Humiliated WaPo attempts to take down Christina Pushaw by serving up a big, juicy nothingburger

Earlier this week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ press secretary Christina Pushaw took on the Washington Post and soundly kicked their butt. Like, she chewed them up, spit them out, and stomped on all the little bits.

In addition to the obviously biased framing here, @washingtonpost AGAIN made a factual error that is easily checked. The FY 22-23 budget recently signed by @GovRonDeSantis is NOT $101.5 billion. It's easy to find the actual number. 30 seconds on Google. What are reporters for? pic.twitter.com/YeZJ4QQOVT

— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) June 6, 2022

Pushaw’s thread was pretty relentless, and evidently it left the poor Washington Post with an ego so badly bruised that they decided their only move going forward was not to apologize for being willfully lazy and wrong, but to try to come after Pushaw:

“Christina Pushaw’s disclosure of work for Mikheil Saakashvili came after contact from the Justice Department, her attorney said” https://t.co/Ln0L6SiMXM

— Matt Dixon (@Mdixon55) June 8, 2022

More from the Washington Post:

A spokeswoman for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) this week registered as a foreign agent of a former president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, belatedly detailing work she performed for the politician between 2018 and 2020.

The spokeswoman, Christina Pushaw, made the disclosure following contact from the Justice Department, according to her attorney, Michael Sherwin. She began her work in 2018 as a volunteer in the post-Soviet country, Sherwin said, and was ultimately paid $25,000 over the course of two years.

“Her efforts included writing op-eds, reaching out to supporters and officials, and advocating on his behalf in Georgia and in the United States,” Sherwin said. “The work ended in 2020. Ms. Pushaw was notified recently by the DOJ that her work on behalf of Mr. Saakashvilli likely required FARA registration. Ms. Pushaw filed for the registration retroactively as soon as she was made aware.”

Wow.

So as soon as she learned that she had to file paperwork, she filed it. Um … busted?

https://twitter.com/HankEpton/status/1534525266260795393

Except she wasn’t trying to hide it.

Are you joking? Of course she worked for Saakashvili years ago. It's prominent part of her bio. Here's another hot tip for you: Biden was in the Senate for many years. https://t.co/1mdc0KPrYv

— Heywood Floyd (@HeywoodFloyd10) June 8, 2022

It’s on her résumé. She talks about it regularly.

Congrats on having such broad experience on your résumé, @ChristinaPushaw. https://t.co/r4bFpW34LZ

— Jeremy Redfern (@JeremyRedfernFL) June 8, 2022

I understand the need for disclosures. But to be clear, @ChristinaPushaw is pretty proud about her time working in Georgia, so it’s not a big secret. 🤷‍♀️ https://t.co/5AHkWui0cX

— Ellen Carmichael 🌻 (@ellencarmichael) June 8, 2022

.@ChristinaPushaw talks about her work in Georgia almost weekly on this website, so…what point are you trying to prove, son? https://t.co/wVwFAlg9m3

— kaitlin, by definition, a woman (@thefactualprep) June 8, 2022

She regularly refers to her time working in Georgia. Not quite a gotcha when there’s nothing to get. https://t.co/QqADYfzLyU

— Karol Markowicz (@karol) June 8, 2022

Quite a few of the replies and quote-RTs also suggest that people out there are under the impression that this “scoop” proves that Pushaw and Ron DeSantis are Russian assets or something.

Pushaw is a Russian asset. https://t.co/Skxm4eI38X

— 06/09 can't get here soon enough! (@PatrickRader4) June 8, 2022

Kremlin ops inside the Republican Party. https://t.co/eU4GWle8ZA

— Matt Murphy (@MattMurph24) June 8, 2022

Is this why the Florida GOP still refuses to divest our investments in Russia?!?! https://t.co/3pcabIYgRs

— Rep. Andrew Learned (@AndrewLearned) June 8, 2022

No, you giant tool.

Isn't that the Georgian dude who hates Putin? https://t.co/9x6B6JIwOf

— Billy Townsend (@BillyTownsendEd) June 8, 2022

He hates the Russian government so much, he went on a hunger strike.

Great work, all around.

I assume the issue isn’t that she didn’t disclose it but rather that she didn’t file FARA paperwork

— Liz Mair (@LizMair) June 8, 2022

"She didn't fill out a form" is a story only because they don't like her.

— Karol Markowicz (@karol) June 8, 2022

Bingo.

But making asses of themselves could still pay off for WaPo in the end:

So adorable. WashPo is attacking @ChristinaPushaw with information everyone who knows her knows about.

You got her, Matt!! WashPo readers were totally pro-DeSantis before this!!!

A Pulitzer awaits! https://t.co/wKgI0X7VJ9

— RBe (@RBPundit) June 8, 2022