Joseph Farah Was Not Removed From Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast
A news report that Joseph Farah, the CEO and chief editor of the conservative website WorldNetDaily, had been removed from the guest list of the sixth Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast that took place on Jan. 21 has been proven to be false.
Media Matters originally reported that Farah, who has questioned President Barack Obama's document that says he was born in the United States, was removed from the Jan. 21 event, and even featured a quote from Merrie Turner, the organizer of the independent Inaugural Prayer Breakfast, that said that his original inclusion was a mistake.
WorldNetDaily contacted The Christian Post this week, however, and said that the Media Matters report was entirely inaccurate and that Farah had not been removed from the guest list.
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Media Matters, who also published a follow-up report stating that its original article was incorrect, initially quoted Turner as saying in a phone interview.
"He (Farah) was not invited to be involved," she said at the time. "He had permission to write an article about it and it's gone much further than that. That was the initial intent, I never met him before and I didn't know anything about his efforts."
The organizer, who founded and has hosted the event since 1993 added: "Absolutely, this is not going to by any means be an event for anything being said negative about the president, that will not be allowed."
While not an official event of the 2013 inaugural ceremonies, the Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast brings together faith and conservative leaders in America to pray for the president and the nation.
The Christian Post attempted to contact Turner to clarify her remarks to Media Matters and confirm whether or not Farah was indeed on the guest list, but as of press time she has not responded. The Presidential Inaugural Prayer Breakfast website has not disclosed news about how the event proceeded, or who exactly attended.
A cached version of the speaker list on the event website includes Farah, along with other notable names such as Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Dr. Pat Robertson. The updated website, however, does not list either Farah, Bachmann or Robertson.
