Gateway Pundit Snaps Back Hard at MSM Following Vegas Shooter Mix-Up

Lucian Wintrich/Facebook

Following the Gateway Pundit retracting a story on Monday, which misidentified the Las Vegas spree-shooter, the conservative website was under attack by mainstream media seeking to discredit everything they have ever done based on one error.

After acknowledging their mistake, and removing the story after 10 minutes, the attacks continued — and their White House Correspondent Lucian Wintrich clapped back in a big way.

The story in question was published around 4 a.m., and live on the site for approximately 10 minutes before it was retracted. Just before noon, the Gateway Pundit received an accusatory email from GQ writer Ben Schreckinger calling into question whether or not anyone should ever trust the publication again.

“I’m planning to do a short post today about rumors and misinformation spreading online about the Vegas shooting. I see that you guys initially ID’d the shooter as Danley’s ex-husband,” Schreckinger wrote. “How did that mistake happen? What are your editorial procedures for vetting information?”

While the email started out with some valid questions, the tone rapidly changed.

“Given a mistake like that, would it be reasonable for people to be skeptical of content on the Gateway Pundit?” Schreckinger continued.

In true Wintrich-style, the correspondent responding to the email did not take kindly to the insinuation that the outlet cannot be trusted — and his response was comedic gold.

“Hey Ben,” Wintrich began. “You mean like when the Daily Beast misidentified one of the San Bernardino shooters? Including the wrong man’s photo, employer, and property records? Or do you mean when the Huffington Post, Slate, and many others misidentified the Newtown shooter and linked directly to an innocent man’s Facebook profile?”

“If the occasional retraction of a story invalidates the entire legacy of a publication, we would have no publications left, would we,” Wintrich continued.

The provocative writer wasn’t about to let GQ get away unscathed either.

“We certainly wouldn’t have GQ — I remember you guys misidentifying leather dress shoes without socks as good fashion,” Wintrich wrote. Ouch.

When asked by Big League Politics about the erroneous story, Wintrich had a simple explanation, one that many in media can relate to.

“Listen, we are in the business of breaking news. We’ve scooped the MSM time and time again. That specific story was up for ten minutes at four in the morning,” Wintrich told Big League. “Can the media actually do its job and report on the shooter himself and his motivations?”

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