Fox "News" loudmouth reaps what he has sewn over the years; the real question is when will Fox corporate attorneys finally decide that O'Reilly is now a serious liability and cut him loose even as Ailes attempts futile cover-up for the sputtering, filth-spewing, completely discredited hack
DAILY MAIL
By
Louise Boyle For Daily Mail and
Associated Press
02/25/2015
- The Fox News host has said in best-selling books and on TV that he 'heard' the fatal gunshot at the Florida home of George de Mohrenschildt in 1977
- De Mohrenschildt was a friend of JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald who had given evidence to the government
- Three veteran journalists disputed O'Reilly's claims
- Tracy Rowlett, a former anchor and managing editor of Dallas-Fort Worth station KTVT, said: 'Bill O'Reilly's a phony, there's no other way to put it'
- Fox News CEO Roger Ailes has said he fully supports O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly lied about being at the home of a witness in the JFK assassination investigation when hecommitted suicide, according to new claims from veteran colleagues.
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O'Reilly now being tarred with the same brush he
has used so many times in the past
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The Fox News host has reiterated in his own best-selling books and TV interviews that he 'heard' the fatal gunshot at the Florida home of George de Mohrenschildt in 1977 while he was a reporter for Dallas-based WFAA-TV.
Several of O'Reilly's esteemed former colleagues told
Media Matters that he is lying - and a police report and government investigation also undermined the Fox star's version of events.
De Mohrenschildt was a friend of shooter, Lee Harvey Oswald, and had given testimony to the investigation following President Kennedy's assassination.
On the day De Mohrenschildt was contacted by the House Select Committee on Assassinations, he took his own life.
For unexplained reasons, O'Reilly wrote in his bestseller, Killing Kennedy, that 'as a reporter knocked on the door of de Mohrenschildt's daughter's home, he heard the shotgun blast that marked the suicide of the Russian ... that reporter's name is Bill O'Reilly'.
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O'Reilly claims that in 1977 he 'heard' the fatal gunshot in
the suicide of George de Mohrenschildt
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Jefferson Morley, a former Washington Post reporter and author, first wrote about O'Reilly's alleged lies on his website,
JFKFacts.org.
Mr Morley has previously worked at The Washington Post and Salon and is a visiting professor at the University of California, Washington Center.
He told
Media Matters that O'Reilly's claims about de Mohrenschildt's suicide just weren't true.
His claims were backed up by Tracy Rowlett, a veteran journalist who covered the JFK assassination. Mr Rowlett is a former anchor and managing editor of Dallas-Fort Worth station, KTVT.
He told Media Matters: 'Bill O'Reilly's a phony, there's no other way to put it.
'He was not up on the porch when he heard the gunshots, he was in Dallas. He wasn't traveling at that time.'
Another veteran journalist, Byron Harris, who has worked at Texas' WFAA for the past 40 years and won two Peabody Awards for his investigative work, also told Media Matters that O'Reilly made up the story.
A 1977 Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office report into the suicide, which included many witness statements, did not include a statement from O'Reilly.
Daily Mail Online made repeated requests for comment from Fox News on Wednesday.
The latest allegations levied at O'Reilly, 65, came after his reporting during the Falklands War was called into question last week.
O'Reilly had claimed that he reported in a 'war zone' or 'combat zone' during the conflict between Britain and Argentina in 1982.
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CBS News on Monday released video from four stories it aired about the Falklands War in 1982. None of the stories mention O'Reilly, then a young CBS reporter, or makes any specific reference to a CBS crew member being hurt |
CBS News on Monday released video from four stories it aired about the Falklands War in 1982, all part of a dispute involving O'Reilly and his subsequent statements about covering the war.
None of the stories mention O'Reilly, then a young CBS reporter, or makes any specific reference to a CBS crew member being hurt.
The television time travel was prompted by a Mother Jones article last week calling into question O'Reilly claims that he reported in a 'war zone' or 'combat zone' during the brief conflict between Britain and Argentina.
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O'Reilly makes an abrupt exit on ESPN radio show |
Few reporters made it to the front of the war, some 1,000 miles from the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires.
O'Reilly has said that he covered an anti-government demonstration in Buenos Aires that turned violent and that a photographer he was working with was knocked to the ground and was bleeding. Describing the events two years ago, O'Reilly said he 'dragged off' the photographer from danger.
Former CBS News correspondent Eric Engberg, who was also covering the event, characterized O'Reilly's account as 'dishonest' and 'completely nutty' during a Huffington Post interview on Monday.
Engberg said none of the camera operators working the night in question remember any of their colleagues being injured. The camera person who was said to be hurt has not spoken publicly about the matter.
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O'Reilly's Fox "News" co-workers now being discredited, smeared with his filth by osmosis |
During one of the CBS reports, then-anchor Dan Rather said that several television crew members were knocked to the ground and that North American television crews were 'jostled'.
An Engberg report, also released by CBS Monday, said police fired guns with tear gas and plastic bullets. He said in the report it was not known how many people were hurt, but at least some were seriously injured.
An Associated Press account of the demonstration said that police officers charged a group of about 50 journalists, beating some and trampling others.
'Two news photographers were reported injured by rubber bullets fired by police,' said the June 16, 1982, account by AP writer Douglas Grant Mine.
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O'Reilly may not have been present at the de Mohrenschildt "suicide" however it certainly appears from this image that he was present at the Oswald assassination. As to why Bill omitted this from his book will remain forever a mystery |
O'Reilly, on his program Monday night, showed portions of the CBS video and said it proved the event was no 'walk in the park'.
He interviewed Don Browne, a former NBC News Miami bureau chief who was in the Falklands, who also described the situation. No mention was made in O'Reilly's report on Monday about any CBS News personnel being hurt.
The Mother Jones piece was printed shortly after NBC News anchor Brian Williams was suspended for misrepresenting his experiences in the Iraq War.
O'Reilly, long the most popular prime-time figure in cable news, has called the piece a political hit job.
Fox News CEO Roger Ailes has said he fully supports O'Reilly.
'I want to stop this now,' O'Reilly said. 'I hope we can stop it, I really do.'
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