Veteran political journalist Mark Halperin cautioned against bombshell stories involving either presidential candidate so close to the election, following The Atlantic’s publication of a contentious report about former President Trump on Tuesday.
The Atlantic article claims that Trump spoke disparagingly about a slain Mexican-American Army private while in office. However, various individuals mentioned in the story, including the fallen soldier’s sister, have denied the report’s allegations as inaccurate.
Halperin discussed the controversial report on his livestream show “The Morning Meeting” on Wednesday, warning that there are various unfounded claims circulating among journalists right now in an attempt to discredit each candidate.
“Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic just happened to release his story two weeks before the election with accusations against Donald Trump, some of which have been challenged for the first time, some of which have been disputed for a while. And the point I was trying to make is that there are myriad claims being circulated. Perhaps Jeffrey Goldberg simply finished his story two weeks before the election,” he stated.
“I know of a story that has been proposed to a major newspaper and to me, and possibly to many others, that I do not believe to be true. However, as I mentioned yesterday, if it were true, it would be the end of Donald Trump’s campaign, just as the accusations, now thoroughly debunked, contributed by American intelligence to Russia about Tim Walz, if they were true, it would end his campaign.”
WHITE HOUSE ATTACKS ‘FALSE’ ATLANTIC STORY ABOUT TRUMP INSULTING DEAD SOLDIERS: ‘WHAT A DISGRACE!’
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump waves at a campaign rally at Greensboro Coliseum on Tuesday, Oct. 22, in Greensboro, N.C. (AP/Alex Brandon)
“What we’re witnessing in these final days – as I was mentioning – is individuals attempting to influence the outcome of the race on social media, in pitches to reporters, and in the case of The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg, writing himself, striving to alter the course of the race because of their desperation to try to replicate a Comey,” he continued, referencing the former FBI Director’s decision to reopen the investigation into then-Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s private email server, just days before the 2016 election.
Halperin affirmed that he wouldn’t be delving deeper into the story he was presented because he believed it to be unfounded, but he stressed that such stories were being circulated to media outlets.
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“I’m not pursuing the story. I don’t think it’s true. People in Mar-a-Lago, calm down. All I’m saying is there are individuals out there pitching things, and if it were true, it would end his campaign,” he stated.
ATLANTIC ARTICLE COMPARING TRUMP TO ‘HITLER, STALIN’ SPARKS CRITICISM ONLINE FROM JOURNALISTS, PUNDITS
US President Donald Trump speaks with Gloria Guillen (3rd L), the mother of Vanessa Guillen, a Fort Hood soldier found dead after disappearing from Fort Hood, Texas, as well as her family and lawyer in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on July 30, 2020. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
Goldberg’s report in The Atlantic also alleged that Trump remarked, “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had. People who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders,” citing two unnamed sources who purportedly heard him say it in the White House.
A spokesperson for Trump refuted the claim as “absolutely false,” stating to Goldberg, “President Trump never said this.”
Goldberg was the journalist responsible for the 2020 report claiming then-President Trump denigrated fallen soldiers buried at the Aisne-Marne American cemetery near Paris as “suckers” and the land was “filled with losers” back in 2018, all based on anonymous sources.
Donald Trump and Vanessa Guillen(JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images; Sergio Flores/Getty Images)
Both Trump and White House officials vehemently denied Goldberg’s reporting at the time.
The Atlantic did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Halperin’s statements.
Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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