A former Daily Caller reporter who first reported on since-debunked allegations that Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) had hired Dominican prostitutes wrote Tuesday there were “no indications” his original sources were working on behalf of the Cuban government.
Matthew Boyle, who now writes for Breitbart News, had previously declined to comment on the bizarre case’s latest twist in which an attorney for Menendez claimed there was evidence that the original story had been planted in the media by Cuban officials in an attempt to discredit the senator.
Boyle wrote about the latest developments for Breitbart on Tuesday and included the following passage about his reporting for the original story, which was published by the Daily Caller:
In discussions with a wide array of sources in reporting on the story, there were no indications that they were connected to or working for the Cuban government. Additionally, an anonymous tipster who called himself “Pete Williams,” whose identity remains unknown and the Post story says was actually the creation of Cuba’s Directorate of Intelligence, was not a source for the original story and never provided non-public information to this reporter.
Last year, Boyle defended his reporting to the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple. “I talked to two of the prostitutes,” he told Wemple at the time. “I saw their faces, I heard their voices.”
Shorter Boyle: “I got played. I’m too dumb to realize I got played. Even after the facts show that I got played.”
“In discussions with a wide array of sources in reporting on the story, there were no indications that they were connected to or working for the Cuban government.”
Um, that should go without saying. Unless, Boyle is suggesting he would have run the story anyway even if there was an indication that his sources were working for Cuba.
So does that just leave Chuck C. “Just my imagination running away with me” Johnson?
“They didn’t have Castro beards. I figured they were cool.”
Even shorter Boyle: “I was too greedy to ask and he didn’t tell me. What, you’re expecting investigation?”