Liberty Central Spokesman: Reporter 'Breached Confidentiality' in Ginni Thomas Story [Updated]

Today, the Washington Post's Amy Gardner broke the story that Virginia "Ginni" Thomas -- wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas -- is stepping down as head of Liberty Central, a tea party group she founded this spring.

As Gardner reported, a spokeswoman, "Caitlin Carroll of CRC Public Relations in Alexandria, said Monday morning that an announcement was scheduled for later in the day or Tuesday morning detailing the merger of Liberty Central with another organization and Thomas's decision to step down as chief executive."

But Keith Appell, a senior vice president of CRC tells me: "That conversation was off the record and Amy Gardner breached confidentiality."

Update: Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel, Sarah Field emails:

The current story by Amy Gardner in the Washington Post is inaccurate. There are many opportunities being presented to Liberty Central, but there is no agreement at this time. In fact, there are several options on the table. As everyone knows, the Tea Party movement is a very fast-paced, dynamic movement and there are always these sorts of collaborative opportunities being discussed. Precisely because of Liberty Central's effectiveness, many of these opportunities did present themselves to us and they are still in the discussion stages.

The sources of this story appear to be people without full understanding of the facts. I am the spokesperson for Liberty Central and would demand a correction based on these facts.

Update: Gardner emailed me the following statement: "Everything that appeared in the article was on the record. We stand by the story."