Harvey Weinstein accused of editing Bin Laden movie to boost Obama election bid

 
p26 U.S. President Barack Obama speaks to host Jay Leno (R) as he makes an appearance on the Tonight Show in Los Angeles, California October 24, 2012. Obama is on a two-day, eight-state campaign swing. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
David Gardner25 October 2012

An election row was growing today over claims that a Hollywood dramatisation of the killing of Osama bin Laden was re-edited to show President Obama in a more heroic light.

Republicans are furious that the TV movie — SEAL Team Six: The Raid On Osama bin Laden — will be screened just two days before voters go to the polls.

They accused Oscar-winning studio mogul Harvey Weinstein, who paid £1.8 million for the film rights, of trying to sway the November 6 election.

Senior Republicans claimed that Mr Obama’s star turn is nothing more than a political stunt devised by Mr Weinstein, one of the President’s most vigorous backers.

According to the New York Times, the film was re-cut with additional news and documentary footage to strengthen Mr Obama's role and give a better idea of how he came to give the go-ahead to kill al Qaeda’s fugitive 9/11 mastermind.

The newspaper said some of the new Obama scenes were added at the instigation of Mr Weinstein, using material gathered by a producer who worked closely with Left-wing director Michael Moore on films including Fahrenheit 9/11 and Sicko.

One scene features Mr Obama at the annual White House correspondents' dinner a day before the raid. Another captures him on a lonely walk as he presumably deliberates his difficult decision. A third has him declaring at the end: "Justice has been done."

One senior Republican called for the 90-minute movie to be shelved until after the polls have closed, saying: "It’s a blatant, partisan attempt to influence voters on the eve of the election."

An article on the pro-Mitt Romney Fox network’s website last night was headlined Hollywood Editing Movies To Help Obama Win. The original cut also had a fabricated scene in which the Republicans’ challenger for the White House appeared to be opposing the raid of May 2 last year.

Howard Owens, president of National Geographic, the channel screening the film, said the scene was removed, adding: "We wouldn’t air this if it were propaganda." Mr Weinstein insisted Mr Obama and his staff had nothing to do with the editing of the film.

A feature film about the raid — Zero Dark Thirty, by The Hurt Locker’s Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow — was originally going to open in cinemas before the election but was put back until December as a result of complaints from Washington. A day after the TV film is shown on the National Geographic channel it will be available in full through streamed video on Netflix.

Last night President Obama made his fifth visit to Jay Leno on NBC’s Tonight show — and was quizzed on Donald Trump’s offer to contribute $5 million to a charity of his choice if he releases his college and passport records. The TV host asked the Presi-

dent "What’s the deal?" between him and the real estate mogul.

Obama said their clash dates to when he and Trump were growing up in Kenya. "We had constant run-ins on the soccer field," added the President. "He wasn’t very good and resented it. When we moved to America I thought it would be over."

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