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Democrats, Reporters Baselessly Accuse GOP of Throwing Beer Party to Celebrate Health Care Bill

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May 4, 2017

Liberal journalists and Democratic politicians spread an unverified rumor Thursday that House Republicans were celebrating the passage of the American Health Care Act with a massive beer party.

Vice News' Alexandra Jaffe reported shortly before the vote that she witnessed a large quantity of beer being carted into the Capitol Building.

Jaffe made it clear she did not know who ordered the beer or why. But the tweet went viral as people assumed it was House Republicans. Liberal journalists and activists on Twitter ripped House Republicans for the "beer party."

Several Democratic members of Congress also attacked the GOP based on the unverified rumor.

No less than House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) herself spread the rumor.

"Right now, the Republicans are having a beer party to celebrate one of the biggest transfers of wealth from working families to the richest people in our country," she said in a press conference following the vote.

But two hours later, Jaffe tracked down the man carting the beer, who told her the beverages were not going to a Republican meeting.

Not long afterward, a spokesman for Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) put a kibosh on the rumors, calling the allegation "completely and utterly false" on Twitter.

CBS, ShareBlue, Raw Story, Mic, Jezebel, Think Progress, and Newsweek also all pinned the beer on House Republicans or reported on the "beer party," with zero evidence.