REPORT: Benny Johnson suspended from IJR; 'Benny was warned story was unfounded conspiracy theory'

Whoa.

Olivier Darcy of Business Insider is reporting that Benny Johnson, Chief Content Officer at Independent Journal Review, has been suspended pending an investigation over an article published (and later retracted) last week accusing former President Obama of colluding with a judge in Hawaii over President Trump’s latests immigration executive order.

NEWS: Benny Johnson & two others are on suspension from IJR after last week's publication of Obama conspiracy theory https://t.co/gR7Do54GGI pic.twitter.com/MXBiMXcccC

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) March 21, 2017

Darcy went on to report on other issues with Johnson at the website:

I spoke with ~dozen IJR current/former staffers this weekend. Here's a look at the identity crisis inside the outlet https://t.co/gR7Do54GGI

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) March 21, 2017

According to Darcy’s reporting, Johnson was warned about the story before publication but went ahead with it anyway:

Source told me Benny was warned story was unfounded conspiracy theory, but assigned it anyway. IJR investigating https://t.co/gR7Do54GGI pic.twitter.com/yWvS6DTKH7

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) March 21, 2017

Darcy’s piece includes new allegations of plagiarism against Johnson:

Benny Johnson was reported in 2015 by colleagues for alleged plagiarism at IJR https://t.co/9hBn3ZDqD0 pic.twitter.com/j2DwrN5kTA

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) March 21, 2017

As well as a warning to the former BuzzFeed writer on his attendance:

Benny Johnson, who 2 sources said compared himself to Walt Disney, would yell/curse at colleagues. Was disciplined https://t.co/9hBn3ZDqD0 pic.twitter.com/bpjaNX99Wb

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) March 21, 2017

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Darcy went on to report on tension between the creative side of IJR’s business and their reporting team:

Identity crisis: Lots of tension at IJR between remote writers/bloggers and actual news team https://t.co/9hBn3ZDqD0 pic.twitter.com/DInv0I5EBI

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) March 21, 2017

You can read the entire report here.

So far, there’s been no response from Johnson and his last tweet was from Tuesday on FBI Director James Comey’s testimony in front of Congress:

Waiting for Comey. pic.twitter.com/PatQxeH8Dn

— Eli Lake (@EliLake) March 20, 2017

A New Hit Show — Weekdays on CBS! https://t.co/UV7PF20vf3

— Benny (@bennyjohnson) March 20, 2017

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