A Las Vegas man is claiming he intentionally duped conservative radio hosts and bloggers into repeating a lie about outgoing Democratic Sen. Harry Reid, for the sake of discrediting right-leaning media.
The Las Vegas Sun reported Sunday that Larry Pfeifer, a 50-year-old self-described motivational speaker who previously worked as a nightclub promoter, admitted he is the one responsible for concocting a story that Reid was beaten up by his brother, Larry Reid. Pfeifer’s story, which he relayed personally to conservative blogger John Hinderaker and radio host Rush Limbaugh, alleged that Larry had showed up drunk at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Henderson, Nev., on New Year’s Eve and claimed to have beaten up a relative. The story contradicted Reid’s own story, which said he was the victim of an unfortunate exercising accident in the bathroom of his Las Vegas home.
Hinderaker wrote up Pfeifer’s claims on his Power Line blog on April 3 and also booked Pfeifer as a guest on Laura Ingraham’s radio show, which Hinderaker was hosting as a fill-in. Limbaugh talked about them on his show on April 15. The right-leaning Breitbart News posted a story that same day with some of Limbaugh’s quotes.
Using the pseudonym “Easton Elliott,” Pfeifer also reached out to the Washington Examiner media desk on April 16, first by email, then by calling from a blocked phone number. The Examiner was, however, unable to corroborate Pfeifer’s account and did not pursue his claims.
Reid responded to the claims last week in an interview with CNBC. “Why in the world would I come up with a story that I got hurt in my own bathroom with my wife standing there?” he said. “How could anyone say anything like that?”
Pfeifer told the Sun that his motivation behind the fabrication was to discredit right-leaning media. “Can I set off a domino effect where people say, ‘We’re sick of this,’ and start turning away from this kind of media or maybe boycott their sponsors?”
Pfeifer did say he “would like to apologize” to Harry and Larry Reid for making up the story. “What I did was (expletive) up,” he said.
Pfeifer did not respond to a request from the Examiner as to whether he felt he had the moral high ground, having fabricated a potentially damaging tale.
On his Power Line blog, Hinderaker defended himself. “I, of course, couldn’t vouch for the veracity of Elliott’s story, and I didn’t,” he wrote, noting that when he originally published Pfeifer’s claims, he was sure to state that he couldn’t prove them.
“I was very clear about the fact I didn’t have first hand knowledge whether the story told by Larry Pfiefer was true or not, or accurate or not,” Hinderaker said in an interview. “Obviously, had I known he was a liar, I would have just hung up on him.” Of Pfiefer’s motivations to spread the false rumor, Hinderaker said, “If I had to give you my best guess, it is that he’s an attention seeker.”
A source close to Limbaugh’s radio program also defended the host. “If you spend a few minutes checking the transcript of what Rush actually said verbatim, it is very clear that he wasn’t vouching for the story and was discussing someone else’s reporting,” said the source, who requested anonymity. Limbaugh did, however, say on his show that the “bottom line” is that “somebody attacked Harry Reid on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. That much seems clear from pictures and from the nature of his injuries.”
Reid suffered a blow to his right eye and some broken ribs, the result, he said, of an exercise band that broke and sent him crashing into a counter.
