EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Frank says Ingraham “takes lying to a new level”

In a statement obtained by Media Matters, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) blasted Laura Ingraham for once again advancing a “rumor” that he might not run for reelection. Frank called the rumor “completely false.”

Last week -- after Ingraham repeatedly claimed on Twitter that “sources” had told her that Frank would not run for re-election -- Frank called the story “entirely false” and added that Ingraham “made no attempt to verify whether or not this is true - which it is not.”

As Media Matters documented, Ingraham repeated her “rumor” last night on Bill O'Reilly's Fox News show.

Frank's campaign gave the following statement to Media Matters:

Laura Ingraham takes lying to a new level. Last night, on the Fox program “The O'Reilly Factor,” she demonstrated a technique that I had never seen before: She cited a “rumor” without mentioning the fact that it was she herself who had launched that rumor. The rumor -- that I am not planning to run for reelection -- is completely false, and I had said so publicly a week ago after the first time she attempted to spread it.

Ms. Ingraham's latest fabrication is part of an effort by right-wing propagandists to block financial reform. She knows that there are no valid arguments against reform. So her strategy is to lie about me in an effort to fight against the legislation.

From the April 15 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor: