The fallout over the “Friends of Hamas” rumor continued Wednesday afternoon with Breitbart News claiming that New York Daily News reporter Dan Friedman admitted the conservative news site’s story on the matter was accurate.
Friedman gave an interview to HuffPost Live on the “Friends of Hamas” rumor, which he claims he unintentionally started. And Breitbart News focused on the following quote from Friedman: “I talked to (Breitbart’s Ben Shapiro), and what he said was that if you read his lead as caveated, that he didn’t directly say this group exists. He said this person told him that they were asked if this group exists. So you can say that that, if you look at it, and read it that way, yes, it’s accurate.”
On Feb. 7, Shapiro reported that Senate sources told Breitbart News that Hagel had ties to a shadowy group called “Friends of Hamas.” Friedman has said he made the group up while asking a congressional Republican aide about Hagel’s positions on Israel.
Asked about Breitbart’s reporting on the nonexistent group, Friedman told TPM he didn’t want to get into a debate with Shapiro. “What I wrote is correct,” he said in an email.
