The Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights (IREHR) has been busted for spreading fake news about former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon on Twitter. Instead of admitting to their mistake, the social justice organization is acting outraged at everyone for calling them out.
On December 7th, the IREHR published several tweets claiming that Steve Bannon’s official War Room Telegram account endorses the “white nationalist and fascist” Patriot Front group.
They backed up their claims by citing a Telegram account: https://t.me/steve_bannon
There’s only one problem… That account is a lookalike, and is not affiliated in any way with Steve Bannon or his War Room Podcast. If the IREHR had bothered to do even thirty seconds of research by going to Bannon’s website, they would have known this.
The Post Millennial compiled a bullet point list of the false claims made by the IREHR’s Twitter account:
- (2:53 PM · Dec 7, 2021) “Steve Bannon’s War Room Pandemic Telegram page boosts white nationalist and fascist Patriot Front, links to “Hyphen-Report” website which calls the group’s recent Washington D.C. march “glorious” and describes its own platform as “an assault on jewish (sic) sensibilities.”” (link)
- (3:05 PM · Dec 7, 2021) “Steve Bannon’s War Room Pandemic Telegram page has embraced the white nationalist and fascist Patriot Front as a “patriot group worth supporting.”” (link)
- (3:16 PM · Dec 7, 2021) “As it turns out, a deeper dive finds that Steve Bannon’s War Room Pandemic Telegram page has been boosting the white nationalist and fascist Patriot Front for some time. This one from February.” (link)
- (3:20 PM · Dec 7, 2021) “Steve Bannon’s War Room Pandemic Telegram page has posted material directly from the white nationalist and fascist Patriot Front. This one from October.” (link)
- (3:42 PM · Dec 7, 2021) “Steve Bannon’s War Room Pandemic Telegram page also boosts the National Justice Party, a white nationalist group whose official platform supports, “a two percent ceiling on Jewish employment in vital institutions.”” (link)
- (4:09 PM · Dec 7, 2021) “And, Steve Bannon’s War Room Pandemic Telegram page has circulated posts from “Erik Striker,” who, when he’s not spewing antisemitic conspiracy theories or denying the Holocaust, is posting pictures of famous Nazis he seems to like.” (link)
- (4:12 PM · Dec 7, 2021) “And more Steve Bannon’s War Room Pandemic Telegram posts from “Erik Striker” alongside Striker spewing antisemitism and posting pictures of Nazis he seems to like.” (link 1) (link 2)
Some of the tweets are still up on the human rights organization’s Twitter page.
Steve Bannon’s War Room Pandemic Telegram page boosts white nationalist and fascist Patriot Front, links to “Hyphen-Report" website which calls the group’s recent Washington D.C. march “glorious" and describes its own platform as “an assault on jewish (sic) sensibilities.” pic.twitter.com/e997vEAYKJ
— IREHR (@IREHR) December 7, 2021
Former Navy Intel Officer and current Senior Editor of Human Events Jack Posobiec was one of the first people to call IREHR out on Twitter for their false claims.
“This account is spreading fake news to try and tie Bannon to the Patriot Front They are reading a fake War Room Telegram channel in effort to say Bannon endorses the group They failed to check to War Room website to make sure they had the right account,” Posobiec tweeted.
This account is spreading fake news to try and tie Bannon to the Patriot Front
They are reading a fake War Room Telegram channel in effort to say Bannon endorses the group
They failed to check to War Room website to make sure they had the right account:https://t.co/lr3OCYxPFD https://t.co/fXyrgd8rob
— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) December 7, 2021
Devin Burghart, executive director of the IREHR, tried to walk back the organization’s claims.
“To be clear, [Jack Posobiec] is lying. @IREHR said no such thing. He is deflecting from the fact that a far-right channel with 64,391 members that relentlessly promotes Bannon’s podcast is also distributing white nationalist propaganda,” Burghart tweeted.
Posobiec didn’t let him get away with it, replying: “Caught him in 4K so he doubles down in 4K. This is who they are, liars all the way down.”
Caught him in 4K so he doubles down in 4K
This is who they are, liars all the way down pic.twitter.com/O0HoMqvsVN
— Jack Posobiec 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) December 8, 2021