Trump: Washington Post Reporter 'Should Be Fired' Over Crowd Size Photo
- 6 years ago
President Trump on Saturday attacked a Washington Post reporter over a crowd size photo.
President Trump on Saturday called out a Washington Post reporter for a photo from his Pensacola, Florida event that gave a misleading impression of the crowd size.
"@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," Trump tweeted. "Real photos now shown as I spoke. Packed house, many people unable to get in. Demand apology & retraction from FAKE NEWS WaPo!"
Minutes later, the reporter, Dave Weigel, responded with an apology and noted that he had deleted the photo after Daily Mail political editor David Martosko told him that he had "gotten it wrong."
"Sure thing: I apologize. I deleted the photo after @dmartosko told me I'd gotten it wrong," Weigel said in his response to Trump's tweet. "Was confused by the image of you walking in the bottom right corner."
In another tweet, while responding to someone else, Weigel said, "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."
Trump then posted a second tweet on the matter, calling for the reporter to be fired.
"@daveweigel of the Washington Post just admitted that his picture was a FAKE (fraud?) showing an almost empty arena last night for my speech in Pensacola when, in fact, he knew the arena was packed (as shown also on T.V.)," the president tweeted. "FAKE NEWS, he should be fired."
Trump's tweets have sparked numerous reactions.
"The president calling for a journalist to be fired seems like a public threat to the First Amendment," Kyle Griffin tweeted.
"He apologized for his tweet and explained he made an error and got it wrong. Weigel is an honest journalist — anyone that knows him knows he wouldn't intentionally tweet misinformation," read a tweet by Oliver Darcy.
"The president of the United States targeting a reporter for mass harassment is a *much* bigger deal than a reporter mistakenly tweeting a photo," Jessica Valenti wrote on Twitter.
President Trump on Saturday called out a Washington Post reporter for a photo from his Pensacola, Florida event that gave a misleading impression of the crowd size.
"@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," Trump tweeted. "Real photos now shown as I spoke. Packed house, many people unable to get in. Demand apology & retraction from FAKE NEWS WaPo!"
Minutes later, the reporter, Dave Weigel, responded with an apology and noted that he had deleted the photo after Daily Mail political editor David Martosko told him that he had "gotten it wrong."
"Sure thing: I apologize. I deleted the photo after @dmartosko told me I'd gotten it wrong," Weigel said in his response to Trump's tweet. "Was confused by the image of you walking in the bottom right corner."
In another tweet, while responding to someone else, Weigel said, "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."
Trump then posted a second tweet on the matter, calling for the reporter to be fired.
"@daveweigel of the Washington Post just admitted that his picture was a FAKE (fraud?) showing an almost empty arena last night for my speech in Pensacola when, in fact, he knew the arena was packed (as shown also on T.V.)," the president tweeted. "FAKE NEWS, he should be fired."
Trump's tweets have sparked numerous reactions.
"The president calling for a journalist to be fired seems like a public threat to the First Amendment," Kyle Griffin tweeted.
"He apologized for his tweet and explained he made an error and got it wrong. Weigel is an honest journalist — anyone that knows him knows he wouldn't intentionally tweet misinformation," read a tweet by Oliver Darcy.
"The president of the United States targeting a reporter for mass harassment is a *much* bigger deal than a reporter mistakenly tweeting a photo," Jessica Valenti wrote on Twitter.