The eminently fake attack from Business Insider on Donald Trump Jr., in which the German-owned publication falsely compared him to Hunter Biden, has now cost its parent company Axel Springer a $500,000 lobbyist contract.
This latest development confirms a Breitbart News investigation published Tuesday which uncovered how badly this fake hit piece has backfired on the publication’s parent company.
Ballard Partners, a source close to the firm confirmed to Breitbart News, dropped Axel Springer as a client like a bad habit on Tuesday evening. “The Business Insider piece on Don seemed to be such a gratuitous attack there was no way the firm can continue in good faith to represent Axel Springer,” the source close to Ballard Partners told Breitbart News.
Ballard Partners is run by Brian Ballard, a key Washington lobbyist with close ties to President Donald Trump’s White House. The firm has reportedly had an on-again-off-again relationship with the White House, but as Breitbart News reported on Tuesday evening the hit piece from Business Insider has spectacularly backfired on the publication’s parent company and caught in the crosshairs now is this firm. Peter Schorsch from Florida Politics first reported on Wednesday morning that Ballard had dropped Axel Springer, and now sources close to the firm have confirmed the news to Breitbart News.
A source close to the West Wing cast some doubt on whether Ballard Partners has really turned a new leaf here, or if it is just damage control.
“The first 3,000 Business Insider and Politico hit pieces on the Trump family weren’t enough?” that source told Breitbart News. “It’s pretty clear that his recently disclosed problems with the White House drove this decision—and we see right through it.”
Either way, regardless of Ballard Partners’ issues, the problems facing Axel Springer continue to mount. In addition to these issues caused by Business Insider, its other major U.S. publication Politico is reportedly causing Axel Springer problems too.
Lachlan Cartwright, a media reporter for Breaker, on Tuesday revealed that Axel Springer is facing major problems with Politico due in part to the entirely unreasonable activities of its new editor Alex Burns. It’s so bad that Axel Springer CEO Mathias Dopfner and his deputy are now reportedly monitoring the newsroom from Berlin.
“At the Arlington newsroom staffers are baffled at more than 40 departures, and partly blame the management style of senior executive editor Alex Burns,” Cartwright reported.
He explained:
Politico’s continuous dramas and departures have so concerned owner Axel Springer that we have learned chief executive Mathias Dopfner and Jan Bayer, Axel’s Deputy chief executive, have been monitoring the matter from Berlin asking questions of Politico chief executive Goli Sheikholeslami and Harris.
The attack from Business Insider on Trump Jr. only makes matters worse for the Germans. Business Insider tried to compare legitimate business dealings that Trump Jr. is engaged in to the felonious activity of Hunter Biden, former President Joe Biden’s son. After Breitbart News’s story on the matter, several top conservatives including Trump Jr. himself and key lawmakers on Capitol Hill weighed in on the story, reacting harshly to the ludicrous comparison.
Where this story goes from here—and whether Berlin intervenes to make changes at either or both outlets—remains to be seen. Dopfner has not replied to a follow-up press inquiry from Breitbart News, nor has Business Insider’s editor-in-chief or spokesperson.
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