Salt Lake Tribune reporter stalks donors to Canadian truckers

Bryan Schott of the Salt Lake Tribune was exposed on Thursday requesting comment from a private person using hacked information as a source for a story about donating to the Canadian trucker convoy.

Schott deleted at least one tweet commenting on the matter after widespread Twitter backlash condemning his actions.

When the Christian crowdfunding site GiveSendGo stood in defiance against the Canadian government’s stand down request, far left activists hacked the site to leak donation data for anyone who donated to the Freedom Convoy campaign.

Corporate media sites have taken advantage of the opportunity to write stories naming and identifying those who contributed to the protest’s cause.

In the case of Mr. Schott, the following remark archived by Libs of Tik Tok was later deleted from Bryan’s account.

"I've been reaching out to people from Utah who appeared on the leaked Canadian trucker donation data. Hoo boy! Some of the replies have been...aggressive to put it mildly," the now deleted tweet reads.

But even Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar has since stepped in to say the media campaign against donors crosses a line. On Wednesday evening she called out Alison Mah of the Ottawa Citizen for a piece the outlet wrote targeting a cafe owner.

Mah tweeted about the story, but failed to mention that the business has received threats in the wake of the hack.

"I fail to see why any journalist felt the need to report on a shop owner making such a insignificant donation rather than to get them harassed. It’s unconscionable and journalists need to do better," Omar said.

Rep. Omar has since further stood by her initial opinion. "You all are entitled to your opinions, but my opinion remains the same. These kinds of stories ruin people’s lives and are uncalled for."

The instance with the Salt Lake Tribune is the latest in a series of establishment press efforts pressuring the trucker convoy’s supporters. On Wednesday a similar situation was shared on Twitter about a Washington Post reporter sending an inquiry to someone over their forty dollar donation to the GiveSendGo’s convoy campaign.

In that outlet’s case they thought it appropriate to make an entire map of the United States that points out "hot spots" of places where American contributors came from, donating to the trucker convoy cause.

"The hack of the Christian fundraising website, GiveSendGo, has not deterred donors (but perhaps emboldened them) to continue using the site to send money to organizers of the Canadian trucker convoys," wrote Washington Post reporter Aaron Davis.

As for the trucker convoy situation overall, the prolonged occupation of Ottawa has led to the resignation of the city’s police chief. Since the protest began, various Canadian provinces have announced an end date for COVID restrictions.

But these actions are not without Trudeau lashing out. On Thursday it was revealed that Canadian authorities are freezing any crypto accounts they believe to be connected to freedom convoy donations. This in itself being a step beyond taking action against any traditional banking assets.

Canada’s Justice Minister told CTV News on Wednesday that it’s the likes of "Trump supporters" that ought to be "worried" about their bank accounts being frozen.