PrintReps. Pelosi and Cummings and NY Times all fall for tweet from fake Flynn account
Democratic Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Elijah Cummings issued statements calling for an investigation into the activities of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, citing a tweet that suggested that other people were involved in the incident. The New York Times also cited the tweet in their reporting.
The problem for Pelosi, Cummings, and the Times is that the tweet originated on a fake Michael Flynn Twitter account.
"I believe we need to hold a public hearing with Flynn to get to the bottom of this," Cummings said during a news conference on Capitol Hill, citing the parody tweet.
Pelosi said, "The inference to be drawn from his statement is that other people had blame that should be shared in all of this."
The tweets came from an unverified account that launched this month. It has since been labeled a parody account by multiple news outlets and Snopes.
Here are the fake tweets cited by Pelosi, et al.:
While I accept full responsibility for my actions, I feel it is unfair that I have been made the sole scapegoat for what happened. (1/2)
— Michael Flynn (@GenMikeFlynn) February 14, 2017
But if a scapegoat is what's needed for this Administration to continue to take this great nation forward, I am proud to do my duty.
— Michael Flynn (@GenMikeFlynn) February 14, 2017
The New York Times was forced to issue a correction.
Only someone completely besotted with partisan hate could have taken that tweet seriously. They desperately wanted it to be true because Democrats smell blood in the water and are circling for the attack.
Needless to say, Trump supporters had a field day pointing out Pelosi's egregious error.
LOL @NancyPelosi quotes a FAKE tweet from a unverified account. Nancy stop saying FAKE, FAKE, FAKE when you have NO idea who really tweeted.
— PappyKorn (@PappyKorn) February 14, 2017
When are both sides going to learn? Checking the provenance of social media information should be second nature to politicians by now. It really isn't that difficult to check and see if a Twitter or Facebook account is real or fake. It may take a little more time, but saving the politician from an embarrassing walk-back is worth it.
