Early Friday morning, The Washington Post’s fact-checker — Glenn Kessler — tweeted out that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had cut his trip to South Korea short because of “fatigue,” citing a story in the Korea Herald:
US Secy of State Tillerson cut short his visit to S. Korea because of "fatigue," Korean officials tell Korea Herald https://t.co/4LQjzeWRUG
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) March 17, 2017
The “fatigue” bit, however, was thinly sourced and didn’t quote anyone on the record:
A joint news conference aside, Tillerson spent almost 2 1/2 hours with Japanese Foreign Minister Kishida including a dinner, and another hour with Prime Minister Abe. But his meetings with Yun and Hwang were each confined to about an hour, without a lunch or dinner gathering. Seoul officials said the US side opted not to have a meal together, citing the secretary’s “fatigue.”
Shortly after Kessler’s tweet, Bloomberg reporter Nicholas Wadhams fact-checked the fact-checker. According to Wadhams, the trip wasn’t cut short and contrary to the Korea Herald report, there was no dinner on the schedule:
He didn't cut short trip. He is still in Seoul, to Beijing tomorrow per plan. There was never a dinner on the schedule
— Nicholas Wadhams (@nwadhams) March 17, 2017
At the time of his tweet, Tillerson was still in Seoul:
He hasn't left Seoul. Traveling press (AP, Bloomberg, Rtrs, NBC) are not pool but we are in same hotel. There was no dinner on schedule. https://t.co/Moq6pfmtvB
— Nicholas Wadhams (@nwadhams) March 17, 2017
With proof:
settle down, people. hotel parking lot 2 minutes ago pic.twitter.com/hMuVHFKhfo
— Nicholas Wadhams (@nwadhams) March 17, 2017
However, other journos and liberal commenters, etc. shared Kessler’s tweet as fact:
Tired of working for Trump? https://t.co/7jvCLldKwM
— Paul Begala (@PaulBegala) March 17, 2017
we are living in some weird performance art where trump's cabinet just keeps doing all the things that they used against HRC in the election https://t.co/Le3YP0Kbvl
— Sarah Lacy (@sarahcuda) March 17, 2017
Without US press on trip, all the background comes from anonymous Korean officials. Who say Tillerson was sleepy. https://t.co/8NCrAiMKrt
— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) March 17, 2017
Hillary traveled 1M miles as SoS
Tillerson needs a time out on his first trip https://t.co/pWSeoBaM1C
— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) March 17, 2017
Kessler eventually shared the account from the U.S. journalist on the trip, but the damage was already done. Note the original has almost 2000 RTs and the clarification has less than 100:
FYI, traveling reporter disputes account from Korean foreign ministry officials that Tillerson skipped planned diner because of fatigue https://t.co/HA4B2VtTsA
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) March 17, 2017
Of note, there were journalists covering Tillerson’s trip, just not journalists approved by the MSM:
Fox News travels to North Korean border with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. pic.twitter.com/ZAqqN19BzN
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 17, 2017
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