Thread: Washington Post Blogger Issues Official Apology for Spreading False Jeff Sessions Sto

Washington Post Blogger Issues Official Apology for Spreading False Jeff Sessions Story

Attorney General Jeff Sessions / AP

BY: Alex Griswold
April 12, 2017 2:24 pm

A Washington Post blogger responsible for launching a false story about Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Tuesday published an official apology Wednesday.

Tufts professor and Washington Post blogger Daniel Drezner helped kickstart the narrative that Sessions had referred to illegal immigrants as "filth" while delivering a speech before border agents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Drezner took a quote from Sessions' prepared remarks out of context, and released his frustrations on Twitter.


Daniel W. Drezner ✔ @dandrezner
Filth. He described illegal immigrants as "filth."
Whatever your views on immigration that's f**king embarrassing for a US official to say. https://twitter.com/jdawsey1/status/851847803454226432 …
12:30 PM - 11 Apr 2017

But Sessions did not call illegal immigrants filth. As the transcript of his prepared remarks made clear, he was calling Mexican gangs and drug cartels "filth." Furthermore, when it was time for Sessions to actually deliver the speech, he omitted the word "filth" entirely.

The quote went viral, and was picked up by several liberal outlets. After others pointed out his error, Drezner tweeted out a correction an hour later and apologized.

11 Apr
Daniel W. Drezner ✔ @dandrezner
Filth. He described illegal immigrants as "filth."
Whatever your views on immigration that's f**king embarrassing for a US official to say. https://twitter.com/jdawsey1/status/851847803454226432 …

Daniel W. Drezner ✔ @dandrezner
Reading Sessions' prepared remarks I think I over-interpreted his language. Apologies for the quick Twitter trigger. https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/a...tice-s-renewed … pic.twitter.com/0asvGCr2vj

Then Drezner went the extra mile, writing a full apology the next day on his Washington Post Spoiler Alerts blog.

"I was wrong about Jeff Sessions," he wrote on Wednesday.

Drezner prefaced that he did not support Sessions or his policies.

"Yesterday, however, I tweeted something inaccurate about the sitting attorney general. And for that I owe him an apology," Drezner wrote.

He explained that he did not plan to delete the initial tweet, because that would make it appear that he was covering up his mistake.

"So, full stop, I was wrong, and I apologize to the attorney general for making this mistake. I wish I had caught the error in time to delete the tweet before it went viral. Alas, I did not," Drezner concluded.

Unlike Drezner, other liberal journalists have not admitted their mistake. Vox's Matt Yglesias, for example, actually doubled down.

In other news, the Attorney-General pledged to rid the nation of the "filth" of Latin American immigrants.

— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) April 11, 2017
11 Apr
(((tedfrank))) ✔ @tedfrank
@mattyglesias Dreadfully unfair misquote.
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Matthew Yglesias ✔ @mattyglesias
@tedfrank Nope.
1:45 PM - 11 Apr 2017
http://freebeacon.com/politics/754936/

Yeah, well, too little too late. I wonder how many will read your little tweet or care at this point. Damage is done and you should be SUED penniless.

Just Tweeted this out on our official ALIPAC Twitter account with 22k followers...

https://twitter.com/ALIPAC

William Gheen‏ @ALIPAC 1m1 minute ago




Shame on you @dandrezner for lying + spreading fake news + supporting illegals aliens & defaming an honorable man like @jeffsessions !