Have you heard that former Governor Rick Perry didn’t know what the Department of Energy does but he wants to run it? The New York Times published that claim in a hit piece using one named source. Turns out it’s fake. The one source said his comments were taken out of context.
SHOCKER! NY Times Misleads Their Readers
The Times reported Wednesday that when Perry accepted Donald Trump‘s nomination for the Secretary of Energy position, he “initially misunderstood” what the job was.
“Mr. Perry gladly accepted, believing he was taking on a role as a global ambassador for the American oil and gas industry that he had long championed in his home state,” they wrote. “In the days after, Mr. Perry… discovered that he would be no such thing — that in fact, if confirmed by the Senate, he would become the steward of a vast national security complex he knew almost nothing about, caring for the most fearsome weapons on the planet, the United States’ nuclear arsenal.”
That led to brutal mockery of the former governor on social media.
The only source for the article was a single quote from a former Trump transition official who didn’t even sit on the team when Perry was named.
“If you asked him on that first day he said yes, he would have said, ‘I want to be an advocate for energy,’” Michael McKenna told them. “If you asked him now, he’d say, ‘I’m serious about the challenges facing the nuclear complex.’ It’s been a learning curve.”
McKenna told The Daily Caller after the storm that ensued that his remarks were taken out of context and “of course” Perry knew what the job entailed when he took it.
-
The Importance of Prayer: How a Christian Gold Company Stands Out by Defending Americans’ Retirement
It must be noted here that Perry’s original statement stated that he would oversee the nuclear arsenal.
Washington Examiner media critic T. Becket Adams noted that McKenna wasn’t even part of the transition team when Perry was named, and that Perry’s original statement specifically mentioned that he’d oversee the nuclear arsenal.
The New York Times is now the subject of disdain. A NY Times spokesperson doubled down and told Politico they are sticking by their story claiming multiple high-level sources – unnamed of course.
They totally made up this garbage story. Who are the sources? The one source they named denied it. You really can’t believe anything you read in that paper.
This @nytimes article about Rick Perry’s ignorance and our nuclear arsenal should scare the crap out of you. pic.twitter.com/OHvfwRTpI2
— Sean Kent (@seankent) January 19, 2017
Journalists are apologizing for spreading the bogus @nytimes story on Rick Perry. Good for them. https://t.co/rDLaPVehXa
— Rachel Stoltzfoos (@RachelStoltz) January 19, 2017
Journos are calling the @nytimes hit piece on Rick Perry “fake news” and “garbage” as they ruthlessly pull it apart. https://t.co/zLAkITOII1
— Rachel Stoltzfoos (@RachelStoltz) January 19, 2017
Since I tweeted the NYTimes story, I’ll tweet this repudiation from their source. Deleting my initial tweet. https://t.co/XVZj150fpw
— Natalie Jackson (@nataliemjb) January 19, 2017
