The Washington Free Beacon, the conservative news outlet that captured national attention for its reporting on audio tapes of Hillary Clinton discussing a 1975 child rape case, appears to have had a paid political operative help conduct research for the story, according to multiple reports.
Business Insider and BuzzFeed reported on the involvement of Shawn Reinschmiedt, former research director for the Republican National Committee and now a private contractor, in researching the tapes.
He “runs a firm that has been working with the Beacon since we launched,” Michael Goldfarb, the founder of the Free Beacon, told Business Insider in an email. According to BuzzFeed, Reinschmiedt’s research firm received $150,000 from the Center for American Freedom, the non-profit organization that includes the Free Beacon, in 2012.
Goldfarb did not respond to emails or calls for comment from TPM. Matthew Continetti, editor-in-chief at the Beacon, exchanged emails with TPM about the matter, but declined to confirm that Reinschmiedt had been paid for his Hillary research or remained a paid consultant for the outlet.
The University of Arkansas, whose library held the tapes, told BuzzFeed that Reinschmiedt was “the primary point of contact” during the research. He helped parse through the library’s documents and communicated with library officials to assist the Free Beacon reporter, Alana Goodman, who bylined the Hillary Tapes story, according to BuzzFeed. Continetti told Politico that Goodman traveled to Arkansas for the story.
The Hillary Tapes story attracted national media attention, sparking renewed conservative criticism over Clinton’s work in the case and leading to follow-up reports by mainstream news outlets like The Daily Beast.
Correction: This post has been updated to correct Matthew Continetti’s first name.
If this is their best hope to knock Hillary out of the running they’re in for a huge disappointment.
…but they’ll be certain of victory up until about 9PM EST on election day.
The Free Beacon is Bill Kristol’s neocon version of ThinkProgress and TPM.
They are as adept at this as they are at comedy.
So one more rightwing rag is just another political arm of the RNC…I can’t say I’m surprised.
Opposition-research as it relates to the former First Lady of Arkansas and the U.S., Senator, and Secretary of State has always been a full-blown cottage industry. I expect these wingnuts will continue their obsession with the politics of personal destruction as far as the eye can see, well into the future, up until election day 2016. Same as it ever was. The difference is…most of us these days recognize it for what it is…pure hatred of all things Clinton and the Democratic Party. Real substance isn’t their forte. Actually, if Ms. Clinton plays it wisely, there’s some value in that type of opposition politically. I just hope she doesn’t try to co-opt it in the end. It’s politically advantageous to have an unhinged adversary to some degree. Irrationality becomes their own downfall.
Or until Ohio results come in.