Spakovsky For Voter Fraud Event

Ryan J. Reilly | January 25, 2011, 9:40AM

We already told you how True the Vote, the anti-voter fraud effort launched by a Texas Tea Party group, had lined up two of the biggest stars on the anti-voter fraud circuit for their upcoming national convention.

Now comes news they've added three of the biggest voter fraud alarmists in the country: Big Government founder Andrew Breitbart, Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund and former Bush Justice Department official Hans von Spakovsky.

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James O'Keefe

O'Keefe On CNN Punk: I Liked The Idea, But There Weren't Any Fuzzy Handcuffs

Rachel Slajda | October 4, 2010, 4:01PM

James O'Keefe

Right-wing activist James O'Keefe has released a statement on his planned CNN "punk," admitting that he liked the idea but contending that he wasn't going to go through with it as planned.

"There were no mirrors, sex tapes, blindfolds, fuzzy handcuffs, posters of naked women, or music," O'Keefe said. "Sorry, you were not going to see my face saying the words 'Bubble Headed Beach Blonde who comes on at 5' into a video camera."

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Andrew Breitbart

Breitbart: O'Keefe Sex Stunt 'Patently Gross And Offensive'

Ryan J. Reilly | October 2, 2010, 10:18AM

James O'Keefe and Andrew Breitbart

Andrew Breitbart stood behind James O'Keefe when he was accused of entering Sen. Mary Landrieu's office under false pretenses. He backed O'Keefe's ACORN investigation. But O'Keefe's latest botched plan to lure a CNN reporter onto a boat to seduce her? Breitbart wants no part in that.

Though he didn't respond to TPM's request for comment this week, Breitbart put out a statement distancing himself from O'Keefe's latest stunt late Friday, stating that O'Keefe owed his supporters an explanation.

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James O'Keefe

Has Breitbart Forsaken His Protege James O'Keefe?

Rachel Slajda | September 30, 2010, 3:25PM

James O'Keefe and Andrew Breitbart

When James O'Keefe dressed up like a telephone repairman and started poking around with Sen. Mary Landrieu's (D-LA) phone system, breaking the law, Andrew Breitbart -- who backed O'Keefe's ACORN stings -- stood by him. He said Big Government had nothing to do with O'Keefe's stunt, of course, but he also defended O'Keefe, gave him a platform from which to make a public statement and continued to pay him for his contributions to the BigGovernment site.

But not this time around, as O'Keefe finds himself the subject of condemnation from the right for apparently plotting to "punk" CNN by luring a reporter onto his boat and seducing her.

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September 11

Bolton & Breitbart To Address Protesters At Today's Anti-Mosque 'Rally of Remembrance'

Jillian Rayfield | September 11, 2010, 8:51AM

Protesters In New York oppose the Park51 Islamic center.

When the ceremonies conclude in New York City today for the ninth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, some of the commemorators will break off to attend a different kind of rally -- one that brings the Islamophobic fervor of the past few weeks to a head.

Today at 3 p.m. ET, at the proposed site for Park51 on Park Place and West Broadway in downtown Manhattan, people will gather for the "FDI/SIOA 9/11 Rally of Remembrance: Yes to Freedom, No to Ground Zero Mosque," a rally in opposition to the planned Islamic center.

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Shirley Sherrod

Shirley Sherrod Encourages Supporters To Keep Backing NAACP

Jillian Rayfield | August 18, 2010, 12:05PM

Former USDA official Shirley Sherrod

Former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod wrote an email yesterday on behalf of the NAACP, urging supporters to "move forward." Sherrod wrote: "The last thing I want to see happen is for my situation to weaken support for the NAACP."

Sherrod was forced to resign from the USDA after Andrew Breitbart released an edited video that showed her describing a time when she considered denying aid to a poor farmer because he was white. As Sherrod put it in her letter, Breitbart released the "intentionally deceptive, heavily edited clip from that speech to make it look as if I was delivering exactly the opposite message."

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Andrew Breitbart

Breitbart: I Was Targeting The NAACP. Honest!

Rachel Slajda | July 23, 2010, 9:19AM

Andrew Breitbart

After we reported yesterday that the Shirley Sherrod scandal came the same week as the Senate may vote on authorizing $1.15 billion in restitution for black farmers, Andrew Breitbart wrote us that that had nothing to do with it.

"No. Seriously. On everything I hold dear," Breitbart swore in an email to TPMmuckraker. As he has since the full-length video of Sherrod's speech came out, sparking a backlash against him, Breitbart reiterated that none of this was ever about Sherrod personally.

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Shirley Sherrod

Sherrod: 'I Really Think I Should' Sue Breitbart (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | July 22, 2010, 9:01AM

Former USDA official Shirley Sherrod

Shirley Sherrod said this morning on CNN that she would like to "get back at" Andrew Breitbart.

Asked if she would consider a defamation suit against Breibart, the conservative blogger who posted the edited clip that got her fired, she said, "I really think I should."

"I don't know a lot about the legal profession but that's one person I'd like to get back at, because he came at me. He didn't go after the NAACP; he came at me," she went on.

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Shirley Sherrod

Vilsack Moves Into Full Damage-Control Mode After Sherrod Debacle (VIDEO)

Megan Carpentier | July 21, 2010, 4:57PM

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack

In the wake of the Shirley Sherrod debacle, and his Keystone Kops-eqsue role in it, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack shifted into a full damage-control mode this afternoon. He reportedly called Shirley Sherrod to offer her back her job (she was, at publication time, still considering), held a press conference at the Agriculture Department at which he offered her a public apology and prepared to follow it up with a reported confab with the Congressional Black Caucus.

So much for limiting the fall-out from the Breitbart video.

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Shirley Sherrod

Breitbart Feels Sorry For Shirley Sherrod (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | July 21, 2010, 11:52AM

Andrew Breitbart

Andrew Breitbart, who posted the clip of USDA official Shirley Sherrod that got her fired, said today that he feels sorry for Sherrod.

"I feel bad that they made this about her, and I feel sorry that they made this about her," he told MSNBC. "Watching how they've misconstrued, how the media has misconstrued the intention behind this, I do feel a sympathy for her plight."

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Shirley Sherrod

Vilsack Reconsidering On Sherrod, But Does She Even Want Her Job Back?

Rachel Slajda | July 21, 2010, 9:14AM

Former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod

In a statement sent at 2 a.m. today, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack backed off his previous statements defending the forced resignation of Georgia rural development director Shirley Sherrod and said he's willing to reconsider.

"I am of course willing and will conduct a thorough review and consider additional facts to ensure to the American people we are providing services in a fair and equitable manner," Vilsack said.

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NAACP

NAACP Backs Off After Watching Full Tape: 'We Were Snookered'

Rachel Slajda | July 20, 2010, 6:21PM

Former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod

In a new statement, NAACP president Ben Jealous has backed off his original criticism of Shirley Sherrod after watching the full tape of her remarks.

Jealous, who originally called Sherrod's actions "shameful," now says the whole thing a "teachable moment."

Jealous said that, after reviewing the full tape (which we still haven't seen) and speaking to Sherrod and the white farmers in question, the NAACP has realized it was "snookered by Fox News and Tea Party Activist Andrew Breitbart into believing she had harmed white farmers because of racial bias."

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Shirley Sherrod

Breitbart On Sherrod's NAACP Speech: 'I Did Not Edit This Thing'

Rachel Slajda | July 20, 2010, 3:58PM

Andrew Breitbart

The crux of the Shirley Sherrod controversy is what she said outside of the two-minute video clip posted by Big Government -- whether she was, as she claims, telling a story about how she overcame racial prejudice while helping poor farmers in Georgia, or whether the clip is a good encapsulation of her views. So we asked Andrew Breitbart, the founder of Big Government, why he hasn't posted the full video.

"I don't have it," Breitbart told TPMmuckraker in an interview. Breitbart said his source sent him just the edited clips at first, but is in the process of sending the full video.

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Race

USDA Appointee Forced To Resign After Edited Speech Released By Breitbart (VIDEO)

Rachel Slajda | July 20, 2010, 1:03PM

Former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod

Shirley Sherrod, an appointee to the USDA, was forced to resign yesterday after Big Government posted a video of a speech Sherrod gave in March. In the video, Sherrod, who is black, recounts how, 24 years ago, she didn't help a white farmer as much as she could.

In the speech, given to a local Georgia chapter of the NAACP, Sherrod recounts a time when, while she was working for a land assistance fund, a white farmer came and asked her for help.

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Andrew Breitbart

Breitbart Dreams Of Debating, Punching Sean Penn

Justin Elliott | May 18, 2010, 8:56AM

Andrew Breitbart

The New Yorker is out with a profile of Andrew Breitbart, and out of 7,000 words of bluster from the conservative media baron, this passage caught our eye:

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Pay-Day Lenders

In The Loop: The Pay-Day Lenders' Ties To Powerful Beltway Influence-Peddlers

Zachary Roth | March 22, 2010, 10:32AM

Rick Berman, Mike Flynn and Dick Armey

We told you last week about the sophisticated Washington lobbying and PR operation that has helped the $42 billion-a-year pay-day lending industry water down provisions in the financial reform bill currently before Congress. But it looks like the industry's ties to a host of heavy-hitting, and sometimes controversial, Beltway players are even more extensive.

Those players, it appears, include a prominent and well-regarded DC consulting firm founded by top former Clinton administration staffers, a key editor at the Andrew-Breitbart-created website that hosted James O'Keefe's ACORN "exposes," Dick Armey's FreedomWorks, and a notorious corporate lobbyist known as "Dr. Evil." Taken together, the pay-day lenders' connections in the capital make clear that the industry has quietly -- and in a remarkably short time -- enmeshed itself into a network of Washington influence-peddlers skilled at putting a favorable sheen on a host of corporate causes.

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Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal

Breitbart Claim: Jailed O'Keefe Couldn't Access Attorney For Hours

Justin Elliott | February 1, 2010, 2:21PM

Andrew Breitbart

Interviewed on Fox just moments ago, Andrew Breitbart claimed that alleged Landrieu phone tamperer James O'Keefe "sat in jail for 28 hours without access to an attorney."

Breitbart, who has been on a public campaign defending O'Keefe, a paid contributor to Breitbart's BigGovernment.com, also charged that the U.S. Attorney's office in Louisiana leaked information to the press "helping" them to frame the episode as "Watergate Junior."

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Landrieu Phone-Tampering Scandal

O'Keefe Statement On Breitbart Site: We Could Have Used 'Different Approach'

Justin Elliott | January 29, 2010, 11:26AM

James O'Keefe

Portraying himself as an "investigative journalist" who has been victimized by the mainstream media's "journalistic malpractice," James O'Keefe said today the alleged phone-tampering episode in New Orleans Monday was merely an attempt to investigate Sen. Mary Landrieu's alleged lack of responsiveness to her conservative constituents.

In a statement posted on Andrew Breitbart's Big Government site, O'Keefe writes: "On reflection, I could have used a different approach to this investigation, particularly given the sensitivities that people understandably have about security in a federal building."

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James O'Keefe

Breitbart: I Pay A Salary To Alleged Landrieu Plotter O'Keefe

Justin Elliott | January 27, 2010, 9:03AM

Andrew Breitbart

Conservative new media figure Andrew Breitbart revealed last night on Hugh Hewitt's radio show that he pays a salary to James O'Keefe, the filmmaker who was charged yesterday in an alleged attempt to tamper witt the phones of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA).

But Breitbart, who runs the Big Government site where O'Keefe's now-famous ACORN sting videos were posted, is maintaining that he had no "connection to" the incident at Landrieu's New Orleans office.

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James O'Keefe

Landrieu Phone Tampering Case: What Is The Pelican Institute?

Justin Elliott | January 26, 2010, 6:48PM

Filmmaker James O'Keefe

There's a lot we still don't know about the four men implicated in the alleged attempt to tamper with Sen. Mary Landrieu's phones yesterday, but a little-known organization called the Pelican Institute appears to be key to the story.

Located at 400 Poydras St. in downtown New Orleans -- half a block from Landrieu's office at 500 Poydras St. -- Pelican describes itself as a state policy think tank dedicated to advancing "sound policies based on the principles of free enterprise, individual liberty, and limited government."

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James O'Keefe

Filmmaker Behind ACORN Stings Arrested For Attempted Phone Tampering At Landrieu's Office

Justin Elliott | January 26, 2010, 3:38PM

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA), James O'Keefe

James O'Keefe, the young conservative filmmaker who was behind the undercover operations that led to the ACORN scandal last year, was arrested with three others for allegedly trying to tamper with the phones at the New Orleans office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) yesterday.

The FBI announced today the foursome have been charged with entering federal property under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony.

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