Live blog: Breitbart presser on Pigford
Ed Morrissey
HotAir.com
2/10/2011
Andrew Breitbart held a press conference today on the Pigford controversy, and it began with high-profile Congresswoman Michele Bachman’s introduction. Bachmann asked why Eric Holder has yet to investigate the allegations of widespread fraud. Bachmann said that “people are milking the system for all it’s worth,” and that the money belongs to black farmers who actually suffered discrimination. “We have a tremendous story to tell today,” Bachmann said, calling it “a stunning story.”
Breitbart introduced a new video today by recapping his seven-month involvement in the case, and introduced a black farmer who was cut out of the settlement process that Breitbart claimed was a “fraud” that allowed a much larger group of people to claim damages than actually ever farmed. The “attempted to farm” standard was a deliberate structure that essentially became a redistribution scheme and a way for class-action attorneys to milk the US government.
Breitbart then described how he reached out to Lee Stranahan from the Huffington Post to check the story out for himself. Breitbart says that he was aware that his conservative background would tend to discredit his investigation of Pigford, and wanted Stranahan to pursue it independently. Stranahan, who jokingly described himself as “the worst-dressed person at CPAC,” introduced the video that will end up as part of his documentary on Pigford fraud. The video was released today at Big Government and lasts two hours.
Stranahan noted that Rep. Steve King (R-IA) was accused of being a racist for asserting that Pigford was set up as a Trojan horse for slavery reparations. King, coincidentally, joined the presser just as Stranahan mentioned this. The video vindicates King, Stranahan argues, and its attorneys set up the settlement specifically so that any attempt to refute a claim would require “proving a negative,” and sold that way to potential claimants…
…King started looking into Pigford when working on the 2008 farm bill. King says that discrimination did occur at the USDA, and its actual victims “should be made whole” through government action. The current settlement is fraudulent on its face; current claimants are four times as many black farmers than existed at the time. King tied the Pigford II settlement to Barack Obama during his tenure in the Senate. King wants hearings to start now, and says the problem reaches all the way to the President…
Read the complete article at HotAir.com
Update: New Pigford Audio Proves Intentional Fraud in Settlements, at Verum Serum
