A Virginia Republican operative is accusing a New York Times reporter of breaking into his Woodbridge apartment.
Brian Landrum, who has worked for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Corey Stewart, said a friend of his went to his unlocked apartment around 2 p.m. Wednesday and came across an intruder, whom he identified as reporter Stephanie Saul.
“Walking out of the bathroom taking a right, hearing something, she turned around and Stephanie was standing right [there]” Mr. Landrum told *NBC-owned WRC-TV on Thursday.
He said Ms. Saul was not invited to his place.
“I had had absolutely no heads up that she even had any interest in speaking with me, until she decided to break into my apartment,” Mr. Landrum told WRC.
In an email to WRC, a Times spokesperson denied Ms. Saul had broken in.
“Ms. Saul went to an address for Landrum Associates in Woodbridge looking for Mr. Landrum. She was told by a woman who opened the door that he was not present. She left a note with the woman for Mr. Landrum asking him to call. At no time did she enter the premises,” the Times spokesperson said.
According to WRC, the Prince William County Police Department did respond to reports of a break-in at an apartment in that area.
But the police refused to confirm either party’s account or even that Mr. Landrum’s apartment was the one in question, citing victim privacy, suspect-identification rules and the fact of an ongoing investigation.
Mr. Stewart had no such inhibitions and issued a statement Thursday denouncing the Times.
“The fake news media will stop at nothing to destroy Republicans, as we’ve seen with their coverage of President Trump and others over the last few years,” he said. “Far left media from New York to Richmond have been working overtime to invent wild stories to try to give advantage to Tim Kaine, and now they’re breaking into our team’s homes in pursuit of their narrative.”
* (Correction: A previous version incorrectly identified that WRC-TV was an NBC affiliate. It’s an NBC-owned station.)
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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