USA Today Reverses ‘Fact Check’ Claiming Trump Shirts Featured ‘Nazi’ Eagle
USA Today has reversed its “fact check” article which claimed Trump campaign t-shirts featured a “Nazi” eagle.
On Sunday, USA Today faced heavy criticism over its claims that allegations the “Trump campaign shirts feature [an] imperial eagle, a Nazi symbol” were “True,” and was made to clarify on the same day that “the eagle is a longtime US symbol, too.”
The claim: Trump campaign shirts feature imperial eagle, a Nazi symbol
Our ruling: True https://t.co/3eCiYdgQvK
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) July 12, 2020
Clarification: The claim that Trump 2020 has put out a T-shirt with a symbol similar to a Nazi eagle and is being criticized for it is true. Worth noting, the eagle is a longtime US symbol, too.
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) July 12, 2020
On Thursday, however, USA Today changed its fact check altogether.
“The rating on this article has been changed to inconclusive,” the newspaper tweeted in an update. “It was updated to reflect further reporting and analysis.”
Update: The rating on this article has been changed to inconclusive. It was updated to reflect further reporting and analysis.
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) July 15, 2020
In the updated fact check, USA Today changed its conclusion from “True” to “Inconclusive,” noting, “The U.S. government has many uses of eagle imagery in its official seals and emblems including on the ‘Great Seal of America,’ on the presidential seal and on the mace of the U.S. House of Representatives.”
“The Trump campaign’s T-shirt includes the use of an eagle that some claim bears resemblance to a Nazi eagle. We rate the claim that the Trump campaign is using Nazi imagery as INCONCLUSIVE, based on our research,” it concluded.
USA Today faced similar criticism in 2017 after it suggested that AR-15 rifles could be equipped with chainsaw bayonets.
