Report: Judge orders Glenn Beck to reveal sources on Boston bombings story
BOSTON -- A federal judge has ordered conservative television personality Glenn Beck to reveal two confidential sources from the Department of Homeland Security, who allegedly provided him with information on the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, Politico is reporting.
A Saudi Arabian man injured in the Boston Marathon bombings filed a defamation lawsuit against Glenn Beck in 2014, accusing the conservative commentator of calling him "the money man" behind the attack.
Abdulrahman Alharbi said in the lawsuit that his reputation was "substantially and severely damaged" as a result of Beck's statements on the air linking him to the bombings.
According to Politico, U.S. District Court Judge Patti Saris ruled that Beck must disclose the names of the two sources who allegedly gave him and his producer information that Alharbi was connected to the attacks.
Alharbi was a spectator near the marathon finish line when the bombs went off. He was injured and was questioned by authorities who searched his Revere apartment before determining he had no connection to the attack, according to the lawsuit.
In the days after the explosions that killed three people and injured more than 260, Beck "repeatedly and falsely identified Mr. Alharbi as an active participant in the crimes that were committed on April 15, 2013, repeatedly questioned the motives of federal officials in failing to pursue or detain Alharbi and repeatedly and falsely accused Mr. Alharbi of being a criminal who had funded the attacks at the Boston Marathon," the lawsuit alleges.
The judge also ruled that Allharbi was not a public figure at the time of Beck's allegations, Politico reported.