President Donald Trump called out a Washington Post reporter by name on Twitter for "fake news," but got a surprising response from the targeted journalist just minutes later. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
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Trump demands apology from Washington Post reporter for 'fake news' — he gets a response just minutes later
December 10, 2017
President Donald Trump called out a prominent Washington Post reporter by name on Twitter Saturday evening and said he should be fired.
What happened?
Dave Weigel, a reporter for the Post, made a mistake Friday when he tweeted a picture of an empty arena in Florida hours before a "Make America Great Again" rally was to take place. Weigel was responding to Trump's claim that the arena had been "packed to the rafters."
Trump, in response to Weigel's tweet, first tweeted several pictures of the packed arena where he spoke. He also claimed Weigel "put out a phony photo of an empty arena hours before I arrived." In the same tweet, Trump demanded an apology from Weigel and a retraction from the "fake news" Washington Post.
.@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. Real photos now shown as I spoke. Packed house, many people unable to get in. Demand apology & retraction from FAKE NEWS WaPo! pic.twitter.com/XAblFGh1ob
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2017
How did Weigel respond?
Instead of making an excuse for the mistake, Weigel simply owned up to and apologized for it. Weigel said he deleted his initial tweet after David Martosko, the U.S. political editor for the Daily Mail UK, pointed out the mistake.
Was Trump done?
Despite receiving the apology that he wanted, and the retraction (Weigel deleted the false tweet), Trump wanted more. In a follow-up tweet, the president acknowledged Weigel's apology, but then called for Weigel to be fired from the Post.
How did the media react?
To put it mildly, Trump's tweets, especially considering Weigel's willingness to apologize, didn't go over well.
CNN host Brian Stelter:
MSNBC producer Kyle Griffn:
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman:
Huffington Post reporter Matt Fuller:
Vox.com co-founder Matt Yglesias:
Dan Pfeiffer, a former Obama administration official who is now a CNN contributor and co-hosts one of the most popular political podcasts:
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Staff Writer
Chris Enloe is a staff writer for Blaze News
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