A New York Times correspondent falsely reported Thursday on Twitter that members of the House of Representatives unanimously voted to exempt themselves from the Republican health care bill.
A day earlier, reporters noticed that a provision in the American Health Care Act would exempt lawmakers and their staff from losing some of the repealed Obamacare provisions. In response to the criticism, House leadership announced they would vote separately on the issue.
The House voted 429-0 to pass a bill rectifying the mistake, preventing lawmakers from being exempted. But the New York Times' chief White House correspondent, Peter Baker, apparently misunderstood the vote.
That is the exact opposite of what actually happened. Baker eventually deleted the tweet and apologized for the mistake.
Mea culpa: Looks like I misunderstood the amendment, which was intended to do the opposite. Many apologies.
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) May 4, 2017
Bad side of Twitter: Dummies like me who are too quick to tweet. Good side: When you make a mistake, lots of friends quickly correct you.
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) May 4, 2017
The snafu comes a week after Baker tweeted an out-of-context quote that implied Trump admitted he never read an executive order before signing it. Baker also had to issue a clarification in that case.
He was making a joke after reading the title out loud and I thought it was funny. I should have been clearer about the context. https://t.co/5C5aBayQ08
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) April 26, 2017