Left-wing reporter falsely accuses murdered Portland Trump supporter of backing terrorism

Far-left journalist Alex Zielinski of the Portland Mercury wrongly accused the murdered Trump caravan participant, who was shot dead in Portland, of supporting a far-right terrorist.

"The victim has been identified by friends online as Jay Bishop, a protestor associated with the right-wing group Patriot Prayer," Zielinski wrote.

Then the Portland-based reporter claimed that Bishop's legal name is Aaron Danielson and that this same individual reportedly brought a rifle to a Patriot Prayer rally and stowed the gun in his scooter, according to a previous Portland Mercury "Blogtown" article in October 2017.

"Bishop was also a strong supporter of Jeremy Christian, the white supremacist who killed two men and critically injured another on a MAX train in 2017," Zielinski alleged.

The Oregonian reported that Christian was recently sentenced to life in prison in June for his double murder onboard a Portland train.

"[Christian] rightfully defended himself," Bishop had commented in an earlier June 2017 interview with freelance journalist Mike Bivins. "This person was illegally arrested for self defense and I'm here to tell all these socialists the truth of the matter."

"These three that died or were stabbed are not heroes," the man continued on camera. "They're not anybody to be idolized, and they deserve everything that they got."

In a later correction written by Zielinski, her outlet apologised for the blunder.

"This story originally misidentified the victim in Saturday's shooting as Jay Bishop, a man also affiliated with right-wing protests," the news site clarified. "The victim is now correctly identified as Aaron Danielson, who went by the nickname 'Jay.'"

"We deeply regret this error," the Portland Mercury concluded.

"We used a name that our local daily newspaper had confirmed, and made the mistake of not digging further," Zielinski told The Post Millennial. "We f**ked up and owned up to it," she firmly stated.

This is not the first time that Zielinski has made headlines herself.

Last year, Zielinski interviewed a pseudonymous Antifa informer who purported that The Post Millennial's editor-at-large Andy Ngo was secretly collaborating with Patriot Prayer. Ngo denies the allegation and was never contacted by Zielinski for fair comment. Reason reported that Portland Mercury’s alleged video evidence did not support the sensational accusation.

The lie was then propagated everywhere and widely cited in Vice, The Daily Dot, and The Inquisitr, asserting that Ngo was a co-conspirator with the right-wing group all while Ngo disputes the explosive claim.

Ngo acknowledged that he was never reached for a response to the pseudonymous accuser and to date was never awarded the opportunity.

Just the same, the murdered victim could not counter the case of mistaken identity.