Newt Gingrich targeted by fake CNN alert in South Carolina It wouldn't be South Carolina if there weren't dirty tricks. (Jonathan Ernst - Reuters) CNN's Peter Hamby reports that several top Palmetto State Republicans received a fake CNN e-mail alert Thursday morning claiming that former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) had once forced his second wife, Marianne, to have an abortion. CNN did not send out the alert, and while Marianne Gingrich has recently gone public with her claims that Gingrich had wanted "an open marriage," she has made no abortion-related charges against the former House speaker. Reports Hamby: It's not clear how many people received the fake email, though at least two members of the South Carolina GOP Executive Committee, who did not want to be named, were among those who found the missive in their inboxes this morning. Two South Carolina Republicans from different parts of the state independently informed CNN about the email on Friday morning. The email alert was sent from fake account made to look like a CNN breaking news email address: "BreakingNews@mail.cnn.com." Gingrich's campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the alert. South Carolina's first-in-the-South primary is on Saturday.