MSNBC: Rand Paul Didn’t Plagiarize His NSA Lawsuit

MSNBC.com (now a separate thing from NBC
News’ website) has updated its story on allegations that Rand Paul
had “plagiarized” a portion of his lawsuit over the NSA. An
editor’s note highlights that a story now headlined “Rand Paul
didn’t plagiarizes his NSA lawsuit” was originally titled “Rand
Paul accused of plagiarizing his NSA lawsuit.” What made MSNBC
determine the accusations of plagiarism were baseless? They were
denied by the lawyer whose ex-wife made the original claim.

MSNBC reports:

Late Wednesday, the Washington
Post published a story quoting Mattie Fein,
identified as the ex-wife and spokesperson of conservative attorney
Bruce Fein, saying that Paul and Cuccinnelli had used Bruce Fein’s
legal work without fully compensating him, and that the filing in
the lawsuit was identical to one Fein had worked on for Paul’s
PAC.

A spokesperson for RANDPAC forwarded an email from Fein denying
Mattie Fein’s allegations. “Mattie Lolavar was not speaking for
me,” Fein said in the email. “Her quotes were her own and did not
represent my views.  I was working on a legal team, and have
been paid for my work.” Bruce Fein confirmed to msnbc that the
email was from him.

Whose idea it was to run with a claim by a second-hand source
without e-mailing the person on whose work the claim is based
remains unanswered.

More Reason on Rand Paul here and on the NSA
here.