WaPo’s Dave Weigel Apologizes For ‘Fake News’ Photos One Minute After Trump Calls Him Out
Donald Trump — a politician known for bragging about the crowd sizes he draws to his speaking gigs — attacked Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel in a tweet today after the writer posted photos suggesting the president was giving a speech to a small audience in Pensacola, Florida.
“@DaveWeigel @WashingtonPost put out a phony photo of an empty arena hours before I arrived @ the venue, w/ thousands of people outside, on their way in. Real photos now shown as I spoke. Packed house, many people unable to get in. Demand apology & retraction from FAKE NEWS WaPo!” Tweeted the president on Sunday night in response to Weigel’s initial misleading post.
.@DaveWeigel @WashingtonPost put out a phony photo of an empty arena hours before I arrived @ the venue, w/ thousands of people outside, on their way in. Real photos now shown as I spoke. Packed house, many people unable to get in. Demand apology & retraction from FAKE NEWS WaPo! pic.twitter.com/XAblFGh1ob
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2017
Weigel, who previously wrote for the libertarian, pro-free market magazine Reason, responded by acknowledging his mistake and apologizing for tweeting the misleading photos.
Sure thing: I apologize. I deleted the photo after @dmartosko told me I’d gotten it wrong. Was confused by the image of you walking in the bottom right corner. https://t.co/fQY7GMNSaD
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) December 9, 2017
The Post reporter cited the Daily Mail’s David Martosko for pointing out that he’d “gotten it wrong” in the now-deleted post.
Weigel followed-up with his apology by tweeting a joke at The Daily Beast‘s White House reporter Asawin Suesbaeng — who is known in Washington media circles simply as “Swin.”
“It was a bad tweet on my personal account, not a story for Washington Post. I deleted it after like 20 minutes. Very fair to call me out. Everything I say on Twitter is a joke, except what I say about @swin24,” tweeted the politics writer
It was a bad tweet on my personal account, not a story for Washington Post. I deleted it after like 20 minutes. Very fair to call me out.
Everything I say on Twitter is a joke, except what I say about @swin24. https://t.co/tI7SQnpoN9
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) December 9, 2017
Previously, Trump infamously defended his lackluster figuration crowd size later bragged about the size of his audience while speaking in Texas to Hurricane Harvey Victims.
“What a crowd, what a turnout. Thank you,” said the president to Americans struggling after a hurricane impacted the Houston, Texas area this fall.
[image via screengrab]
