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Reporters Fall for Fake Document of Trump Making Absurd Demands in Israel

Donald Trump
AP
May 22, 2017

Reporters on Monday fell for a fake "White House" document that supposedly showed President Donald Trump making unusual demands of his Israeli hosts during his trip abroad.

The Twitter account Rogue White House Senior Advisor on Friday shared what it claimed was Trump's demands ahead of a trip to Israel, including roughly a metric ton of sugary and non-kosher junk food.

While the account's motive remains unclear, its shtick is to share shocking and outlandish "insider" stories about Trump while providing no evidence. The account has never provided verification that it is actually run by a White House staffer.

Some elements of the purported demands were obvious jokes. The demand that microwaves remain unplugged was a mocking reference to White House advisor Kellyanne Conway's bizarre comment that the appliance could be used for spying, and the request for electoral maps to be posted on each walls mocked Trump's tendency to allude to his victory.

Nonetheless, Jerusalem Post journalist Anna Ahronheim saw the image and believed it was legitimate.

Other reporters at the Jerusalem Post, Business Insider, the Nation, NBC News, the Washington Post, and Mother Jones soon shared Ahronheim's tweet.

One of the reporters to retweet Ahronheim was Glenn Kessler, editor of the Washington Post's Fact-Checker blog. Kessler deleted his retweet when the error was pointed out and began correcting the record.

Eventually, Ahronheim tweeted out a correction.

Published under: Glenn Kessler