Instead of fact-checking what Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump actually said during Monday’s debate, The Washington Post made egregious assumptions about what he really meant, and then fact-checked the assumptions instead.
During the debate, Trump countered questions about his tax returns by raising the matter of Clinton’s emails, saying he would release his tax returns if Clinton released more then 30,000 deleted emails. Clinton responded by claiming her private email server was “a mistake” she learned from. Trump immediately pounced.
“That was more than a mistake. That was done purposely. That was not a mistake. That was done purposely,” he responded.
Trump’s statement is objectively true; Clinton admits she decided on a private server, saying she wanted to avoid the inconvenience of carrying two separate devices for her personal and work emails (though the FBI found she used multiple devices throughout her tenure as Secretary of State).
But when it decided to fact-check Trump’s claim The Washington Post said Trump’s claim was actually false, based on total assumptions about what Trump really meant to say.
“If [Trump] is referring to merely to her decision to use a private server, yes, that was done consciously,” the paper said. “If he is suggesting her purpose was to mishandle classified information, the FBI would disagree … [I]nvestigators found particularly lacking any intent on Clinton or her staff’s part to mishandle classified information, and that would undermine any possible criminal case against them,” the Post said.
The Post suggests Trump was talking specifically about mishandling classified information, even though Trump never used the words “classified” or “confidential” a single time during the entire debate.
The Post also fact-checked Trump’s statements that Clinton’s staff pleading the 5th amendment during the email investigation was indicative of guilt on their part. According to the Post, while Trump’s statement might be true, it also needed “context.”
“Some who worked on Clinton’s server — including IT staffer Bryan Pagliano — recently invoked their 5th Amendment Rights so they wouldn’t have to testify before a Congressional committee. But Pagliano and others, including more prominent aides, did talk to investigators in the FBI investigation (Pagliano had immunity to do so),” the Post explained.
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