Lee Stranahan: My Career as a Journalist
As told in a series of tweets with links & video.
1) I'm working on new material for https://t.co/eF7zYo7cuj, so while I research I'm going to post my history as a journalist…
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 16, 2017
2) First story I covered as a journalist was the John Edwards affair in 2008, and used the term Citizen Journalisthttps://t.co/A36t4liBhV
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 16, 2017
3) And in that first story — published at @HuffingtonPost — I called out hypocrites, as I still do today. pic.twitter.com/sPNXrjy1Ym
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 16, 2017
4) Reporting on Edwards got me banned from DailyKos, where I’d been featured.
Blogger Banned Over Edwards Posts https://t.co/e2DaZ8FXRS
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 16, 2017
5) Also at HuffPo in 2008, I busted fake news —
DailyKos Embraces The Palin 'Fake Pregnancy' Rumor https://t.co/Kj2NdZm1nZ
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 16, 2017
6) In 2010 at HuffPost, I wrote about where I thought US politics was headed – anti-corruption; now called Populism https://t.co/qjekn3X924
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 16, 2017
7) This was what I wrote in 2010 and today seeing the populist victory of Trump threatened, not much has changed. https://t.co/qjekn3X924 pic.twitter.com/GBD8Clnube
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 16, 2017
8) At the end of 2010, I met and interviewed Andrew Breitbart; we became immediate friends and worked together on the Pigford fraud story
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 16, 2017
Andrew Breitbart and the Pigford Fraud Story
9) I wrote about Pigford at HuffPo and Breitbart
“USDA Continues to Lie About Pigford Fraud …” https://t.co/0xWFO40cdy
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 16, 2017
9) Andrew Breitbart at CPAC 2011 – Discusses Pigford Scandal – Part 3 https://t.co/51OpRLnxZs via @YouTube
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 16, 2017
10) Andrew Breitbart and I were attacked for our Pigford reporting
Lee Stranahan's "Fraud of The Week" https://t.co/Hf2HI8VErG
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 16, 2017
11) George Soros funded Media Matter did at least 20 stories attacking Andrew and me over the Pigford story… pic.twitter.com/FzZDp1sd2e
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 16, 2017
12) In 2013 (after Andrew’s tragic death, sadly) the New York Times confirmed our reporting on the Pigford fraud≥ https://t.co/Lo90zxNIEP
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 16, 2017
13) Contining on with numbered tweets about my career as a journalist from earlier today….covered John Edwards, Palin and Pigford so far…
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 16, 2017
14) One story related to the Pigford fraud involved Shirley Sherrod, the USDA employee who sued Andrew Breitbart during CPAC in 2011
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 16, 2017
15) Sherrod was the biggest recipient of the Pigford settlement — her farm had gotten $13,000,000 (!) as I reported https://t.co/6YHqDGp1Nz
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 16, 2017
16) I didn’t learn this until after Andrew’s death but I exclusively reported that Shirley Sherrod told a racist lie https://t.co/eiYCZNihB1
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 16, 2017
17) To this day, the media has sainted Shirley Sherrod — failing to report either her $13,000,000 payday from the taxpayers OR her lie
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 16, 2017
Anthony Wiener
18) After Pigford, the next big story I worked on with Andrew with the Anthony Weiner sexting story. (The 1st one.) https://t.co/8MPtgJSmh9
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
19) Andrew had me contact the person who first noticed the underwear tweet seen 'round the world, a Twitter account…but something was odd…
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
20) The account that first saw the Weiner refused to talk on the phone, even to Andrew…and NOBODY online had ever talked to them, either.
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
21) Andrew and I talked it about it we both thought it was odd…and that the account might be a woman…https://t.co/bco8cHRrUE pic.twitter.com/Nlc4xDfmpB
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
22) This started a very weird chapter in the Weiner story that has still notclosed. To this day, NOBODY knows 100% who 1st exposed Weiner… pic.twitter.com/xJZ2ord0EA
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
23) I firmly believe that the person behind the @patriotusa76 account was a liberal woman who lived in Boston named Jennifer. pic.twitter.com/PSHjNhpKMW
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
24) In 2015 I interviewed Sydney Leathers, who discussed the 2nd Weiner scandal & called herself "slutty Breitbart."https://t.co/tHPmBO3pj7
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
25) Later in 2011, the Occupy Wall Street movement had started – there was little real reporting on from right-wing media…mostly trolling.
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
26) Breitbart News thought there was no news there, but @brandondarby and I had become friends by this point after Andrew introduced us.
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
About @BrandonDarby – he was a leftist activist turned FBI Informant & subject of PBS film Better This World" https://t.co/i1BPi9XbHM v
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
27) but your tax dollars paid to make @BrandonDarby the BAD GUY for stopping two men who made bombs https://t.co/Xrr5OtQrLg via @YouTube
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
28) I interviewed @BrandonDarby about the film in October 2011 – watch what happens at 21:30 https://t.co/BZTK6CacYD via
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
29) So @brandondarby and I became friends and although the relationship has been stormy at points, he GETS the Left. And Andrew loved him.
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
30) So, Breitbart wasn't interested in us going to Occupy Wall Street — but I raised $ online and @brandondarby and I went to NYC. pic.twitter.com/4xi5PMIHKg
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
31) Within hours, @brandondarby and I had uncovered a major story that the media was covering up – rapes at Occupy. https://t.co/arPJWSMyKD
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
32) Soon, the stories of rapes at Occupy camps across the country was news but people like Keith Olbermann denied it https://t.co/JFqctBK4Fx
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
33) Later, I proved that Keith Olbermann had in fact been made aware of the rapes that he denied happened. https://t.co/P0QcJ7wePY
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
35) I had also reported something nobody else had: that a New York Times reporter arrested was actually a radical https://t.co/6rW336mIcM
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
36) Subsequently, I went to 9 different Occupy Wall Street camps around the country and that reporting was the basis for a film…
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
36) Occupy Unmasked was directed by Stephen K. Bannon https://t.co/gJ2nY9dLLB
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
37) Andrew Breitbart introduces me at the CPAC 2012 announcement of Occupy Unmasked.
Andrew died a month later.https://t.co/RMtoYVM8Qj
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
The Death of Andrew Breitbart
38) The death of Andrew Breitbart in 2012 was a shock to everyone who knew him and it profoundly impacted my life and career.
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
39) I had quit writing at the Huffington Post a year before Andrew’s death over their PC censorship of Andrew… https://t.co/LXmz1fLCZd
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
40) I'd been in a transitional phase for the year prior to Andrew's death but by the time we lost him, I'd run screaming from the left.
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
41) Between Edwards and Pigford and Weiner and Occupy Wall Street, I'd had it with the political left and saw the profound danger of it…
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
42) Andrew's death was also a lesson in Fake News, as false reports he was murdered spread to this day through the clickbait-o-sphere. pic.twitter.com/zd6B6I92lN
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
43) Four kids lost a father when Andrew died. The way the media-even right meda-spread lies disgusts me, personally + professionally. pic.twitter.com/xYI7gsWB8n
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
44a) The idea that @brandondarby, me & everyone else at Breitbart News who KNEW Andrew wouldn't investigate his "murder" is absurd. In fact…
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
44b) …the people who knew him knew he'd been in the hospital for heart trouble a year earlier, that he'd recently changed diet & exercise…
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
44C) …and we knew that the scoop he'd announced at CPAC had been overhyped and misinterpreted. But this is what fake news does…
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
44D) …facts simply do NOT matter. It's tragic irony that the death of Andrew Breitbart, truth-teller, is clouded by so many liars.
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 17, 2017
45) Shortly after Andrew's death, it was very difficult to see how things would play out at Breitbart or for my career. Additionally…
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 20, 2017
46) …my wife and I suffered another difficult personal loss a month later when our daughter Collette died the day before she was born.
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 20, 2017
47) Collette's twin brother Ezra Andrew Stranahan was born healthy, but it was a very difficult month March 2012.
Adding to this: trolling.— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 20, 2017
48) This period was a lesson in how difficult a career in journalism can be, as my family was attacked relentless by political "enemies."
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 20, 2017
49) Some of this harassment was online–including mocking the death of Andrew and our daughter.
Some was real life, like CPS reports.
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 20, 2017
50) We also had our personal information disclosed. This harassment continued for months in earnest. https://t.co/OLzO5xdJ91
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 20, 2017
51) I have no sympathy for trolls who engage in systematic harassment of people, no matter who their victims are. It's morally wrong.
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 20, 2017
52) Meanwhile, work continued on the film Occupy Unmaked and a new story began shortly after Andrew's death: Trayvon Martin.
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 20, 2017
The Trayvon Martin Story
54) I'd eventually cover the verdict in Martin story from Florida…
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 20, 2017
55) I was there when the verdict came in for George Zimmerman; it was effectively the birth of Black Lives Matter
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 20, 2017
56) In April 2012, @DanRiehl & I would find something that would later prove significant to BLM; Attorney Ben Crump https://t.co/SAayK6ZV5J
— Lee Stranahan (@stranahan) April 20, 2017