How The Media Pushed The Now Debunked ‘Find The Fraud’ Story In Their Bid To Attack Trump
As reported by the Daily Wire, “The Washington Post received a flood of criticism after correcting a story in which the outlet ‘misquoted’ former President Donald Trump’s December phone call with the Georgia Secretary of State’s top investigator.”
“The Post attributed fraudulent quotes to Trump based off a single anonymous source familiar with the Dec. 23 phone call. The newspaper published the fake quotes in a January article playing up the president’s alleged efforts to interfere in Georgia’s presidential election,” the Daily Wire report added.
At the time, The Washington Post claimed Trump had urged the investigator to “find the fraud,” and that they would be a “national hero.” According to an audio recording released by the Wall Street Journal, Trump said neither of these two lines.
The Washington Post added a correction to the top of its Jan. 9 story, which reads:
Correction: 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. 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.” A story about the recording can be found here. The headline and text of this story have been corrected to remove quotes misattributed to Trump.
The story was covered by multiple news outlets in early January, with some even implying that they had independently confirmed or corroborated the Washington Post’s claim. Here’s how mainstream news outlets covered this now debunked story, and how they helped cement it as one of the most impactful narratives against Donald Trump.
Washington Post – “Trump pressured Georgia’s lead elections investigator to ‘find the fraud’ in December phone call, new evidence shows” (Pre-retraction version posted by the Philadelphia Inquirer)
“President Donald Trump urged Georgia’s lead elections investigator to ‘find the fraud’ in a lengthy December phone call, saying the official would be a ‘national hero,’ according to an individual familiar with the call who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the conversation.
Trump placed the call to the investigations chief for the Georgia secretary of state’s office shortly before Christmas – while the individual was leading an inquiry into allegations of ballot fraud in Cobb County, in the suburbs of Atlanta, according to people familiar with the episode.
The president’s attempts to intervene in an ongoing investigation could amount to obstruction of justice or other criminal violations, legal experts said, though they cautioned a case could be difficult to prove.”
CNN – “Trump pressured Georgia elections investigator to ‘find the fraud’ in 2020 election” (Archived version from January 9)
“President Donald Trump last month urged the chief investigator for the Georgia secretary of state’s office to ‘find the fraud’ in the 2020 presidential election, telling the individual that they would be a ‘national hero,’ according to a source with knowledge of the call.
The phone call, which was first reported by The Washington Post, is the latest unearthed effort by Trump to attempt to pressure Georgia government officials to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s win in the Peach State.”
CNBC – “Trump pressured Georgia top elections investigator to ‘find the fraud’ in a phone call”
“President Donald Trump tried to pressure Georgia’s top elections investigator to ‘find the fraud’ during a December phone call that could amount to obstruction of justice, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
The Post did not identify the investigator due to threats and harassment against election officials.
NBC News has confirmed The Post’s characterization of the Dec. 23 call through a source familiar with the conversation.”
Associated Press – “Trump pressured Georgia to ‘find the fraud’ in earlier call” (Archived version from January 9)
“While election officials in Georgia were verifying signatures on absentee ballot envelopes in one metro-Atlanta county, President Donald Trump pressed a lead investigator to ‘find the fraud’ and said it would make the investigator a national hero.
The December call, described by a person familiar with it who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to describe the sensitive nature of the discussion, is yet another link in the chain of the extraordinary pressure campaign waged by Trump on state officials as he sought to overturn the results of the November election, which he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.”
This piece was shared by multiple outlets, such as The Guardian with the title, “‘Find the fraud’: details emerge of another Trump call to Georgia officials,” and PBS under the title “Trump pressured Georgia to ‘find the fraud’ in earlier call.”
NBC News – “In earlier call, Trump pressured Georgia elections investigator to find evidence of fraud” (Archived version from January 9)
“President Donald Trump pushed Georgia’s lead elections investigator in a phone call in December to produce evidence of fraud in the presidential race, telling the person to ‘find the fraud’ and promising that they would be a ‘national hero’ for doing so, according to a person familiar with the call.
The call is another recent example of Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the November election, particularly in Georgia, where President-elect Joe Biden beat him by nearly 12,000 votes, becoming the first Democrat to win the state in decades.
The call was first reported by The Washington Post. Georgia Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs confirmed to NBC News that the call took place.”
ABC News – “On December call, Trump urged Georgia elections investigator to ‘find the fraud’: Source” (Archived version from January 9)
“In December, while a signature match audit was ongoing in one Georgia county, President Donald Trump phoned a chief investigator in Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office asking the official to ‘find the fraud’ and telling this person they would be a ‘national hero’ for it, an individual familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News.
The Washington Post was first to report on the lengthy phone call, which occurred before Trump’s stunning, hourlong phone conversation with Raffensperger in which the president ranted about baseless allegations of election fraud and pressured Georgia’s top elections official to ‘find’ enough votes to deliver him a win in the Peach State.
That call, which took place on Jan. 2, is noted in the draft article of impeachment against the president that Democrats could introduce as early as Monday.
Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs confirmed the call between Trump and the elections investigator took place without offering details, saying only: ‘The secretary and the secretary of state’s office can confirm that the call did happen.’
The White House declined to comment to ABC News.
The source familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the call, told ABC News that the president’s call to the elections investigator occurred the day after White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows traveled to Cobb County, Georgia, attempting to observe the signature match audit taking place there. The source asked that investigator remain unnamed because of the current threat environment election officials are facing.”
The Independent – “Trump urged Georgia elections official to ‘find the fraud’ in separate call, report claims”
“Donald Trump allegedly pressured Georgia’s top elections investigator to ‘find the fraud’ in a phone call last month, as the president continued in his attempts to overturn president-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the state.
The Washington Post reported that Mr Trump made the call on 23 December as the investigations chief for the Georgia secretary of state’s office pursued allegations of ballot fraud in the suburbs of Atlanta.”
The Independent included a retraction update at the top of the article, which read:
Update, March 15, 2021: The Washington Post issued a correction to its story on 11 March, 2021. It said that following the release of a recording between Donald Trump and Georgia’s top elections investigator that it had misquoted the former president. “Trump did not tell the investigator to ‘find the fraud’ or say she would be ‘a national hero’ if she did so,” The Post wrote. In order to acknowledge this, we have amended our headline to make it clear that this was an allegation, and added this update to state the latest position.
Business Insider – “Trump reportedly asked a Georgia elections investigator to ‘find the fraud’ in the 2020 election in lengthy phone call in December”
“President Donald Trump on a December 23 phone call pressured Georgia’s lead elections investigator to ‘find the fraud’ responsible for his election loss, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
The president reportedly told the investigator they would be a ‘national hero’ should they find the evidence he requested, according to the report. The Post’s reporting is based on an anonymous interview with a person familiar with the call who asked not to be identified because of the ‘sensitivity’ of the conversation, according to the report.”
Slate – “Trump Pressured Georgia Elections Investigator to ‘Find the Fraud’ in December Call”
“There was another call. Last week, the Washington Post published the audio of a phone call in which President Donald Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to ‘find 11,780 votes’ that could overturn the election results in the state. Now comes news there was an earlier call that could translate into legal woes for the commander in chief, reports the Washington Post. In the lengthy December phone call, which was later confirmed by several other news outlets, Trump urged Georgia’s top elections investigator to ‘find the fraud.’ The president said the investigator would turn into a ‘national hero’ if they were able to prove the fraud claims.”
Rolling Stone – “In Third Georgia Call, Trump Told Election Investigator to ‘Find the Fraud’” (Archived version from January 9)
“President Trump told a chief investigator in Georgia if they could ‘find the fraud’ in the presidential election, it would make them a ‘national hero,’ according to a source familiar with the call who spoke to the Washington Post’s Amy Gardner on the condition on anonymity.
Trump, who lost the state by almost 12,000 votes, placed the call just before Christmas, while Georgia was auditing signature matches on absentee ballots in Cobb County. Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs confirmed the call took place to ABC News: ‘The secretary and the secretary of state’s office can confirm that the call did happen.’”
Vox – “Trump reportedly told Georgia’s lead election investigator they could be a ‘national hero’ if they found fraud” (Archived version from January 9)
“President Donald Trump pressured a top Georgia state election investigator, who was in charge of looking into allegations of vote irregularities in the 2020 presidential election, to ‘find the fraud’ in a late December phone call, according to a report by the Washington Post’s Amy Gardner.
The Post withheld the name of the Georgia official, citing ‘the risk of threats and harassment directed at election officials,’ but describing the person as ‘investigations chief for the Georgia secretary of state’s office.’”
Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at @ighaworth.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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