On Friday, the New York Times reported that President Trump met with NRA head Wayne LaPierre and that in return for their support as he head toward impeachment, the president would “‘stop the games’ over gun control legislation.”
But in the hours since they published the article, the NYT has stealth-edited the quid pro quo part out:
hrrrrmmm NYT has very quietly edited away the NRA quid pro quo language https://t.co/JU3XRUl8rQ pic.twitter.com/eJe7D8EMT1
— Matt Pearce ? (@mattdpearce) September 27, 2019
This is a huge freaking change:
the first version seemed pretty crimey, the new version is much more ambiguous
— Matt Pearce ? (@mattdpearce) September 27, 2019
The NYT even used it as the pull quote in their tweets of the article as evidenced in this post from Maggie Haberman. See it at the bottom?
SCOOP – with @anniekarni, Trump met with Wayne LaPierre in the Oval Office today https://t.co/seMatuG6pJ
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 27, 2019
Libs, of course, already jumped on it:
If the below article is accurate, it appears @realDonaldTrump seeks to trade action on legislation in exchange for financial support from the @NRA. That would be illegal. A felony, to be exact. https://t.co/gCPOkgv2VD
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) September 27, 2019
It does say in the article that it was “Updated 6:23 p.m. ET,” but there’s no editor’s note to suggest what was changed:
can we get an explanation of this @nytimes? reporting an offered quid pro quo and then editing it out requires some explanation. https://t.co/HXvX80QU4K
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) September 27, 2019
2/ (for those following) To be clear, copy gets changed. Sometimes the facts change. Doesn't mean there's anything they did wrong. But this is a big change. Requires some explanation. If it was wrong, say so.
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) September 27, 2019
Over to you, NYT. What gives?
Update: From the NRA:
New: NRA is out with their statement about meeting between Trump and LaPierre: “The NRA categorically denies any discussion occurred about special arrangements pertaining to the NRA’s support of the President and vice versa.”
— Elaina Plott (@elainaplott) September 27, 2019
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Editor’s note: This post has been updated.
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