Breitbart Accuses Clinton of Starting Birther Movement… Less Than a Day After Admitting She Didn’t
Breitbart reported Sunday night that Hillary Clinton was not behind the Obama birther movement, twelve hours before reporting that Hillary Clinton was behind the Obama birther movement.
The alt-right site with a cozy relationship with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump did a running fact-check of Sunday night’s presidential debate. Even Breitbart wasn’t willing to go to bat for some of Trump’s claims, writing “No, Hillary Clinton’s Campaign Manager Did Not Push the Birther Controversy.”
“It is true that the Birther movement started among Hillary Clinton’s supporters… However, it is a stretch to say, as Trump did, that Hillary Clinton herself personally started the Breitbart movement, and it is incorrect to claim that her campaign manager corroborated that particular accusation,” reporter Joel Pollak wrote. In the end, he ruled Trump’s claim “half false.”
Flash-forward to the following morning, when Brietbart led with a stridently pro-Trump story from Matthew Boyle arguing that his debate performance would “propel him toward [the] White House.” One of the parts of the debate Boyle loved most is when Trump made his birther accusation, which he characterized as 100% accurate.
“After detailing how it is actually Hillary Clinton who owes President Obama an apology because she started the birther narrative—it’s been proven that Clinton ally Sidney Blumenthal pushed the story back in the 2008 campaign, as did at least two people on Clinton’s campaign—Trump shifted the conversation to questions about her emails,” Boyle argued.
So is Hillary Clinton personally responsible for starting the birther movement or not? Whatever your belief, you can cite Breitbart to back it up.
[h/t Oliver Darcy]
[Image via screengrab]
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