Fox Business Network anchor Lou Dobbs has apologized after retweeting the address and phone number of Jessica Leeds, one of several women to recently accuse Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump of sexual assault.
Ms. Leeds claimed on Wednesday this week that Mr. Trump groped her as the two shared a flight to New York City in the early 1980s. On Thursday morning, Mr. Dobbs circulated her supposed contact information among his roughly 797,000 Twitter followers.
The pundit’s post linked to an earlier tweet attributed to Twitter user Michael Delauzon which in turn pointed towards a conservative news site that had published contact information for the accuser obtained from public records, Politico reported.
According to Politico, the article containing Ms. Leeds’ information also falsely claimed that her phone number is the same as one used by the Clinton Foundation, the charitable organization operated by the family of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“This is the Dirtiest Campaign in our History,” Mr. Dobbs wrote before linking to the original tweet.
Mr. Dobbs’ message was retweeted more than 800 times within hours on Thursday, and 1,200 times as of early Saturday afternoon. He issued an apology in the interim, however, and the original tweet attributed to Mr. Delauzon has disappeared from Twitter.
“My Retweet, My Mistake, My Apology to Jessica Leeds,” Mr. Dobbs wrote in a follow-up tweet Thursday, according to Politico. That tweet too has since disappeared.
Reached for comment Thursday, Fox News referred CNN to Mr. Dobbs’ Twitter, the network reported.
Mr. Trump denied Mr. Leeds’ allegations after they first appeared in the New York Times on Wednesday and has threatened to sue the newspaper for libel.
“Nothing ever happened with any of these women. Totally made up nonsense to steal the election. Nobody has more respect for women than me!” he tweeted Saturday.
On its part, the Times responded to the candidate’s legal threat saying “nothing in our article has had the slightest effect on the reputation that Mr. Trump, through his own words and actions, has already created for himself.”
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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