On The 700 Club, Robertson smeared Rep. Frank with false claim that he "was caught running a group of male prostitutes out of his D.C. residence"

On the July 15 edition of The 700 Club, co-host Pat Robertson falsely claimed that Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) "was caught running a group of male prostitutes out of his D.C. residence." Robertson said to his guest, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC): "I remember, Barney Frank, who's now the head of an important committee in the United States House of Representatives, was caught running a group of male prostitutes out of his DC residence, and one of his colleagues had said, 'Did you think that the Congressman Frank is immoral?' And they said, 'Oh, no, no. What he's doing isn't immoral.' Well, I used to think homosexuality was immoral." In fact, as Media Matters for America has repeatedly noted, the House ethics committee -- which, at Frank's request, investigated the allegations made by Stephen Gobie that Gobie was running a prostitution ring out of Frank's house with Frank's knowledge -- determined in 1990 that Frank "did not have either prior or concomitant knowledge of prostitution activities involving third parties alleged to have taken place in his apartment." Moreover, the committee did not conclusively determine whether Gobie was even using Frank's apartment for "prostitution activities," noting in its report that purported evidence offered by Gobie that he had been engaging in prostitution from Frank's apartment collapsed under scrutiny.

Earlier, while introducing his interview with DeMint, Robertson claimed that People For the American Way, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and Media Matters are "trying to stifle the speech on this program and to embarrass those who make it."

From the July 15 edition of Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club with Pat Robertson:

ROBERTSON: Well, our next story and our next guest, I know about personally. There's an organization and they're called People For the American Way. They have camped on this program for decades. They record every single word that I say. If there's any possibility that they can catch something or change it, and then feed it to the AP, they do, and so the next thing you know it's a big story. Then, in -- added to them, was one of their ACLU operative who started an organization called Americans United with Separation of Church and State. They have people assigned to monitor every word, and then to take those words, change them often, take connectives out of them, change the sense of it, and then feed it to the -- a willing agent in the Associated Press. Then, on top of that, there's another group that's -- I think has backing from somebody like George Soros, called, what -- what is it? Media Matters. So, there are three of them trying to stifle the speech on this program and to embarrass those who make it.

Well, we have a senator saying that, indeed, his speech is being squelched by what he calls political correctness, and when people speak out on moral issues having to do with sexuality, having to do with drugs, having to do with family breakup, all these things, there's a great hue and cry to silence those who speak. And the book is called, Why We Whisper, and this senator says it's time to stop whispering and take back the First Amendment.

[...]

ROBERTSON: Well, many conservatives are outspoken about moral issues, but who's doing the whispering?

DeMINT: Well, I hear it often, Pat.

ROBERTSON: Yeah.

DeMINT: I speak out about things that I think are wrong, and we get a lot of support, but a lot of that support is whispered. And I've really seen a lot of intimidation around South Carolina and around the country. People are afraid to say that certain things are wrong and to make value judgments because they have been told that that's hateful and it's intolerant. And from our schools to universities, to groups like you mentioned, the ACLU, people are really afraid to make value judgments, and if -- you can see it in cases that come up almost every day: the teenage girls who made a pact to get pregnant.

Their schools can't tell them that it's wrong. If they do, the teacher's likely to lose their job. Or in South Carolina recently, a high school principal resigned because his school board told him that he had to sponsor a gay club in his high school. He said he thought that was inappropriate, but the school board said that they couldn't stand the expense of a lawsuit. The book talks a lot about what we call SLAPP lawsuits, where the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, others, just come in and intimidate just from the cost of a lawsuit, so even if a school wins, they often lose a lot of money.

ROBERTSON: I remember, Barney Frank, who's now the head of an important committee in the United States House of Representatives, was caught running a group of male prostitutes out of his D.C. residence, and one of his colleagues had said, "Did you think that the Congressman Frank is immoral?" And they said, "Oh, no, no. What he's doing isn't immoral." Well, I used to think homosexuality was immoral.

DEMINT: Well, the problem today is the government has said it's right, not only that it's right, but it's a constitutional right. And states like Massachusetts and now California are sending signals to the American people that what we've thought was wrong for years is now being given the status of marriage, which is our premiere institution in our whole society. So, a lot of what we do in the book, Pat, is research the causes and the cost of our culture decline, and as you pointed out, a lot of court decisions and legislative decisions by Congress have turned right and wrong upside down. But before the '60s, we knew abortion was wrong, and sex outside of marriage, and unwed births, and pornography, homosexuality. Yet, if you look now, the official, or at least implicit, position of the government that all these things are right.