FreedomWorks President Lied About Protest Count

ABC News reported that the lead organizer of a march on the U.S. Capitol last week had falsely attibuted the size of its crowd to the national news service.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — ABC News reported that the lead organizer of a march on the U.S. Capitol last week had falsely attibuted the size of its crowd to the national news service.

Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, said at the rally that ABC News reported that one million to 1.5 million people were there.

However, ABCNews.com actually reported that the crowd was up to 70,000 strong, according to the local fire department.

ABC News Radio reported the crowd as “tens of thousands.”

When asked why Kibbe citied ABC News, Brendan Steinhauser, spokesman for FreedomWorks, said he didn’t know.

Kibbe apologized for spreading the false attibution the day after the protest on his blog.

“[ABC] didn’t say it. I regret misrepresenting the network, as their coverage that day was fair and honest,”  Kibbe wrote.