Through their own website, Breitbart News writers openly attempted to undercut allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against Judge Roy Moore during last year’s Alabama senate race.
But behind the scenes, the organization’s involvement may have been even darker.
Last year, Leigh Corfman accused Moore of forcing himself on her decades ago, when she was 14 years old. To manage the heavy “media scrutiny” of publicly making such claims, Corfman hired her attorney friend Eddie Sexton to represent her.
Shortly thereafter, Sexton was approached by two Moore supporters, offering him $10,000 to sign a statement discrediting Corfman, The Washington Post reported Friday
Those supporters, Gary Lantrip and Bert Davi, planned to release the signed statement to Breitbart News—the far-right outlet, then-overseen by ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannon, which acted as one of Moore’s most vocal media backers.
Sexton recalled to the Post that Lantrip told him that “Bannon’s group” wanted to meet with him, even after the attorney rebuffed an initial request to discredit Corfman.
According to Sexton, two Breitbart writers, Matthew Boyle and Aaron Klein, were in attendance for the eventual in-person meeting with Lantrip, Davi, and Sexton; and the pair attempted to convince the attorney to sign a statement discrediting Corfman.
“‘Well, that’s not really the point of whether or not anybody believes you. It’s just, you know, getting other information out there,’” Sexton recalled Klein and Boyle telling him as he grappled with the proposition.
Sexton kept the handwritten statement, which he did not sign, and provided an image of it to the Post.
The web of connections between Sexton, the two Moore supporters, Breitbart News, and the campaign was complex, per the Post.
Lantrip and Davi approached Sexton because both were his clients in a separate and unrelated case. Additionally, Lantrip and Sexton were longtime friends. And on the Breitbart end, Lantrip and Davi had attended private Moore events, and personally knew Bannon, reportedly promising a cash-strapped Sexton access to then-Breitbart News chief Steve Bannon, as well as legal work on Bannon’s behalf in Alabama.
In statements to the Post, Moore denied involvement in the scheme, and Breitbart News denied any knowledge of the attempted bribe.
Later on Friday, a Breitbart spokesperson pushed back on the article's premise saying that Boyle and Klein attended the meeting under the impression that Sexton "had decided to end his representation of Leigh Corfman."
Further, the statement said, Sexton wanted to issue a statement to the media about his potential decision.
"It was clearly a newsworthy story, so they attended the meeting to report on his decision. No story resulted from this meeting," the spokesperson said. "At no time did Boyle or Klein hear any mention of money being offered or other promises made to Mr. Sexton in return for ending his representation of Ms. Corfman. The reporters did not participate in crafting any statement for Mr. Sexton.
"Mr. Sexton's recollections about this meeting with the reporters are inaccurate."
