Lee Stranahan

Lee Stranahan
Born (1965-09-10) 10 September 1965
Nationality American
Occupation Investigative journalist
Employer Sputnik News
Home town East Longmeadow, Massachusetts
Spouse(s) Lauren Stranahan
Website stranahan.com

Lee Stranahan (born 10 September 1965) is an American investigative reporter who, as of 2017, was working for Sputnik, a Russian government-controlled news agency. He previously worked for Breitbart News,[1] and has written for The Huffington Post[2] and Daily Kos.[3] Before his journalism career he was a television producer, illustrator, and erotic photographer.[4]

Early career

Stranahan spent the first few decades in Los Angeles, California, working as a television producer and graphic illustrator. He had a side career in erotic photography.[4]

Journalism and politics

Stranahan began transitioning to journalism during the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike. During that time he posted parody political advertisements on YouTube, including one that poked fun at Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney. Stranahan later said the videos led to a job writing political comedy for The Huffington Post.[4]

In 2008, Stranahan was banned for making posts over John Edwards's scandal on The Huffington Post[5] and Daily Kos.[3]

Stranahan met Andrew Breitbart while working on assignment in 2010. The two men quickly became friends, and Breitbart converted Stranahan to conservatism, became his mentor, and hired him to work at Breitbart News.[4]

In 2012, Stranahan received threats of physical violence after a screening of Occupy Unmasked.[6][7] In 2013, he was an active critic of Deric Lostutter's "KYAnonymous campaign".[8] He left Breitbart News in 2013 and was re-hired. In 2014, he was fired from Breitbart News on what he disputed as false allegations. In July 2016, Stranahan was arrested while covering a protest over the death of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.[9][10]

During the 2016 presidential election, while working for Breitbart News, Stranahan communicated with Russian hackers via Guccifer 2.0 to leak illicitly obtained material about the Democratic Party.[11] Stranahan sought to get material from Guccifer 2.0 about Black Lives Matter.[11] During the 2016 election, Stranahan disputed that Guccifer 2.0 was a front for Russia.[11] In July 2018, Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted 12 Russian agents and described Guccifer 2.0 as a Russian government front.[11]

In April 2017, Stranahan announced he had resigned from his position at Breitbart News, the third time he'd either quit or been fired from the organization. He said he quit in protest after the site's Washington editor prevented him from covering the White House.[1] Stranahan had been attending the briefings for several weeks while identifying himself as a Breitbart reporter and trying to ask White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer a question about CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity technology company that handled the Democratic National Committee's servers during the 2016 election.

In April 2017, Stranahan announced that he was the co-host of a new radio show for the Russian Sputnik Radio called "Fault Lines with Nixon and Stranahan".[12] He said he "doesn't have any qualms" with being "on the Russian payroll" and that the content of his show was not restricted in any way.[1]

Filmography

References

  1. 1 2 3 Gray, Rosie (April 5, 2017). "From Breitbart to Sputnik". The Atlantic.
  2. ↑ "Lee Stranahan - HuffPost". www.huffingtonpost.com.
  3. 1 2 "Blogger Banned Over Edwards Scandal Posts". Gawker Media. Ryan Tate. 8 March 2008.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Dickerson, Caitlin (September 26, 2017). "How Fake News Turned a Small Town Upside Down". The New York Times Magazine.
  5. ↑ "Where The John Edwards Scandal Is Headed". The Huffington Post. Lee Stranahan. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  6. ↑ "2012 Republican Convention: 'Occupy Unmasked' Screening Draws Threats to Filmmakers". The Hollywood Reporter. Paul Bond. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  7. ↑ "2012 Republican Convention: 'Occupy Unmasked' Screening Draws Threats to Filmmakers". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  8. ↑ ""Weaponize the Media": An Anonymous Rapper's War on Steubenville". Gawker Media. Adrian Chen. 6 December 2013.
  9. ↑ "Baton Rouge Protesters Flee to Private Property, Militarized Police Chase Them Off and Arrest Many". Reason. Anthony L. Fisher. 11 July 2016.
  10. ↑ "At least 3 journalists at Alton Sterling protest arrested by Baton Rouge police outside headquarters". The Advocate. Bryn Stole. 9 July 2016.
  11. 1 2 3 4 "Mueller's Indictment of 12 Russian Spies is Very Bad for Trump". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  12. ↑ "From Breitbart to Sputnik". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2017-06-07.
  13. ↑ "Occupy Unmasked (2012) reviews". Fandango.



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