DUMPSTER FIRE

Breitbart Editor Ordered Staffers to Stop Defending Michelle Fields

Editor ordered staff to cease supporting their own.

Breitbart senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak ordered the conservative website's staffers to stop defending their colleague Michelle Fields after she was allegedly manhandled by Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Internal Breitbart newsroom chats, obtained by BuzzFeed News, show Pollak telling concerned reporters to "STOP tweeting about the story. Stop speculating about the story." In another message, he reminded them that "you were given explicit instructions." Pollak also openly indicated the site's devotion to advancing a political cause (Trump's candidacy) above defending its own reporter: "You may wish to defend your colleague, and that is commendable—but keep in mind that when you do so, you are also putting other colleagues under direct public pressure, so you are actually hurting some to help another," he wrote. "That is why we have to be patient, and coordinate our responses." When Texas-based reporter voiced his concern that "silence is abandoning our team member," Pollak responded: "In war, we wait for orders that are based on a careful plan. So wait."