The Washington Post’s White House economics reporter Jeff Stein apologized Wednesday for sharing a quote from Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman that wasn’t actually accurate.
“Yesterday I tweeted this quote, provided to me by the Senator’s office, without checking it against the video,” Stein tweeted. “That was my fault. Though it captured his meaning, I deleted the tweet since some of the words in the quote were inaccurate.”
Yesterday I tweeted this quote, provided to me by the Senator’s office, without checking it against the video. That was my fault. Though it captured his meaning, I deleted the tweet since some of the words in the quote were inaccurate pic.twitter.com/jkDYYr2EU2
— Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) May 17, 2023
Stein originally tweeted a clip of Fetterman questioning Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) executive Greg Becker, during a Senate committee hearing about the bank’s March collapse. Stein quoted Fetterman as saying “shouldn’t you have a working requirement after we bail out your bank? Republicans seem to be more preoccupied with SNAP requirements for hungry people than protecting taxpayers that have to bail out these banks.”
However, Fetterman’s question was plagued by his obvious struggle to get his words out. (RELATED: Scarborough Says Fetterman Is ‘Obviously Impaired’ Following His Debate Performance)
“The Republicans want to give a work requirement for SNAP, for uh, uh, uh a hungry family has to have these, this kind of penalties, or these some kinds of wo- working requirements, shouldn’t you have a working requirement after we say ‘oh your bank, with billions of your bank?’ Because they seem to be more preoccupied when then SNAP and requirements for works, for hungry people but not about protecting the ta- the tax papers you know that will bail no matter whatever does about a bank to crash it,” Fetterman said during the hearing.
Fetterman suffered a stroke in May of 2022 that impaired his speech. Chief of Staff Adam Jentleson said Fetterman’s decision to immediately return to the campaign trail after recovering from a stroke instead of resting may have caused permanent damage. Fetterman recently returned to the Senate after he checked into a hospital in February for treatment for clinical depression.