Sure everybody makes mistakes, but making a sensational false charge against a new president at the very first opportunity he allowed reporters into his Oval Office on Day One of his presidency sure looks like one of those narrative-confirming, “too-good-to-check” stories of journalistic lore that just happens to portray Trump as a racist “white nationalist” in the eyes of progressives.  Zeke Miller of Time was allowed into the Oval Office as a pool reporter and tweeted out reports that the Churchill bust was back (true) and the MLK bust was gone (false). He was quickly corrected:

Thanks to White House Chief of Staff for this wonderful picture of the MLK bust in the oval pic.twitter.com/Lzgj6RljvI

— Sean Spicer (@PressSec) January 21, 2017

And apologized, explaining that it was obscured from his view.

Correction: The MLK bust is still in the Oval Office. It was obscured by an agent and door.

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) January 21, 2017

Tweeting again: wh aide confirms the MLK bust is still there. I looked for it in the oval 2x & didn't see it. My apologies to my colleagues

— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) January 21, 2017

While I credit him for acknowledging his mistake and apologizing, he certainly was ready to believe what he tweeted out without bothering to do a thorough examination of the evidence.  It was news that was fake, so I guess it is #fakenews, even if a semi-honest mistake.

This is a perfect anecdote for president Trump to resurrect whenever he feels like it. The very first moment the media got access to him, they tried to portray him as an enemy of our national hero of racial equality.