Arlene Holmes and ABC News

ABC News has more explaining to do.

On Friday morning, I heard ABC's report that quoted James Holmes' mother as saying, "you have the right person."

I interpreted that to mean the mother knew her son was capable of committing a heinous crime like the massacre at the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. I took her statement to mean she expected her son to be responsible for mass cold-blooded murder.

Arlene Holmes, mother of alleged shooter James Holmes, says today in a statement read by her lawyer that ABC News distorted her words in its reports.

From Politico:

Arlene Holmes, the mother of Colorado theater shooting suspect James Holmes, has suggested that ABC News mischaracterized her when it reported that her initial statement to the reporter, "you have the right person," was a reference to her son.

"This statement is to clarify a statement made by ABC media. I was awakened by a call from a reporter by ABC on July 20 about 5:45 in the morning. I did not know anything about a shooting in Aurora at that time," Holmes said in a statement this afternoon, read to the national press by attorney Lisa Damiani. "He asked if I was Arlene Holmes and if my son was James Holmes who lives in Aurora, Colorado. I answered yes, you have the right person. I was referring to myself."

"I asked him to tell me why he was calling and he told me about a shooting in Aurora," she continues. "He asked for a comment. I told him I could not comment because I did not know if the person he was talking about was my son, and I would need to find out."

In the first paragraph of its initial report on Friday, ABC News reported that it had identified the correct James Holmes because his mother "told ABC News her son was likely the alleged culprit, saying, 'You have the right person.'"

Good grief!

This is really disgraceful.

ABC News lied to the public, completely taking Arlene Holmes' words out of context and twisting them to mean something she never said.

What the hell is going on at ABC?

When it comes to this story, Brian Ross already gave the ABC News operation an enormous black eye when he erroneously and irresponsibly and unprofessionally reported that James Holmes might be a member of the Tea Party.

I think it's stunning that ABC called Arlene Holmes at home at 5:45 in the morning. I wonder how many other people named Holmes were called by ABC before the "right person" was reached.

For ABC News to frame and report Arlene Holmes' statement as some sort of acknowledgment that her son is a murderer is inexcusable. Positively inexcusable.

Here's video of Damiani:



___________________

It appears ABC News is not going to apologize for this one.

From ABC News:

ABC News phoned Arlene Holmes at 5am PST, at her home in San Diego, Calif., according to notes and email records by ABC News producer Matthew Mosk, who placed the call.

Through her lawyer, Holmes today sought to clarify the remarks she made in that phone interview.

"I did not know anything about a shooting in Aurora at that time," Arlene Holmes's said in statement read by her lawyer today. "He [Mosk] asked if I was Arlene Holmes and if my son was James Holmes, who lives in Aurora, Colorado. I answered yes, you have the right person. I was referring to myself. I asked him to tell me why he was calling and he told me about a shooting in Aurora. He asked for a comment. I told him I could not comment because I did not know if the person he was talking about was my son and I would need to find out."

Mosk said today that he awoke Arlene Holmes and informed her that a man, he believed was her son had been arrested in Aurora and asked to confirm their relationship.

"You have to tell me what happened… You have to tell me what happened," the woman on the phone said, according to Mosk. Mosk said he told her that ABC News had learned the 24-year-old had been identified by police as the lone suspect in the mass killing in Aurora, Colo and that the details of the events were still taking shape.

"You have the right person," was her response, he said. "I need to call the police. I need to fly to Colorado."

Just prior to the press conference, Damiani contacted ABC News to determine whether there existed a recording of the pre-dawn conversation between Mosk and her client, according to Mosk.

One hour after learning there was no audio recording, Damiani held the conference and read Arlene Holmes' statement.

This ABC News article seems to suggest that when Damiani found out the conversation was not recorded she decided to read Arlene Holmes' statement.

The insinuation is that Holmes is lying.

Who's telling the truth?

I don't know.

I have no reason to assume Mosk is being honest.

I've learned not to trust the liberal media.