Exclusive--Jim Banks Seeks Retraction from NPR for 'Slanderous' Article

Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) sent a letter to National Public Radio (NPR) President John Lansing Thursday, seeking a retraction after the outlet claimed he had lied during an interview with the taxpayer-funded media outlet, which Breitbart News obtained exclusively.

Rep. Banks sent a letter to NPR Thursday, reminding Lansing that he had requested the outlet retract an article written by the NPR’s Public Editor, Elizabeth Jensen.

The Indiana conservative reminded Lansing that it had been two months since he had published the article, and the outlet had yet to “retract the article or even respond to my letter.”

“Given the time that’s passed since I sent my letter, and the subsequent release of numerous new stories confirming my statements—it’s clear that NPR has consciously chosen to lie about a sitting Congressman. You should be ashamed,” Banks wrote to NPR.

The NPR article surrounds an October 2 interview Banks gave with the outlet, in which the Indiana congressman said House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) had lied about his committee’s communication with the intelligence officer “whistleblower” that led to the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.

Jensen wrote that Banks was guilty of “incorrectly asserting that Schiff had ‘lied’ about his role in the whistleblower complaint.”

Contrary to the NPR’s assertion, the Washington Post gave Schiff “four Pinocchios” for falsely claiming that his panel had “not spoken directly with the intelligence officer whistleblower.

Rep. Banks charged that not a single member of Congress would have voted to establish the NPR if it would lead to a “publicly-funded organization willing to unapologetically smear a sitting lawmaker. Your organization has failed in its original mission and in its obligation to the American taxpayer.”

The Indiana congressman urged NPR to either explain why his statements were false or to retract Jensen’s “slanderous article.”

“Either provide a written response to this letter detailing why my statements during the October 2 interview were incorrect. Or, after you’re inevitably unable to find any false statements—remove Mrs. Jensen’s slanderous article,” Banks concluded in his letter to NPR.