MSNBC anchor Ali Velshi made three factual errors about Sen. Dick Durbin (D., Ill.) in less than seven seconds on Thursday.
"Alright, that's Ohio Senator Dick Durbin, deputy leader in the House," Velshi said as he interrupted MSNBC's coverage of Durbin speaking on the Senate floor.
Durbin's communications director, Ben Marter, was first to notice Velshi's statement riddled with falsehoods.
MSNBC, cutting away from Durbin floor speech, "that's Ohio Senator Dick Durbin, deputy leader in the House."
— Ben Marter (@BenMarter) June 22, 2017
A Washington Free Beacon analysis shows that Velshi was factually wrong on three counts.
- Durbin is not a senator from Ohio. He is a senator from Illinois.
- Durbin is not the deputy leader. He is the Democratic Whip.
- Durbin is a senator, meaning he resides in the Senate, not in the House as Velshi claimed.
Former Free Beacon reporter Lachlan Markay reacted to Velshi on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/877918933109489664
This is not the first time that Velshi has been wrong on the air. He introduced then-congressional candidate Jon Ossoff (D.) as "congressman-to-be" in April. Ossoff lost his race on Tuesday.
