Just a few months after CNN’s Dylan Byers beat the Washington Free Beacon to a story about ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos’ ties to the Clinton foundation, the conservative website has taken its revenge.
In May, the Free Beacon’s Andrew Stiles was first to discover that Stephanopoulos had contributed approximately $75,000 to the Clinton foundation, raising obvious questions about the ABC News anchor’s ability to report fairly on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
Unfortunately for Stiles, as he went back-and-forth with an ABC spokeswoman who promised to provide him with an on-the-record explanation, the network gave then-Politico reporter Byers a response to the story.
Byers published ABC’s statements along with news of Stephanopoulos’ contributions, beating Stiles to the story on the morning of May 14. Stephanopoulos was later compelled to excuse himself from moderating a 2016 Republican presidential primary debate after news of his ties to the Clinton Foundation came to light.
Free Beacon editors were clearly unhappy that ABC had given Stiles the runaround as it apparently it shopped the story to Politico. They were equally annoyed that Byers scored the scoop.
On Friday morning, the Free Beacon, which MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell has branded as an “anti-Clinton website,” dished out some payback.
Byers, who left Politico in September to join CNN, published a story Thursday titled, “Free Beacon journalist is Trump donor.”
“The conservative journalist who led the charge in outing George Stephanopoulos’ donations to the Clinton Foundation has himself donated money to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign,” he reported, citing recent FEC filings.
Records show that Stiles, whose work as digital managing editor consists mostly of writing parody articles, has given $544.25 to GOP front-runner Donald Trump’s campaign. Campaign donors are required to list what it is they do for a living. So Stiles wrote “#1 TRUMP FAN” as his occupation on his contribution form.
“The Free Beacon makes no secret of its conservative bias, and $500 is a small sum when compared to the $75,000 Stephanopoulos gave to the Clinton Foundation. But political donations of any amount are nevertheless a rarity in an industry that prides itself on freedom from conflict of interest,” Byers reported.
However, it turns out Stiles’ supposed campaign contribution was a purchase of several Donald Trump “Make America Great Again” hats, which he later distributed to his colleagues as a joke. Photos of Free Beacon employees decked out in Trump merchandise can easily be found on social media, especially Twitter.
Though Byers’ initial report noted Stiles’ phony occupation as Trump’s “#1 FAN,” he made no mention of the “Make America Great Again” hats. As such, critics have suggested that the CNN reporter was unaware that the alleged campaign contribution was part of a gag.
Byers contacted the Free Beacon for comment prior to publishing his report, but they didn’t clue him in on the joke. In fact, they told him nothing.
Instead, they shopped their response to Politico.
“As Andrew has said, he made what he thought was a charitable donation to the cause of making America great again, a cause that he cares about deeply. Additionally, Mr. Stiles has disclosed in numerous online postings on our site that he was in fact a Trump campaign donor. In August, Mr. Stiles also presented our staff with really incredible Make America Great Again hats, and by the way, they do look fantastic, they look so good your head will spin,” Free Beacon editor Matthew Continetti told Politico.
Byers later updated his story to note that Stiles had purchased hats with the alleged campaign contribution.
Continetti said the site’s ombudsman, Biff Diddle, would investigate the matter. Diddle is not a real person. Like Stiles’ hat purchases, Diddle is a gag. It’s a pseudonym for a parody of a super right-winger.
“Because Mr. Stiles refuses to admit to an honest mistake and to apologize for his contribution, we have launched an internal investigation into standards and practices that will be led by our ombudsman Biff Diddle. We also would like to assure the other Republican campaigns that Mr. Stiles will not be moderating any future debates,” he said.
Byers suggested later that he was in on the joke all along, saying Friday on social media, “Really bummed [Andrew Stiles] is no longer eligible to moderate debates.”
The Free Beacon didn’t respond to the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment, presumably because that would’ve ruined the joke of shopping its response to Politico.
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Editor’s note 10.16.15: This story has been updated to note that Byers’ original report made no mention of the “Make America Great Again” hats. His story has been stealth-edited to include these details. There is no editor’s note from CNN indicating that changes were made.
Here’s what the CNN report looked like before its edits:
Original Byers report on WFB
Byers did not respond immediately to the Examiner’s request for comment.
