Did Kim Davis’ Attorney Lie That 100,000 Christians In Peru Gathered To Pray For Her?

Most facts are easily verified. Did Liberty Counsel’s Mat Staver lie about a basic fact, and if so, why, and is there anything else he’s not telling the truth about?

Mat Staver, head of the Liberty Counsel, two weeks ago falsely claimed that ABC’s “The View” had called for Kim Davis to be killed. The mere thought that a network TV show would call for the death of a single American is ludicrous, but Staver, Davis’ attorney, repeatedly insisted.

“I would encourage you to pray for Kim Davis, pray for her family, pray for those that work with her, pray for Liberty Counsel,” Staver said on Sept. 16. “Kim has received just horrible death threats, even from ‘The View,’ amazingly. They called her a monster on national television, one of them said that someone ought to go kill her. This is on a major network. That was on ‘The View’ on ABC. I mean, that was astounding, that kind of language was happening on a major TV network.”

He did it again the following day, and Right Wing Watch’s reporting forced Liberty Counsel to retract his claim.

So it should come as no surprise that Staver, whose law firm is listed by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-gay hate group, stood up and in an address Saturday night lauded Davis at the Values Voter Summit, and again, didn’t tell the truth.

WATCH: Video: Kim Davis Receives Religious Liberty ‘Cost Of Discipleship’ Award From FRC’s Tony Perkins

The Values Voter Summit is hosted by yet another anti-gay hate group, Tony Perkins‘ Family Research Council Action. 

FRC gave Davis their second-annual Cost of Discipleship award, and as Staver was telling her tale to the roomful of conservative Christians, he apparently opted to bear false witness, as this video clip posted to YouTube by Family Research Council Action clearly demonstrates:

“In Lima, Peru, 100,000 people came to a soccer stadium to pray for Kim Davis while she was in jail,” Staver told the crowd, to cheers, whistles, and loud applause.

Here’s the image from the video:

No one there questioned his statement, because it fits in with their belief system that most people are on Kim Davis’ side – which is also, demonstrably, false.

But several folks did, including ThinkProgress’ Zack Ford.

“The image seems to have first been tweeted the day before the summit by Matt Barber, also of the Liberty Counsel, who claimed, ‘Christians in Peru had a prayer rally for #KimDavis & American Christians. over 100K showed up. Amazing!’ Staver posted the image a second time on Sunday, claiming that Peruvian Congressman Julio Rosas was responsible for organizing it,” Ford expertly notes.

Here’s that tweet:

“There is not a single news story about a prayer rally taking place in Peru for Kim Davis,” Ford continues. “There is not a single post on Rosas’ Twitter or Facebook about such a rally, though he did send one tweet of support for Staver’s defense of Davis. And the image is almost certainly from a prayer rally known as ‘Jesús Te Ama Y Te Cambia’ (‘Jesus Loves You And Changes You’), which did take place in Peru — over five days in May, 2014.”

If members of Kim Davis’ law firm are so die hard in their belief of her righteousness, why do they feel the need to not tell the truth?

 

Image: Screenshot via FRC Action/YouTube