It is still unclear where the erroneous information came from.

Fox News Report Blaming Right for Shootings Officially Debunked

By CCRKBA
Wednesday, January 12, 2011

An alleged Department of Homeland Security memo saying that Arizona shooter Jared Loughner was influenced by American Renaissance (AR), a controversial conservative publication, does not exist and there is no evidence of such a tie.

A Fox News report by Jennifer Griffin on the memo about AR suggested official inside information at the highest levels of the Obama Administration that Loughner was motivated to assassinate Rep. Gabrielle Giffords because she was Jewish and because of the immigration controversy in Arizona.

While many liberal commentators recklessly tried to link the shootings to Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, or other conservatives, the Griffin report on Fox News seemed to give official credence to the notion that conservatism was a factor motivating Jared Loughner.

For this reason, the report, which prompted a bomb threat and hate mail against American Renaissance, was seized upon by dozens of media organizations and left-wing websites such as Media Matters and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Politico, which was among many news organizations publicizing the erroneous Fox News story, has now reported that the document in question came from the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center (ACTIC) and not DHS. Politico said that David Denlinger, identified as a commander of ACTIC, acknowledged that it “contained errors and overstated the linkâ€