Subject: FYI: Media Matters For America: Discredited Author Ronald Kessler Has Next Anti-Clinton Gossip Book
From: Burns Strider <[email-masked]>
To: CTRFriendsFamily <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 15:03:37 -0400
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Discredited Author Ronald Kessler Has Next Anti-Clinton Gossip Book
58 minutes ago ››› MATT GERTZ

Ronald Kessler reportedly attacks Bill and Hillary Clinton with
anonymously-sourced stories in his forthcoming book *The First Family
Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of Presidents*,
according to British tabloids and *The New York Post*. Critics have
described Kessler's previous books as "*National Enquirer*-style gossip,"
and claims in his previous book on the Secret Service were "strongly
disputed" by the agency and other subjects. Kessler was an established
journalist for credible newspapers like *The Washington Post* decades ago
but became chief Washington correspondent for the far-right outlet NewsMax
in 2006. He subsequently pushed false smears of Hillary Clinton and Barack
Obama and led the charge to promote Donald Trump as a presidential
candidate. *The First Family Detail *is part of a trifecta of anti-Clinton
books based on anonymous sources published this summer, along with Daniel
Halper's *Clinton Inc.: The Audacious Rebuilding of a Political Machine *
*and* Edward Klein's *Blood Feud: The Clintons vs. the Obamas**.*
*Kessler's Books Criticized As "Page Six" Style "Gossip" -- And That's His
Intent*

*Wash. Post **Review: Kessler Book Features "National Enquirer-Style
Gossip" That Could Endanger Presidents. *National security reporter James
Bamford wrote
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/21/AR2009082101668.html>
 in *The Washington Post* that for his book *In The President's Secret
Service*, Kessler "milked the agents for the juiciest gossip he could get
and mixed it with a rambling list of their complaints." He added: "What is
truly dangerous is the kind of National Enquirer-style gossip in Kessler's
book. In the future, without 'trust and confidence' in their agents,
presidents will want to keep them at a distance, out of spying range -- and
out of safety range, when split seconds may count. And with President
Obama, such concerns may be especially acute." [*The Washington Post*,
8/23/09
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/21/AR2009082101668.html>
]

*New York Times **Reviewer: Kessler Book Is "Speculation-Filled."* *New
York Times* critic Michiko Kakutani called
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/books/david-nasaws-patriarch-on-joseph-p-kennedy.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0>
Kessler's
Joseph P. Kennedy book *The Sins of the Father* a "meanspirited,
speculation-filled biography ... which purveyed a determinedly poisonous
portrait of the man." [*The New York Times*, 11/29/12
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/30/books/david-nasaws-patriarch-on-joseph-p-kennedy.html?pagewanted=all>
]

*Globe and Mail* *Review: Kessler "Relies Too Heavily On Speculation,
Gossip, Innuendo And Secondary Sources." **Globe and Mail *editorial board
member Andrew Cohen wrote of *The Sins Of The Father*:

For what is called a major book, the research is sometimes suspect.
The description of Kennedy's affair with [Gloria] Swanson, for example,
sounds much like her own account. Kessler relies too heavily on
speculation, gossip, innuendo and secondary sources. He quotes the nephew
of Francis Cardinal Spellman saying that Joe boasted to him that he had put
JFK on the cover of Time in 1957 for $75,000 (U.S.). That's enough for
Kessler. Like a reporter on deadline, he goes with what he has, even when
it isn't enough.

Instead of dirtying the dustbin, Kessler might have advanced the story. [*The
Globe and Mail*, 5/11/96, via Nexis]

*Wash. Post* *Review: "Hey, Sex Sells, Maybe These Would Be Page Six Bites
On A Slow Day." **Vanity Fair* special correspondent Bryan Burrough wrote
at the *Washington Post* of Kessler's *The Secrets of the FBI*:

Revelations? Okay. There's a nice section on what Kessler bills as the
untold story of how the Russian spy Robert Hanssen was caught; that
probably qualifies. More representative, though, is a chapter called
"Threesomes'' that recapitulates the 1970s-era Elizabeth Ray scandal -- the
news here is Capitol Hill's purported appetite for the ménage àtrois -- and
tosses in a quarter-century-old tale about an unnamed young lady who
supposedly had sex with groups of men in the upper reaches of the Dirksen
Senate Office Building. "Attic Girl,'' Kessler says she was
"affectionately'' named. Then it's on to a 1980s-era tale of a CIA mole who
frequented sex clubs. Not too sure what any of this has to do with, you
know, the FBI -- they made the arrests, I guess -- but hey, sex sells.
Maybe these would be Page Six bites on a slow day. [*The Washington Post*,
8/25/11
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/ronald-kesslers-the-secrets-of-the-fbi/2011/07/19/gIQAl04QeJ_story.html>
]

*Even Kessler's Publisher Hyped The "Page Six Tidbits" In His Books. *As
Burroughs noted, publicity materials for *The Secrets of the FBI *promised
<http://www.scribd.com/doc/45057782/Crown-Publishing-Group-Catalog-Summer-2011>
it
would be "filled with revelations about the Bureau and Page Six tidbits,
just like those that made *In the President's Secret Service* so
successful." [Crown Publishing Group catalog, Summer 2011
<http://www.scribd.com/doc/45057782/Crown-Publishing-Group-Catalog-Summer-2011>
]
*Claims In Kessler's Previous Secret Service Book Were "Strongly Disputed"*

*Secret Service "Strongly Disputed" Kessler Claim That They Are "Totally
Overloaded."* In a 2009 report on Kessler's book, CNN's Brian Todd reported
that the Secret Service "strongly disputed" one of  Kessler's claims:

RON KESSLER, AUTHOR, IN THE PRESIDENT'S SECRET SERVICE: The fact is that
they're -- the Secret Service is totally overloaded. They have so many
extra duties that they're performing and the number of agents has not
really increased.

TODD: Contacted by CNN, a Secret Service spokesman strongly disputed those
assessments, saying the agency is not overstretched and that its ranks have
increased. The spokesman says last year, while agents protected several
candidates during the longest and most expensive campaign in American
history, the Secret Service also had its biggest haul ever of financial
assets seized from criminals -- $141 million. [CNN,*The Situation Room*,
10/24/09 <http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0910/24/sitroom.01.html>]

*Secret Service Director Debunked Kessler's Claim Of A 400 Percent Increase
In Threats Under Obama.* In his previous Secret Service book, Kessler
reported that the Service had seen a 400 percent increase in threats under
President Obama compared to President Bush. Kessler's statistic circulated
widely. But in a congressional hearing, Secret Service Director Mark
Sullivan said the claim was false, stating that the threats were "the same
level as it has been [against] the last two presidents." [PolitiFact,
3/18/13
<http://www.politifact.com/georgia/statements/2013/mar/18/julian-bond/no-concrete-evidence-support-claim/>
]

*Mary Cheney Told Kessler The Book's Stories About Her Were False.* *The
New York Post* reported of Kessler's 2009 book on the agency, *In the
President's Secret Service*:

According to "In the President's Secret Service" by *Ronald Kessler*, when
Mary demanded the Service shuttle her friends out to restaurants, the agent
in charge objected and she had him removed from her detail. The former
veep's daughter also allegedly complained about the Secret Service vehicle
assigned to her. "She saw that her sister [*Elizabeth*] had a brand-new
Suburban," an agent who was on her detail tells the author. "Mary had an
older vehicle. She was like, why can't I have one? Next thing you know,
within a day or two, she has a brand-new Suburban from the Secret Service
sitting out there in front of her house." But Mary told Kessler, "These
stories are simply not true, and I have nothing but the utmost respect for
the men and women of the Secret Service." [*New York Post*, 8/2/09
<http://pagesix.com/2009/08/02/book-mary-cheney-a-diva-with-secret-service/>
]

*Kessler Left Behind Credible Newspapers For Right-Wing NewsMax*

*Decades Ago, Kessler Was A Journalist At The Washington Post And Wall
Street Journal.* According to the biography on his website:

Kessler began his career as a journalist in 1964 on the *Worcester Telegram*,
followed by three years as an investigative reporter and editorial writer
with the*Boston Herald*. In 1968, he joined the *Wall Street Journal* as a
reporter in the New York bureau. He became an investigative reporter with
the *Washington Post* in 1970 and continued in that position until 1985.

Kessler has won eighteen journalism awards, including two George Polk
awards--one for national reporting and one for community service.
[RonaldKessler.com, accessed 7/31/14 <http://www.ronaldkessler.com/bio.html>
]

*Kessler Joined Right-Wing NewsMax As Chief Washington Correspondent, Said
He Was "Proud To Be Associated" With Outlet. *From the 2006 press release
announcing his hiring:

"Ronald Kessler is a rare find," said NewsMax CEO Christopher Ruddy. "Few
journalists can claim the enormous breadth and scope of the turf he has
covered. He has a long history of combining quality work and balanced
journalism, and he has an uncanny ability to ferret out news stories that
other journalists miss."

[...]

"Since I first learned about NewsMax, I've admired how, in order to tell
the truth about subjects ranging from politics to medicine, it presents
factual material that the rest of the media ignore," Mr. Kessler said. "I'm
proud to be associated with an operation that practices journalism honestly
and fairly." [NewsMax press release, June 2006
<https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Avian2005/conversations/messages/6576>]

*NewsMax Was Founded By The Chief Promoter Of Vince Foster Conspiracy
Theories. *Bloomberg Businessweek wrote of NewsMax CEO and founder
Christopher Ruddy:

The suicide of Deputy White House Counsel Vincent Foster in 1993 became his
defining story, and it was Ruddy who provided conservative talk radio with
plenty of fuel for the wide-ranging conspiracy theories that sprang up.

He left the *Post* in 1994 when billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife hired him
to be the national correspondent for the *Pittsburgh Tribune-Review*. Ruddy
would eventually turn his reporting on Foster into a book, *The Strange
Death of Vincent Foster*, in 1997. [Bloomberg BusinessWeek, 3/6/14
<http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-03-06/newsmaxs-chris-ruddy-preps-tv-network-to-rival-fox-news#p2>
]

*Kessler Left NewsMax in 2012 Citing "Editorial Changes." *On December 19,
2012, Kessler sent the following message titled "left Newsmax" to a
distribution email list that he had used to promote his articles: "Because
of editorial changes, I am no longer at Newsmax. I am exploring other
opportunities and developing the idea for my next book. All the best or
[sic] the New Year!--Ron". [Kessler email obtained by *Media Matters*,
12/19/12]

*NewsMax During Kessler's Tenure: A Hotbed Of Conspiracy Theories And
Smears. *From 2006 through 2012, NewsMax frequently promoted conspiracy
theories that there were questions about President Obama's birth
certificate (Kessler has written that "Obama was born in Hawaii");
repeatedly pushed false claims of "death panels" in health care
legislation; published a column stating that a military coup "to resolve
the 'Obama problem'" was not "unrealistic" (the column was taken down
following an uproar); published a column that stated of the mass shooting
in Aurora, Colorado, "One need not be a conspiracy freak to observe that
such incidents seem to happen again and again at politically convenient
moments for the left to exploit"; and stoked readers' fears of
hyperinflation to sell financial products. Salon's Alex Pareene described
the site in 2011 as a "nutritional supplement sales organization and
expensive email list with a right-wing news website attached." [*Media
Matters*, 8/8/12
<http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/08/08/ny-times-turns-to-newsmax-which-has-peddled-ant/189200>;
NewsMax, 12/8/08
<http://www.newsmax.com/RonaldKessler/obama-birth/2008/12/08/id/326987/>]

*Kessler Won Top Award At Conservative Political Action Conference
(CPAC). *Conservative
activists at CPAC awarded Kessler the "Robert Novak Journalist of the Year"
Award in 2010. NewsMax reported that in his speech accepting the award,
Kessler said that he was "honored" to receive it. [NewsMax, 2/20/10
<http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/kessler-cpac-robertnovak-award/2010/02/20/id/350429/>
]

*Kessler Believes Fox News Is "Fair And Balanced" Compared To "Mainstream"
Media.* From Kessler's CPAC speech:

I was on the *Wall Street Journal *and the *Washington Post* in the '70s
and early '80s and I guarantee you, even though the editorials on the
*Washington
Post* were liberal, we would have been fired for doing the kinds of stories
that appear in the media today. They're not only biased, they're dishonest,
in many cases they suppress the truth, they suppress the other side, they
ignore, or they have it in the last paragraph. And that's one reason why
that the media are going downhill. The mainstream media.

And on the other hand, we have Fox News, which is, which really is fair and
balanced. Aside from their opinion shows, such as Glenn Beck, when they
cover the news, they actually have a rule that every side has to be
presented. When they have guests, they have to have both a Democrat and a
Republican. So anybody who says it's not fair and balanced, I think, has
either not watched it or is in denial. [*Media Matters*, 2/12/11
<http://mediamatters.org/video/2011/02/12/newsmaxs-kessler-anybody-who-says-fox-isnt-fair/176372>
]

*Kessler's Smears Of Hillary Clinton*

*Kessler Accused Hillary Clinton Of "Pathological Lying." *In a 2007 radio
interview, Kessler said "I think people do want a -- a fresh start. They
don't want to go backwards. And the other thing about Hillary, of course,
is -- is her pathological lying, and that's going to come out." [KSFO, *The
Lee Rodgers & Melanie Morgan Program*, 7/13/07, via *Media Matters*
<http://mediamatters.org/research/2007/07/13/on-ksfo-newsmaxs-kessler-repeated-buchanan-fals/139328>
]

*Kessler Pushed Conspiracy Theory That Hillary Clinton Drove Vince Foster
To Suicide.* In an August 2011 interview promoting *The* *Secrets of the
FBI*, Kessler told Fox News of Robert Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe, "I
surmise that he broke up with her and that's why she committed suicide,
just given the timing." He went on to claim that then-deputy White House
counsel Vince Foster "was depressed, he did commit suicide" because Clinton
had "humiliated him in front of all these White House aides." [Fox News, *Fox
& Friends*, 8/9/11, via *Media Matters
<http://mediamatters.org/video/2011/08/09/on-fox-newsmaxs-kessler-pushes-conspiracy-theor/182931>*
]
*Kessler's Attacks On Barack Obama*

*Kessler Urged Republicans To Campaign On Obama's Ties to Rev. Jeremiah
Wright. *Prior to the 2008 election, Kessler wrote that the GOP should
highlight Obama's ties to controversial pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright "to
illustrate how out of step he [Obama] is with most of America ... Wright
holds the key to what Obama is all about, demonstrating his attraction to a
left wing, anti-American agenda." [Newsmax, 10/28/08
<http://www.newsmax.com/RonaldKessler/rev-wright-mccain-obama/2008/10/28/id/326183/>
]

*Kessler Falsely Reported That "Obama Attended Hate America Sermon" With
Wright.* As *USA Today *reported, in a March 2008 report under the headline
"Obama attended hate America sermon," Kessler claimed that Obama had been
present "during one of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's most inflammatory sermons,
even though the Democratic presidential contender has said in the past he
wasn't at the church when Wright made any of his controversial statements."
Kessler based his report on a previous Newsmax article, which he later
acknowledged was incorrect. [*USA Today*, 3/17/08
<http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2008/03/767871/1#.U9aOMvldV8F>
]

*Kessler Cited Jeremiah Wright In Explaining Why Romney Would Win In A
"Landslide." *Kessler wrote in a November 6, 2012, Newsmax column:

Thus, Obama's comment that voters should vote for revenge sums up his
motivation for running: to get back at the hated establishment, which by
definition includes Republicans. While he may have been riffing on the
expression "Living well is the best revenge," you don't talk about revenge
against another individual unless you mean it. It's the same nasty attitude
of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., his longtime preacher, sounding board, and
mentor.

Wright said America created the AIDS virus to kill off blacks. "We are only
able to maintain our level of living by making sure that Third World people
live in grinding poverty," Wright said. "God d*** America!" Thus, Obama
emerges as the community organizer he once was -- and the exact opposite of
the person Americans thought they were electing as president.

According to "The Obamas," Obama looks forward to leaving the presidency.
Then, writes Kantor, he would "finally be unencumbered by politics and free
to create real, lasting change." That mirrors Obama's recent comment that
change can only be achieved from outside Washington.

As Mitt Romney said in response, "The president today threw in the white
flag of surrender again. He said he can't change Washington from the
inside. He can only change it from outside. Well, we're going to give him
that chance in November. He's going outside."

Last Sept. 4, I wrote the story "Why Mitt Romney Will Win Decisively." The
shift to Republicans in the last congressional and gubernatorial elections,
the intensity favoring Romney, and the early voting results on his side --
not to mention the state of the economy -- are all signs that point to the
landslide I have been predicting. [NewsMax, 11/6/12
<http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/romney-obama-wright-election/2012/11/06/id/462947/>
]

*Kessler Said There Was A Benghazi "Cover Up" By The White House. * During
a November 2012 Fox News interview, Kessler claimed then-UN Ambassador
Susan Rice's controversial Sunday show appearances constituted a White
House "cover up" of the Benghazi attacks:

KESSLER: You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure this out. It's
clear that the CIA had the correct story. It's clear that the White House
put out these people. They were representing the White House.

The White House was calling the shots. The White House was trying to cover
up the fact that there was a terrorist attack on 9/11. If you doubt that,
look at what President Obama said several times trying to claim that a
YouTube video was involved. So the president himself was covering up what
the CIA was reporting.

A bipartisan Senate report concluded that there had been no White House
"cover up" and that intelligence reports linked the inflammatory YouTube
video to the Benghazi attacks. [Fox News, *Hannity*, 11/19/2012, via
Nexis; *Media
Matters*, 1/15/14
<http://mediamatters.org/research/2014/01/15/fox-benghazi-myths-dispelled-by-new-bipartisan/197609>
]
*Kessler Was Chief Promoter Of Donald Trump Running For
President                     *

*Kessler Was Major Proponent Of A Donald Trump Presidential Run. *Newsmax
was "an early and enthusiastic promoter of Trump's presidential ambitions,"
with Kessler playing a leading role in that effort. In early 2011, as Trump
sought to promote a potential run for office as well as his belief that
President Obama's birth certificate might be a forgery, Kessler produced
articles with headlines like "Trump Says He Will Run For President," "Don't
Underestimate Donald Trump for President," and "Trump to Announce His Run
for President" (Trump ultimately decided not to run for president,
surprising no one except perhaps Kessler). [Newsmax, 1/3/11
<http://www.newsmax.com/RonaldKessler/donald-trump-president-barack/2011/01/03/id/381676/>
, 1/20/11
<http://www.newsmax.com/RonaldKessler/donald-trump-mar-a/2011/01/20/id/383396/>
, 4/14/11
<http://www.newsmax.com/RonaldKessler/DonaldTrump-CelebrityApprentice/2011/04/14/id/392825/>
; *Media Matters*, 4/20/11
<http://mediamatters.org/research/2011/04/20/fox-news-goes-full-birther/178860>
, 4/13/11
<http://mediamatters.org/blog/2011/04/13/whos-the-no-1-promoter-of-trump-2012-right-wing/178647>
]

*Kessler Played A Political Role As A Go-Between For Trump's Nascent
Effort. *In an article headlined "Donald Trump Wows Conservatives at CPAC,"
Kessler admitted to being the go-between who extended Trump an invitation
to speak at the conservative conference. He further reported: "This year's
Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) focuses on the new kids on
the block, the conservatives elected with tea party backing to overturn the
liberal spending agenda in Washington. Nobody could have fit that
description better than Donald Trump, who was a surprise speaker at CPAC
and is planning to run for president." [Newsmax, 2/11/11
<http://www.newsmax.com/RonaldKessler/cpac-donald-trump-Conservative/2011/02/11/id/385730/>
]