Chicago City Wire

A Washington Post story about former President Donald Trump with 'second-hand quotes' has stirred the anger of Real Clear Investigation’s Mark Hemmingway.

“There is no way that source should have been published with second-hand quotes about the president from a political enemy,” Hemmingway said during a recent appearance on Chicago’s Morning Answer.

According to Hemmingway, as news of Trump speaking with Georgia lawmakers about election results made headlines, The Post jumped too quickly to publish what he considers to be a baseless story.

“The Washington Post took quotes from a deputy secretary in the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office about a phone call Trump made to a chief elections investigator,” he said. “The deputy was not on the phone. You have a second-hand report of what was said that was given to The Post. On top of that, the Secretary of State was feuding with Trump. You can’t confirm the story from additional sourcing but still run with quotes saying the president potentially committed a crime? Then, the quotes get used in impeachment proceeding multiple times.”

Hemmingway says it's actions like those that far too often get confused with real journalism.

“Whether they run a correction or not is irrelevant to the fact this story should have never run under any circumstances,” he said. “This was more about attacking Trump than telling the truth.”