D'OH! Sen. Bill Nelson tweeted 'BREAKING' news in effort to vindicate his Russia hacking claim, then it got AWKWARD

Doug P. | 4:41 PM on August 17, 2018

Earlier this month at a campaign event in Tallahassee, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson told the audience that Russian hackers “have already penetrated certain counties in the state and they now have free rein to move about.”

The Washington Post was among fact checkers all over that claim:

Bill Nelson is awarded an impressive Four Pinocchios for his claims about Russian infiltration of FL election records: https://t.co/ye6PoGw2Yl pic.twitter.com/baOOTVwpnJ

— Mac McClung Fan Account (@LPDonovan) August 17, 2018

Nelson later backtracked a little bit, but an NBC News report has given Nelson’s claims new life, and he shared it with the Twitterverse this way:

BREAKING – NBC NEWS: Bill Nelson wasn't making things up when he said Russians hacked Florida election systems https://t.co/7TgaPIB69o

— Senator Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) August 17, 2018

However, Nelson might have painted himself into a corner here:

NEW: 3 people familiar with the intelligence tell @NBCNews that there is a classified basis for Sen. Nelson's assertion that Russian hackers had "penetrated" some of his state's county voting systems. https://t.co/jqu1Du6yw5 – @KenDilanianNBC pic.twitter.com/ACSvk1RUW4

— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) August 17, 2018

In other words, Nelson’s defense against the fact checkers could backfire big time:

Amazing, you shared an article asserting you publicly leaked classified information. pic.twitter.com/Y8c0xiH7fd

— Scott Parker (@Scottty_P) August 17, 2018

“Whoops, if true!”

So you unlawfully leaked classified information? Holy hell.

— Flyover Culture (@FlyoverCulture) August 17, 2018

If you assume this is true for a moment – it would be significantly worse for @SenBillNelson than the Four Pinocchios. It is illegal to release classified information in an unclassified setting the way that Bill Nelson did. #FLSen https://t.co/C1IYcNxPkQ

— Chris Hansen (@tankcat) August 17, 2018

So your argument is: I'm not a liar, I'm a leaker? #FLSen https://t.co/HfCCuWPh50

— Ellie Hockenbury (@EllieHockenbury) August 17, 2018

Awkward!

The Washington Post stands behind all four Pinocchios for Nelson:

Our Four-Pinocchio rating stands. Everything in this article was noted in our piece, except for the suggestion that Nelson leaked classified information. https://t.co/j7To5lj1k5

— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) August 17, 2018

That not-so-subtle detail remains for Nelson to try and sort out. Pass the popcorn.