Claim Dylann Roof Was Angry Because 'Girl He Liked Dated Black Man' Was Made Up Fraud From Scam-Artist 'Intercept' Reporter

The Intercept, an online left-wing news outlet founded by eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar and edited by, among others, Glenn Greenwald, has announced the firing of reporter Juan Thompson (pictured) for a series of known fabrications reminiscent of Stephen Glass, The New Republic reporter fired in 1998 for serial fabrications. According to the site's editor-in-chief Betsy Reed, Thompson's sins include both invented people and quotes.

The Intercept's note on the firing informs readers:

An investigation into Thompson's reporting turned up three instances in which quotes were attributed to people who said they had not been interviewed. In other instances, quotes were attributed to individuals we could not reach, who could not remember speaking with him, or whose identities could not be confirmed. In his reporting Thompson also used quotes that we cannot verify from unnamed people whom he claimed to have encountered at public events. Thompson went to great lengths to deceive his editors, creating an email account to impersonate a source and lying about his reporting methods.

Fully retracted is a story about Scott Roof, cousin of Dylann Roof, the racist terrorist who murdered nine black churchgoers last year in South Carolina. The story quotes the cousin as ascribing a motive to Dylann Roof involving a girl he liked dating a black man.

Scott Roof does not appear to exist.

Four stories have been corrected, one attacking Donald Trump and his supporters.