The Associated Press (AP) is reportedly looking at a possible lawsuit after a bombshell article on GOP Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno was found to contain serious errors and contradictions. The article by Brian Slodysko suggested that Moreno had posted on the website Adult Friend Finder (AFF) to find male lovers. The story was eagerly picked up by newspapers like The Washington Post. Moreno is a Trump-backed anti-establishment candidate who is on the ballot this Tuesday in the Ohio primary.
After being pressed by conservative sites like Breitbart News, AP admitted that a claim of having “geolocation data” implicating Moreno is untrue and Moreno’s counsel has shown that an intern admitted that the posting was a prank. Moreover, the AP knew and reported on the admission from the intern but still ran the story and claim of geolocational data support. The article is being denounced as a political “hit piece” and AP has reportedly brought in a major defense attorney to handle the legal repercussions.
The story recounted how someone posted a message stating “Hi, looking for young guys to have fun with while traveling,” reads a caption on a photo-less profile under the username “nardo19672.” It further stated that
“Beyond the work email, the profile lists Moreno’s correct date of birth, while geolocation data indicates that the account was set up for use in a part of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where property records show Moreno’s parents owned a home at the time. The account’s username — nardo19672 — appears to refer to Moreno’s full first name, Bernardo, as well as the year and month of his birth in February 1967.”
In reality, an intern reportedly admitted to creating the account as a joke. Moreno’s lawyer told AP that
“16 years ago an intern at Moreno Auto created an account at AFF as a prank, which he quickly abandoned that same day. We have provided AP a copy of a signed letter from that intern, admitting to this, as well as another signed letter from a former VP of Mr. Moreno’s company, confirming this intern’s employment at the time the account in question was created…The email address in question was not Bernie’s personal email address, but rather an email address that appeared on company websites and literature and was managed by staff. Multiple people had access to it, including this intern.”
While acknowledging that objection, the AP still ran the story on purported “links” of Moreno to the site. Various people immediately objected to the claim of the geolocational evidence, including the man who reportedly created the code for the site. Adult Friend Finder founder Andrew Conru expressed shock at the reporting and posting a detailed refutation of the claim:
“I reviewed all the available information and it showed that the account had only a single visit, no activity, no profile photo, consistent with a prank or someone just checking out the site. That’s it. The AP report seeming to claim that the available data proves the account was created in Florida is inaccurate, as location information is manually entered during the signup process. In reality, there appears to be no public geolocation data tied to the account.”
He added later:
“Ah, just noticed what people are calling geolocation. In 2008, when someone entered any zip code during signup, we just had a lookup table to map it to latitude and longitude. Geolocation today means to deduce someone’s location based on the browser’s IP address which isn’t the case here.”
When pressed by Breitbart News, Lauren Easton, the director of communications for the AP, on Saturday admitted that it did not have “geolocation data” referenced in the two prior stories but still stood by those stories. It suggested that the “geolocational data” was merely noting that it was basically coming from the same zip code. Critics objected that the use of the term suggested that AP had data showing an account created with a specific IP, or internet protocol, address that can be tied to a specific location. Otherwise, with the reported admission of the intern, there was little to support the bombshell article published just before the election.
The AP questioned the claim of the intern. Moreno gave very specific information and a statement from former intern, Dan Ricci, who said he created the account as “part of a juvenile prank.” That statement included the admission that “I am thoroughly embarrassed by an aborted prank I pulled on my friend, and former boss, Bernie Moreno, nearly two decades ago.” However, The AP said that it could not “independently confirm Ricci’s statement and he didn’t immediately respond to messages left for him on multiple phone numbers listed to him. He donated $6,599 to Moreno’s campaign last year, according to campaign finance records.”
I understand that the AP would want to communicate directly with Ricci. I also get the suggestion that Ricci might be simply a supporter covering for a candidate. However, I do not understand the basis for running the article in light of the countervailing evidence without something more than a loose claim of “geolocational data.” It is particularly suspicious when the posting was made sixteen years ago and was just published a few days before the election.
While AP did not confirm the statement of Ricci, counsel for Moreno (and the candidate himself) would be facing serious legal jeopardy if they made up the statements and lied about the admission.
Moreno has reportedly hired Charles Harder, one of the attorneys who led the lawsuits against Gawker before that publication closed.
A lawsuit could present some interesting questions since AP did incorporate the denial and alleged admission from the intern. It could argue that the rest is its opinion on the newsworthiness of the allegation. The issue is whether, given Moreno’s status as a public figure, the AP meets the “actual malice” standard for defamation as either knowingly publishing a false claim or doing so with reckless disregard of the truth. If Moreno sues and gains access to discovery against AP, this could prove a costly and embarrassing matter for the company.
