Former US President, Donald Trump has reacted after the Washington Post corrected a fake story it published in December last year.
Relying on an anonymous source, the paper had used several quotes allegedly made by Trump during the phone conversation.
According to the story, President Trump had told Watson, who worked in Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office to “find the fraud” in the state and it would make her a “national hero”.
But a recent recording of the conversation released by the office showed that President Trump never used those words.
Rather, he encouraged her to closely examine mail-in ballots in Fulton County, the heavily blue and most populated county in the state.
Washington Post broke the story of the phone call which was picked up by many other news outlets including ABC News, NBC News and Vox.
The newspaper has now published a correction of its erroneous claim on the details of the phone call.
Read also: Trump to release transcript of first phone conversation with Ukrainian President
Read Donald Trump’s full statement below:
The Washington Post just issued a correction as to the contents of the incorrectly reported phone call I had with respect to voter fraud in the Great State of Georgia. While I appreciate the Washington Post’s correction, which immediately makes the Georgia Witch Hunt a non- story, the original story was a Hoax, right from the very beginning. I would further appreciate a strong investigation into Fulton County, Georgia, and the Stacey Abrams political machine strong investigation into Fulton County, Georgia, and the Stacey Abrams political machine which, I believe, would totally change the course of the presidential election in Georgia.
Fulton County has not been properly audited for vote or signature verification. They only looked at areas of the State where there most likely would be few problems, and even there they found large numbers of mistakes. We are seeking to find and reveal the large-scale election fraud which took place in Georgia. Many residents agree, and their anger caused them not to turn out and vote for two Republican Senators in the January election.
The Consent Decree signed between Raffensperger and Stacey Abrams was not approved by the Georgia State Legislature, and therefore should be deemed invalid, and the election result changed. Why the Governor and Raffensperger ever approved this Consent Decree is one of the great questions? We look forward to an answer.
You will notice that establishment media errors, omissions, mistakes, and outright lies always slant one way—against me and against Republicans. Meanwhile, stories that hurt Democrats or undermine their narratives are buried, ignored, or delayed until they can do the least harm— for example, after an election is over. Look no further than the negative coverage of the vaccine that preceded the election and the overdue celebration of the vaccine once the election had concluded. A strong democracy requires a fair and honest press. This latest media travesty underscores that legacy media outlets should be regarded as political entities — not journalistic enterprises. In any event, I thank the Washington Post for the correction. -Donald J. Trump