Briefingate en · PROPN
Etymology
From briefing + -gate. Coined by American journalist and presidential speechwriter William Safire in 1983 (see quotation below).
Meanings
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(US, historical) Synonym of Debategate.
As the President now knows, it is not midsummer media madness, or "much ado about nothing." Briefingate - the penetration of the Carter campaign by the Reagan campaign, in order to give the Republican candidate an edge in 1980's televised debate - raises a legitimate issue of right and wrong.
1983 June 30, William Safire, “Briefingate”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 24 May 2015:The LaRouchians were anxious to stop the Briefingate probe, and put out a pamphlet calling it a Communist-liberal plot to undermine Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative.
1989, Dennis King, Lyndon LaRouche and the New American Fascism, New York, N.Y. […]: Doubleday, →ISBN, page 126: