Breitbart Again Denied Congressional Press Passes

The U.S. Senate Daily Press Gallery once again struck down Breitbart’s application for permanent congressional press passes Tuesday, according to Buzzfeed’s Steven Perlberg.

The Gallery, a committee of journalists responsible for granting credentials to news organizations, denied Breitbart “hard passes” due to a number of inconsistencies in the right-wing outlet’s application.

The standing committee had previously rejected Breitbart’s application on March 27, citing a lack of transparency in the website’s ties to Rebekah Mercer, whose family invests in Breitbart, and the Government Accountability Institute, a conservative nonprofit co-founded by Steve Bannon.

The committee again convened Tuesday, to read a letter from Breitbart CEO Larry Solov, detailing the organization’s independence from Mercer and the GAI.

Rebekah Mercer has no editorial control at Breitbart, the company’s CEO Larry Solov writes in letter to the committee

— Steven Perlberg (@perlberg) April 25, 2017

According to Solov, Wynton Hall, who is affiliated with GAI, stepped down as Breitbart managing editor in February

— Steven Perlberg (@perlberg) April 25, 2017

Further inconsistencies in Breitbart’s application led the committee to table the credential process, per Politico’s Hadas Gold.

Committee still has lots of concerns “more than one troubling aspect” over inconsistencies, etc from Breitbart

— Hadas Gold (@Hadas_Gold) April 25, 2017

Breitbart’s temporary passes, which expire May 31, will not be extended, according to Perlberg.

A decision has been made: the committee has tabled Breitbart’s application and is declining to extend its temporary passes beyond May 31

— Steven Perlberg (@perlberg) April 25, 2017

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