Controversies Charles C. Johnson

1 controversies

1.1 bob menendez
1.2 cory booker
1.3 david d. kirkpatrick
1.4 2014 mississippi republican primary election
1.5 ferguson
1.6 university of virginia rape article
1.7 banning twitter
1.8 katie walsh
1.9 charlottesville terrorist attack
1.10 trump campaign wikileaks liaison

controversies
bob menendez

johnson involved in creation of daily caller story accused u.s. senator bob menendez (d-nj) of soliciting underage prostitutes in dominican republic. criminal investigation of case found no evidence, , women making allegations later admitted had been paid local lawyer make claims.

cory booker

on october 14, 2013, johnson published article on daily caller claiming newark mayor , senatorial candidate cory booker never lived in newark, citing neighbors of booker s alleged address evidence. booker s campaign provided reporter buzzfeed rental checks , other documents address going several years, , booker s communication director dismissed johnson s allegations laughable . according booker s campaign lived there late 2006 shortly before elected senator in 2013. johnson stands reporting, claiming booker may have paid rent did not live in newark.

david d. kirkpatrick

in january 2014, johnson published article reporting new york times reporter david d. kirkpatrick arrested exhibitionism , posing playgirl. johnson s source playgirl claim january 22, 1990, article in daily princetonian, later revealed satirical. johnson apologized kirkpatrick.

2014 mississippi republican primary election

on june 30, 2014, johnson published story on gotnews accusing mississippi senator thad cochran of bribing african-americans vote him in mississippi senate republican primary. story came days after cochran had defeated tea party challenger chris mcdaniel in run-off election. johnson claimed black pastor named stevie fielder had told him paid cochran s campaign bribe black democrats voting cochran. johnson paid pastor statements, controversial practice known checkbook journalism . fielder later partially recanted story, saying had been speaking hypothetically, had turned down offer, , johnson s recording of interview had been selectively edited, claim johnson denies.

during election, johnson accused cochran campaign of being responsible mississippi tea party leader mark mayfield s suicide , encouraged twitter followers flood cochran campaign conference call.

ferguson

during ferguson unrest, johnson published instagram account of shooting victim michael brown , stated account shows violent streak may explain led violent confrontation police officer darren wilson . johnson filed lawsuit have brown s juvenile records released. in brown s home state of missouri, records of minors private, johnson argued matter of pressing public interest under state s sunshine law. county court disagreed. further appeal attempts johnson unseal records went far state supreme court of missouri, denied request.

in separate incident during unrest, johnson published addresses of 2 new york times reporters, claiming published known addresses of darren wilson. new york times has said reporters revealed street on wilson once lived.

university of virginia rape article

in december 2014, rolling stone columnist sabrina erdely published article entitled rape on campus alleged gang rape of university of virginia (uva) student named jackie in 2012 @ phi kappa psi fraternity house @ uva. article later found fabricated. johnson publicly identified woman thought jackie, has since been proven false.

banning twitter

on may 24, 2015, johnson sent tweet asking followers donations him take out black lives matter activist deray mckesson. mckesson shared tweet , took tweet threat. johnson permanently banned twitter after several users reported him harassment.

katie walsh

in february 2017, johnson s website gotnews.com claimed deputy chief of staff katie walsh “the source behind bunch of leaks” in white house without offering concrete evidence.

charlottesville terrorist attack

in august 2017, johnson s website gotnews falsely accused michigan man of being responsible car attack on 12 august 2017 killed , injured anti-racist protesters in charlottesville, virginia. michigan man subsequently harassed, , had make facebook page private.

trump campaign wikileaks liaison

in september 2016, johnson published story on gotnews soon-to-launch anti-trump website called putintrump.org. wikileaks forwarded story in private donald trump jr. before publicly tweeting it. business insider speculated johnson s story in september on gotnews may have marked beginning of donald trump jr. s — , trump campaign s — back-channel contact julian assange , wikileaks. (johnson wrote after wikileaks tweeted story, 2 hours after our original article, julian assange s wikileaks repeated our discoveries. guess big leaks organization reads gotnews & wesearchr on downlow! come on julian, let s work together. wikileaks & wesearchr match made in heaven. can take down hillary together. ) in august 2017, johnson brokered , attended meeting in london between gop rep. dana rohrabacher , julian assange discuss presidential pardon assange.