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<p>Benny Johnson has been demoted from his role as chief content at the Independent Journal Review after an internal review concluded he violated several company standards, a person familiar with the matter told Business Insider on Friday.</p><p>The announcement was made by IJR founder Alex Skatell on an editorial call.</p><p>"Alex made it very clear to the company that Benny is being demoted," the person said.</p><p>Johnson, according to the source familiar with the matter, will no longer be managing any employees at the conservative, upstart news website. He will also be forced to take communications training and be subject to a daily review, in addition to serving out a one-week suspension, the source said.</p><p>Johnson's exact new role at the company was not immediately clear. A spokesperson for IJR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.</p><p>The demotion came <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/independent-journal-review-ijr-identity-trump-2017-3" target="_blank">after a Business Insider story</a>, citing current and former IJR staffers, revealed Johnson to have been a verbally abusive manager who had violated company ethics. He was accused of plagiarism in 2015 by his colleagues, two years after he had previously been fired from BuzzFeed for serial plagiarism.</p><p>A company review conducted this week found that in the 2015 story in question, Johnson appeared to "have not been properly quoted or attributed during the creation process."</p><p>Johnson was previously reprimanded by human resources for his verbal conduct with employees, a person familiar with the matter said.</p><p>Earlier this week, IJR suspended Johnson, viral editor Kyle Becker, and content editor Becca Lower over a post that was published which peddled a baseless conspiracy theory about former President Barack Obama.</p><p>In an all-staff email, Emily Hulsey, IJR's director of editorial operations, said that after the&#xa0;internal review, the company decided to also suspend Becker for two weeks and Lower for one day. Becker will also be required to take mandatory communications training.</p><p>IJR jumped on the scene last week after its reporter was granted exclusive access to trail Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on his first trip to Asia&#xa0;as the nation's top diplomat.&#xa0;</p><div>    </div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sean-spicer-defends-trump-incorrect-tweet-guantanamo-bay-prisoners-credibility-truth-2017-3">'Does the president have a credibility problem?': Watch Spicer defend Trump's incorrect tweet about Guantanamo Bay prisoners</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="B1MXc3YTE6nzV8BE7XXma857xYw9Fgh1" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Benny Johnson demoted from role as chief content officer at Independent Journal Review

Inside the identity crisis at the Independent Journal Review, the outlet that has become a powerhouse in the Trump era

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>A reporter at the Independent Journal Review resigned on Thursday and another apologized following the decision to publish a story that suggested there was a potential connection between former President Barack Obama's Hawaii vacation and a state judge's ruling blocking President Donald Trump's second travel ban.<p>One source told Business Insider that Congressional reporter Joe Perticone decided to quit on Thursday for various reasons,&#xa0;but the&#xa0;story "seems to have been the&#xa0;straw that broke the camel's back."</p><p>Earlier in the day, Kyle Becker, the website's viral editor, wrote a story titled "Ex-President Obama Made 'Surprise Visit' to Hawaii, Just Days Before Judge Issued Travel Ban Ruling."&#xa0;</p><p>In the story, he pointed&#xa0;out that Obama visited Hawaii "just days ahead" of a judge's decision to halt Trump's executive order barring individuals from six&#xa0;countries from traveling to the US. The story&#xa0;also mentioned that&#xa0;that the president stayed at a "private undisclosed location," and that the judge who ruled in the case&#xa0;and Obama&#xa0;attended Harvard at the same time.</p><p>"This is not to allege the former president met with Judge Derrick Watson, but merely to point out the timing and the opportunity was there ahead of a controversial court ruling," Becker wrote.</p><p>Observers quickly noted that there was no evidence to support the story, <a href="https://twitter.com/woodruffbets/status/842445867252625413">which resembled a piece</a> posted on the far-right conspiracy site InfoWars on Thursday.</p><p><span>IJR later removed the piece, saying in an editor's note that the article "does not meet our editorial standards of represent IJR's vision or values."</span></p><p>In an internal email to IJR staffers, <a href="https://twitter.com/oliverdarcy/status/842465563217649665" target="_blank">obtained by Business Insider</a>, Becker apologized to&#xa0;his colleagues, saying it was "unwarranted to fuel baseless speculation," and he&#xa0;"should have shown restraint by not publishing the story in the first place."</p><p>"I take responsibility for showing a lack of judgment with the execution of a story this morning of already dubious pedigree that I would have done better just avoiding," Becker wrote.</p><p>He added: "I let the company down at a time when there's a lot of national attention on us, and it is not lost on me that the spillover of the story onto us as a company was harmful and unnecessary."</p><p>Thursday's story came at a time of&#xa0;heightened scrutiny on the five-year-old digital publication, which has taken fire for its close relationship with the Trump administration</p><p>The right-leaning news site first broke the news that Neil Gorsuch would be Trump's nominee to replace late-Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, and got tipped-off to a dinner Trump attended at his hotel that other reporters were bared from.</p><p>IJR's Erin McPike was also granted the <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/rex-tillerson-reporters-asia-state-236109">only seat on the plane</a> with&#xa0;Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during his first major international trip, breaking with precedent that reporters pay to rent a seat on the plane with the secretary. The State Department said the decision was an attempt for the department to save money, but was also "<span>part of an effort to include a broader representation of U.S. media."</span></p><p><span></span><span>Perticone joins other recent high-profile departures from the&#xa0;site, which was created by two former Republican staffers, and focuses on political news with a focus on conservative millennials.</span></p><p>"Joe's a fantastic reporter with great instincts for covering the Hill," IJR founder Alex Skatell said in a statement. "He'll be an asset wherever he goes."</p><p><span></span><a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/rex-tillerson-reporters-asia-state-236109">Politico reported</a> on&#xa0;Wednesday that several of the&#xa0;high-profile recent departures from the site were concerned by the increasingly right-wing bent, and noted that several of the reporters originally hailed from more traditional news outlets.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/statue-defiant-girl-faces-wall-street-charging-bull-state-street-global-national-womens-day-2017-3">A $2.5 trillion asset manager just put a statue of a defiant girl in front of the Wall Street bull</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="8xb2M3YTE66aw-XI5qgwht7uhktCkT7D" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Reporter at right-leaning news website quits after site publishes Obama conspiracy theory

<p class="source"><span>Win McNamee/Getty Images</span></p>Rep. Mark Meadows, the leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, reportedly got emotional after reading about the potential effects of the House GOP's healthcare bill on sick Americans.<p>According to <a href="http://ijr.com/2017/05/881482-cbo-health-care-bill-sick-people-face-higher-premiums-even-priced-market/">Haley Byrd at the Independent Journal Review</a> and <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/meadows-floats-more-funding-for-repeal-bill-after-cbo-score/article/2624096">Robert King at the Washington Examiner</a>, reporters showed Meadows a section of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cbo-score-house-gop-healthcare-bill-ahca-macarthur-upton-amendments-2017-5">the Congressional Budget Office's report on the American Health Care Act</a>, which passed the House with only Republican votes on May 2.</p><p>The section Meadows viewed pertained to preexisting conditions. The report said <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cbo-score-ahca-premiums-sick-preexisting-conditions-2017-5">people with preexisting conditions in states that could accept a new waiver</a> from an AHCA provision could see their premiums skyrocket and possibly even be priced out of the insurance market.</p><p><a href="http://ijr.com/2017/05/881482-cbo-health-care-bill-sick-people-face-higher-premiums-even-priced-market/">IJR's Byrd reported</a> that Meadows was "surprised" when he was shown section that outlined the potential negative effects. After reading it, he became "emotional and choked back tears."</p><p>"<span>Listen, I lost my sister to breast cancer," Meadows <a href="http://ijr.com/2017/05/881482-cbo-health-care-bill-sick-people-face-higher-premiums-even-priced-market/">said, according to Byrd</a>. "I lost my dad to lung cancer. If anybody is sensitive to preexisting conditions, it's me. I'm not going to make a political decision today that affects somebody's sister or father because I wouldn't do it to myself."</span></p><p><span><a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/meadows-floats-more-funding-for-repeal-bill-after-cbo-score/article/2624096">The Examiner similarly reported</a> that Meadows became "emotional" upon reading the report.</span></p><p><span>Meadows told reporters that he would support changes to the bill in the Senate to properly fund high-risk pools to protect those with preexisting conditions. He said that if the bill did not have "enough funding there to handle preexisting conditions and drive down premiums ... then we will have failed."</span></p><p>The waivers were added in an amendment from Rep. Tom MacArthur weeks after the AHCA was pulled from a House floor vote in March - in part because of a lack of support from Meadow's Freedom Caucus.</p><p>The amendment, which the CBO cited as the primary reason for undermining preexisting-condition protections, helped win over Meadows nearly 20 members of the Freedom Caucus to support the bill's eventual passage.</p>              <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/betsy-devos-gets-college-graduation-bethune-cookman-education-secretary-historically-black-college-2017-5">Betsy DeVos gets loudly booed during a commencement speech at a historically black university</a></h3>                                    Please enable Javascript to watch this video

GOP lawmaker reportedly tears up after reading analysis of how healthcare bill will affect people with preexisting conditions

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered some insight into how he views his role as America's top diplomat. In an interview with the conservative-leaning Independent Journal Review <a href="http://ijr.com/2017/03/814687-trumps-diplomat/">published Tuesday night</a>, Tillerson said, "I didn't want this job. I didn't seek this job. My wife told me I'm supposed to do this."</p><p>"I was supposed to retire in March, this month," Tillerson said, "I was going to go to the ranch to be with my grandkids."</p><p>President Donald Trump <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-names-rex-tillerson-secretary-of-state-2016-12">chose Tillerson in December</a>, just over a month after Trump's surprise election victory. After a meeting with the then-president-elect, Tillerson said he was "stunned" when Trump asked him to be secretary of state. Tillerson's selection also came as a surprise to some observers due to his lack of government experience.</p><p>IJR reporter Erin McPike wrote Tillerson indicated that Trump saw his decades-long career at Exxon Mobil as a qualifying factor for the role, which is responsible in part for establishing US diplomatic policies globally.</p><p>Trump had been mulling over several other candidates for the job. Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, was one of them. Romney was seen as a favorite by some, but the Romney-Trump meetings <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/kellyanne-conway-trump-mitt-romney-secretary-of-state-2016-11">stirred up a grassroots furor</a> among some Trump loyalists because Romney strongly opposed Trump during the campaign.</p><p>Despite Tillerson's apparent reticence, he indicated he is committed to sticking with the job: "I serve at the pleasure of the president," he said.</p><p>The secretary of state has had a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/rex-tillerson-asia-trip-press-2017-3">rough first few weeks on the job</a>. He has been caught up in controversy over his <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-rex-tillerson-vladimir-putin-russia-exxon-2016-12">longstanding ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin</a>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/rex-tillerson-email-alias-wayne-tracker-exxon-climate-change-risks-2017-3">his discussions about climate change</a>, and his <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/tillerson-addresses-relationship-with-the-media-2017-3">attitudes toward reporters</a>.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-secretary-of-state-putin-rex-tillerson-exxon-mobil-2016-12">Trump's pick for secretary of state has a personal relationship with Putin that's been called a 'matter of concern'</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="pjb2U4ODE63jr9acsu6R65nSNzsvwDM9" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Rex Tillerson on his role as Trump's secretary of state: 'I didn't want this job'

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>North Korea recently <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/north-korea-has-expanded-its-enriched-uranium-facility-un-nuclear-inspector-says-2017-03-20?link=sfmw_tw" target="_blank">doubled the size of its uranium enrichment plant</a> and pushed through with testing of rocket engines that could soon power intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of hitting the US with a nuclear payload, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/latest-missile-test-shows-north-korea-likely-developing-an-icbm-that-can-hit-the-us-2017-3" target="_blank">analysts say</a>.</p><p><span>The test came just one day after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson <a href="http://ijr.com/2017/03/827413-transcript-independent-journal-reviews-sit-interview-secretary-state-rex-tillerson/" target="_blank">told IJR.com</a>, "</span><span>the threat of North Korea is imminent. And it has reached a level that we are very concerned about the consequences of North Korea being allowed to continue on this progress it's been making on the development of both weapons and delivery systems." </span></p><p><span>Nuclear proliferation experts have <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-us-will-deal-with-north-korea-2017-3" target="_blank">told Business Insider</a> that North Korea's eventual goal for its weapons program is to create an ICBM with a thermonuclear warhead that can reach the US mainland. </span></p><p><span>North Korea does not yet have that capability, but its latest high-profile tests show steady progress in that direction.</span></p><p><span>Stratfor Senior Military Analyst Omar Lamrani told Business Insider how the world would change if North Korea achieved its goal of building a weapon that can threaten Americans on American soil.</span></p><p><span>"North Korea has been perceived in the past as engaging in a nuclear weapons program as a way to trade for concessions from the US and South Korea," said Lamrani. "</span><span>But that paradigm doesn't hold anymore - North Korea decided to invest in a nuclear missile program not to trade it away, but as the ultimate security guarantee and the ultimate deterrent against outside attacks."</span></p><p><span>As it stands, the US and its allies would already <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/north-korea-nuke-nuclear-strike-us-2017-1" target="_blank">face a tremendously difficult task</a> in disabling the entire North Korean nuclear weapons program, as hundreds of mobile missile launchers scattered across secret locations in a densely forested, mountainous peninsula make it a nightmarishly complicated to remove in one swift blow. </span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>But as Lamrani said, the ability to threaten the US with not just one, but a salvo of nuclear missiles, would represent a loss for the US, and further limit options for outsiders to influence the Kim regime. North Korea's latest progress towards this feat has deeply troubled US officials and observers. </span></p><p><span>"North Korea has made such progress now that the US feels that it does not have time anymore," said Lamrani, who added that an ICBM in the hands of Kim Jong-un would mean the US could no longer credibly threaten North Korea with nuclear force, representing a "point of no return" in multilateral relations. </span></p><p><span>But even though war with North Korea would be disastrous and potentially cost millions of lives, the window for US intervention is closing fast.</span></p><p><span>If North Korea develops credible ICBMs, as they may in coming years, the US will be left with three options, according to Lamrani:</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>The US currently employs the first option simply because it's the least worst choice, but Tillerson recently said the US's "strategic patience" with North Korea has ended. </span></p><p><span>Additionally, a <a href="http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/1202966/guest-post-connecting-the-osint-dots-on-sri-lankan-north-korean-military-deals/" target="_blank">recent joint report from Arms Control Wonk and Reuters</a> uncovered an extremely complicated network of businesses and obfuscation that the Kim regime uses to rake in millions by selling military radios and other goods, despite sanctions. </span></p><p><span>Another Reuters report quoted North Korean officials as saying it does not fear or care about US sanctions, and it's planning a preemptive first strike of its own while their recent tests suggest it's closer than ever to capabilities that would allow them to overwhelm US missile defenses. </span></p><p><span>While the US can build up all the defenses it wants, <span>"missile defense is not a surefire way to negate the threat posed by another country's nuclear-capable ballistic missiles," <a href="https://twitter.com/KelseyDav">Kelsey Davenport</a><span>, the director of nonproliferation policy and a North Korea expert at the </span><a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/about/kelsey_davenport">Arms Control Association</a><span>, told Business Insider in January. </span></span></span></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span>The second option would cave to perhaps the most brutal regime on Earth and cement the utter failure of decades of diplomacy.</span></p><p><span>The third option is patently unthinkable and unacceptable. </span></p><p><span>"E</span><span>very single one of them is not a great option," said Lamrani. So as North Korea creeps ever closer to an ICBM, the US must quickly decide whether to act now, or to potentially admit diplomatic defeat down the road. </span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/navy-seal-explains-what-to-do-if-someone-tries-to-mug-you-self-defense-2017-3">A Navy SEAL explains what to do if someone tries to mug you</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="VldnQ0YTE62KtO0hKE2ybfXgeK7ax5f4" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

You Searched For "ijr" and got 6 results

Benny Johnson demoted from role as chief content officer at Independent Journal Review

Oliver Darcy

Inside the identity crisis at the Independent Journal Review, the outlet that has become a powerhouse in the Trump era

Oliver Darcy

Reporter at right-leaning news website quits after site publishes Obama conspiracy theory

Maxwell Tani,Oliver Darcy

GOP lawmaker reportedly tears up after reading analysis of how healthcare bill will affect people with preexisting conditions

Bob Bryan

Rex Tillerson on his role as Trump's secretary of state: 'I didn't want this job'

Bryan Logan

North Korea's nukes are nearing the 'point of no return' - and the US may have one last chance to act

Alex Lockie

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