Trump slams WaPo for ‘find the fraud’ misquote to Georgia election investigator: ‘Lies always slant one way’
Former President Donald Trump responded to the Washington Post's lengthy correction on its report over a December 2020 phone call with a Georgia elections investigator, calling it a "media travesty." The publication's January 2021 report said the then-President Trump told the elections investigator during a phone call to "find the fraud," and that they would be a "national hero" if they did so.
The Washington Post published a correction on the original article noting that the headline and the text of the story had been corrected to "remove quotes misattributed to Trump." The correction note said, "Two months after publication of this story, the Georgia secretary of state released an audio recording of President Donald Trump’s December phone call with the state’s top elections investigator. The recording revealed that The Post misquoted Trump’s comments on the call, based on information provided by a source."
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It continued, "Trump did not tell the investigator to 'find the fraud' or say she would be 'a national hero' if she did so. Instead, Trump urged the investigator to scrutinize ballots in Fulton County, Ga., asserting she would find 'dishonesty' there. He also told her that she had 'the most important job in the country right now.'"
In a statement in response to the Post's correction, Trump wrote in an emailed statement to The New York Post, "I thank the Washington Post for the correction.” He added, "You will notice that establishment media errors, omissions, mistakes, and outright lies always slant one way—against me and against Republicans."
Trump added, "Meanwhile, stories that hurt Democrats or undermine their narratives are buried, ignored, or delayed until they can do the least harm—for example, after an election is over. Look no further than the negative coverage of the vaccine that preceded the election and the overdue celebration of the vaccine once the election had concluded. A strong democracy requires a fair and honest press. This latest media travesty underscores that legacy media outlets should be regarded as political entities—not journalistic enterprises."
The previous version of the article was used by Democrats during Trump's historic second impeachment trial on the charge of inciting an insurrection for the January 6 attacks on the US Capitol Hill. House impeachment managers had argued that Trump unleashed a mob to ensure Congress could not certify the election when he failed to get state officials to overturn the elections.
The Washington Post's correction came days after The Wall Street Journal obtained audio of the December call between Trump and the investigator, Frances Watson. The Journal reported that Trump told Watson, "When the ring answer comes out, you'll be praised."
The Washington Post reported that Trump’s call to Watson occurred more than a week before he spent an hour on the phone with Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, pushing him to overturn the vote on January 2. During the conversation, Trump reportedly spoke to the secretary of state, tried to flatter him, begged him to act, and even threatened him with vague criminal consequences if the fellow Republican refused to pursue his false claims, at one point warning that he was taking “a big risk.”
