Washington Post Has to Make Embarrassing Correction After Reporting Trump Threatened to ‘Invade Mexico'
BY VICTORIA TAFT
After highlighting an Associated Press story that claimed President Donald Trump had threatened the president of Mexico with invasion to get rid of “bad hombres,” The Washington Post has had to walk back that claim.
But not before the story spread widely via Time Magazine, Mic, Mother Jones, Vox, and many other publications.
The story about the “threatened invasion of Mexico” was contained in a larger story about another reportedly testy conversation President Trump had with the Prime Minister of Australia.
The AP story had no named sourcing and contained responses by the Mexican government that the claim was “absolutely false” and “did not occur.” Despite this, the story ran with the headline:
“Trump to Mexico: Take care of 'bad hombres' or US might”
The Washington Post ran with it.
Then things blew up.
Eventually, an “editor’s note” was added to the bottom of The Washington Post story:
Editor’s note: This article has been updated and a reference to an AP report on the details of a phone conversation between President Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto removed because they could not be independently confirmed.
READ THE FULL STORY AT IJR.COM.