One day after several women stepped forward to accuse Donald Trump of sexual assault and harassment, a Fox Business Network anchor publicly tweeted a link to one accuser’s personal information, including her address and phone number.
Lou Dobbs, an anchor for Fox Business Network, retweeted a link to a conservative news site alleging that Jessica Leeds, who had accused Donald Trump of touching her inappropriately on a flight, shared a phone number with the Clinton Foundation. The site posted the first few digits of Leeds’ phone number and her address, alongside a screenshot of a WikiLeaks email with the Foundation’s number.
“This is the Dirtiest Campaign in our History,” Dobbs wrote, along with several pro-Trump hashtags.
The claim was false, as reporters quickly pointed out: The available digits of Leeds’ phone number do not match those of the Clinton Foundation. But Dobbs’s retweet was still online three hours later, though the original tweet had been deleted.
Only 5 of the 10 digits in the phone numbers match. Three of the 5 matching digits are "212".
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) October 13, 2016
Several commenters on Dobbs’ status wrote that they had reported his tweet to Twitter Support. The site prohibits posting “other people’s private and confidential information.”
Dobbs tweeted Thursday afternoon apologizing.
My Retweet,My Mistake,My Apology to Jessica Leeds Lou Dobbs tweets Trump accuser's address and phone # https://t.co/iOP6MJvCEx #MAGA #Dobbs
— Lou Dobbs (@LouDobbs) October 13, 2016
Leeds, now 74, was one of two women who came forward in a New York Times article Wednesday accusing Donald Trump of touching them inappropriately several years before waging his presidential bid. Several other women have also made their stories public, including a People staff writer who wrote Wednesday that Trump pushed her against a wall and kissed her during a 2005 assignment.
Comments