An incorrect White House pool report prompted outlets to falsely report that Chief of Staff John Kelly told reporters that President Donald Trump had not read a 10-page memo because it was "too lengthy."
According to a Tuesday pool report from the Dallas Morning News' Todd Gillman, "Kelly talked briefly to a few poolers and said Trump hasn't yet read the Democrats' memo but will be briefed on it later today. 'No no. It is quite lengthy,'"
The quote went viral when repeated by reporters on social media, earning write-ups in liberal outlets like ThinkProgress. Many critics zeroed in on the fact that the "lengthy" report was only 10 pages.
John Kelly on whether Trump has read the Schiff memo. "No, no. It is quite lengthy."
We are told it’s 10 pages.— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 6, 2018
Kelly tells reporters that Trump hasn't read the Democratic memo yet but will be briefed on it later today: "No no. It is quite lengthy."
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) February 6, 2018
JUST IN: Chief of Staff John Kelly says President Trump has not yet read the Democrats' memo - "No, no. It is quite lengthy," Kelly said - but will be briefed on it later today, per pool.
— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) February 6, 2018
Kelly says Trump hasn't read the 10-page Dem memo yet: "It is quite lengthy" https://t.co/B6XgNOwtZ1 pic.twitter.com/xy9ghdrVQ4
— The Hill (@thehill) February 6, 2018
White House says 10-page memo is ‘too lengthy’ for Trump to read https://t.co/ptgmPP6Qop pic.twitter.com/KvWwXzGQUA
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) February 6, 2018
The quote from the pool report was also read aloud by anchors on both MSNBC and CNN. "The memo from the Democrats is ten pages long," noted MSNBC's Kay Tur.
But over an hour later, Gillman sent out another pool report indicating that he had misquoted Kelly. In his actual remarks, Kelly didn't cite the length of the memo as a reason Trump hadn't read it, but did cite the fact that he had only just gotten it.
"Has the president read the Democratic memo?" asked a reporter.
"He has it. It's pretty lengthy," Kelly responded.
It was only when asked if the president had read the whole thing that Kelly responded, "No no, I just gave it to him."
"He'll read it after this?" asked a reporter.
"Oh, of course, yeah. We'll get some people down to brief him on it," Kelly said.
A few of the reporters who spread the initial, flawed quote later issued corrections.
UPDATE: The White House pool report has been corrected. Kelly suggests that Trump will be briefed because the memo is too long for Trump to read, but does not explicitly say it. https://t.co/ptgmPP6Qop https://t.co/CWPtniO9eX
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) February 6, 2018
Pool sends corrected version of Kelly on Democratic memo:
Q: Has the president read the Democratic memo?
Kelly: "He has it. It's pretty lengthy."
Q: Has he read the whole thing?
Kelly: "No, no, I just gave it to him."
Q: He'll read it after this?
Kelly: "Oh of course yeah."
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) February 6, 2018