Sen. Harry Reid Harry Mason ReidGraham signals support for confirming a Supreme Court nominee this year Trump signals he will move to replace Ginsburg 'without delay' Senate Republicans signal openness to working with Biden MORE (D-Nev.) is hailing a Las Vegas man who said he successfully peddled a false story about the Senate minority leader being beaten up by his brother.

“What this guy proved to me is that journalism doesn’t exist,” Reid told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Tuesday. “I wish I’d meet this guy and pat him on the back.”

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Larry Pfeifer claimed to the Las Vegas Sun that he was behind the rumor that Reid, who suffered a New Year's Day home exercise accident, was attacked by his brother, Larry. Pfeifer said he wanted to see if people would run with the story.

Some right-leaning blogs and radio shows acknowledged the story from a man using the pseudonym Easton Elliott.

Pfeifer later dinged conservative hosts for even considering the rumor to be true.

“The fact that someone can say something completely false that can destroy somebody’s life, it’s just wrong. Where’s the moral compass?” Pfeifer told the Sun.

He called Reid's local office in Nevada on Tuesday to apologize for the publicized rumor, the senator's aides told the Review-Journal.

“I don’t see why he should apologize," Reid insisted to the newspaper. "I’m glad at what he did.

"It shows how foolish journalism is as we know it," he added. "It’s evaporating, and that’s too bad.”

Reid announced in March that he would retire at the end of 2016 after five terms in the Senate.