Posted on 03/12/2016 7:58:41 PM PST by markomalley
Breitbart senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak ordered staffers in an internal chatroom to stop defending Michelle Fields, the staffer who was allegedly manhandled by Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.
The internal Breitbart Slack chats, which were obtained by BuzzFeed News, put on display the tension between those at Breitbart who want to act like a publisher — defending their reporter and finding the truth — and those entangled in politics.
“STOP tweeting about the story. Stop speculating about the story,” Pollak told staffers in one message, and reminded them that “you were given explicit instructions.”
“You may wish to defend your colleague, and that is commendable — but keep in mind that when you do so, you are also putting other colleagues under direct public pressure, so you are actually hurting some to help another,” Pollak said in one of the chats. “That is why we have to be patient, and coordinate our responses.”
When staffer Brandon Darby wrote that Lewandowski’s behavior was “a declaration of war” and “silence is abandoning our team member,” Pollak responded, “In war, we wait for orders that are based on a careful plan. So wait.”
On Tuesday after a press conference in Florida, Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields was allegedly yanked nearly to the ground by Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski while trying to ask Trump a question. Despite the fact that there is video, an audio recording, and an eyewitness account that indicate Lewandowski did this, the Trump campaign has denied it, and Breitbart published a story by Pollak arguing that the person who manhandled Fields was not Lewandowski, appearing to side with the Trump campaign over their own reporter. Fields has filed a police report against Lewandowski over the incident.
Pollak could not immediately be reached for comment. Breitbart chairman Steve Bannon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Breitbart spokesman Kurt Bardella quit in protest on Friday over how the site has handled the Fields situation and has publicly accused the site of lying about what happened to Fields.
In the following screenshots, Pollak repeatedly tells Breitbart staffers not to comment on the Fields situation:
Hush money?
Michelle Fields is all about the drama
“Coordinate our responses”. Sounds fishy to me. Why suggest there are several different angles to the situation? There is the truth and there is the spin. Which is it?
That video shows nothing and in the audio she is laughing and sounds phony.
Put the WaPo “witness” under oath. Their whole conversation seems scripted. She sure didn’t sound like she got hurt.
Non story pushed by the desperate.
Glad you mentioned her laughing. I thought I’d read that somewhere. Sounds like she can’t move up the ladder on her own merits so she has to go another route.
Bkmrk.
Breitbart News spokesman Kurt Bardella resigned Friday amid the conservative website’s struggles to properly defend its reporter Michelle Fields after she claimed she was “grabbed” by Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski earlier in the week. “When you reach the point where you can’t give 100 percent to people you represent, it’s not tenable to continue representing them,” Bardella said in a statement. “My own personal observation is that there is a cycle of behavior that is escalating and it’s happening exclusively at Donald Trump events. It is wrong, disgusting, and indicative of an ugliness that is contaminating the public and political discourse in our country.” He concluded: “Life is too short to invest your time in things you don’t believe and aren’t passionate about. That is why I made the decision to resign from representing Breitbart.”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JvPVvA40BY
After today’s close call, her poor judgment is all too apparent. Trumps security cannot take chances.
Mistaken identity - it was a security guy who looks similar and Breitbart has admitted as much in writing. Nowvhebis trying to minimize their risk from false claims.
They want both Pollak fired/resign from Breitbart and replaced with a new babysitter, and Lewandowski fired/resign from the Trump campaign?
I have to question why he has made it all about Breitbart’s representation and nothing about the backing of the reporter. It sounds like Breitbart is pushing for one agenda while the reporter has a differing agenda. Making it a political move to quit while throwing out a so called truth given by Ms. Fields. Doesn’t that leave the door open to questions of her charges? Can someone see it differently?
In other words. He doesn’t want to lie for her or Breitbart.
Did you get a chance to check the YouTube link? There is more there, but I don’t have audio here, and the captions are not the best, but I believe he goes further into it.
I’ll check it out. Tks.
So a reporter got shoved out of the way at a press conference? I can feel myself getting dumber every time I think about this dumb story.
” Doesn’t that leave the door open to questions of her charges?”
There’s always been questions about the charges. Now she’s filed a police report. That has implications for Breitbart on many levels.
Fields and the anti-Trumps want to make this about the “press” getting roughed up, but that was never the real issue. The question is whether it was reasonable for security to react to her jumping in and trying to grab Trump. After today close call it’s clear security acted appropriately.
Lawsuits.
Cory didn’t do it.
The NYPD didn’t do it.
Herman Cain didn’t grope her.
She’s a loon.
Someone leaking internal communications to another news outlet.
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