Politics

Breitbart on #Weinergate presser: ‘One of the surreal moments of my life’

Matthew Boyle Investigative Reporter
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Conservative publisher Andrew Breitbart told The Daily Caller that when Rep. Anthony Weiner, New York Democrat, finally admitted to sending lewd photographs to women via social media it was “one of the surreal moments of my life.”

Breitbart’s Big Government and Big Journalism sites were the first to report that Weiner’s official Twitter account sent a photo of a man’s erect penis underneath gray boxer-shorts to a 21-year-old Seattle-area college student.

Weiner first claimed his Facebook account was hacked, then claimed his Twitter account was hacked. From there, after realizing he made some serious federal crime allegations, Weiner shifted his talking points and said someone played a prank on him.

Weiner wouldn’t admit whether the penis in the picture was his, and went on an anti-Breitbart crusade. Salon.com’s Joan Walsh and liberal Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas joined him.

Breitbart and his bloggers pressed on to find the truth. They succeeded after Weiner finally admitted it 11 days later, at Monday evening’s press conference.

At the urging of several reporters in the room, Breitbart took the podium away from Weiner before the Democratic congressman could reach it at his own press conference. He struck back against the mainstream media and Weiner for falsely accusing him of having a hand in a “hack” of his social media accounts.

“The media says, ‘Breitbart lies, Breitbart lies.’ Give me one example of a provable lie,” Breitbart said on stage at the Weiner presser. “One, journalist, one, put your reputation on the line here, one provable lie. You know what I would be accused of if I released this photo? I’m doing this to save his family. If this guy wants to start fighting with me again, I have this photo. I’m not doing this for nefarious purposes.”

Breitbart then demanded an apology from Weiner. “I’d like an apology from him for allowing for his political protectors, which this was his strategy to blame me, blame me for hacking,” he said.

After being pushed by several reporters quite a bit during his presser, Breitbart got his apology. “I apologize to Andrew Breitbart,” Weiner said begrudgingly.