Washington Post reporter Jeff Stein apologized after he was caught quoting Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-PA) prepared remarks instead of his actual statements during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Tuesday.
Fetterman returned to the Senate last month after taking a two-month leave of absence to deal with his “depression.” A little over a year ago, Fetterman suffered a stroke on the campaign trail, which harmed his ability to speak coherently.
Fetterman uses a closed captioning device to understand what others around him are saying.
Stein misquoted Fetterman in a tweet sent on Tuesday, despite including a video of Fetterman’s line of questioning in his tweet.
Stein attributed the following quote to Fetterman:
Shouldn’t you have a working requirement after we bail out your bank? Republicans seem to be more preoccupied with SNAP requirements for hungry people than protecting taxpayers that have to bail out these banks.
However, social media users quickly noted that Stein’s quote did not match what Fetterman actually said in the video.
What the WaPo claimed Fetterman said vs. what Fetterman actually said. pic.twitter.com/CcalyrDA5j
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) May 17, 2023
In reality, Fetterman’s words were closer to the following:
Should you have a working requirement after we sail your bank, billions of your bank? Because they seem to be more pre-preoccupied when, then SNAP requirements for works for hungry people, but not about protecting the tax papers will bail no matter whatever does about a bank to crash it.
The following day, Stein deleted his tweet and blamed the misquote on Fetterman’s office.
“Yesterday I tweeted this quote, provided to me by the Senator’s office, without checking it against the video. That was my fault,” Stein tweeted. “Though it captured his meaning, I deleted the tweet since some of the words in the quote were inaccurate.”
Yesterday I tweeted this quote, provided to me by the Senator’s office, without checking it against the video. That was my fault. Though it captured his meaning, I deleted the tweet since some of the words in the quote were inaccurate pic.twitter.com/jkDYYr2EU2
— Jeff Stein (@JStein_WaPo) May 17, 2023
“Weird way to say a reporter doesn’t verify talking points Dem politicians give him,” Blaze contributor Ben McDonald said in response to Stein’s apology.
Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.
