The New York Times White House correspondent tweeted an out-of-context quote from President Donald Trump on Tuesday that made it appear the president had not read an executive order he was signing.
Peter Baker tweeted that Trump said during the signing of an executive order to create an agriculture task force, "There's a lot of words. I won't bother reading everything."
The tweet went viral, racking up more than 5,000 retweets and countless reactions.
Christ https://t.co/G13LcpDdCQ
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) April 26, 2017
I thought I was beyond shock, but my eyes literally popped wide open when I read this: https://t.co/xuMkWNm86o
— ...she persisted. 🗽 (@leahmcelrath) April 25, 2017
Okay, phew, we finally found a quote for the entrance to the Trump Presidential Library and Casino. https://t.co/NY4hpeuB4D
— Geraldine (@everywhereist) April 26, 2017
@peterbakernyt Noooooooo!
— Valerie Plame Wilson (@ValeriePlame) April 25, 2017
The story got even further reach after liberal site PoliticsUSA ran with it.
Jaws Drop As Trump Admits That He Is Not Reading The Executive Orders He Is Signing via @politicususa https://t.co/t4ud3AMiqv #p2 #ctl
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) April 25, 2017
But Baker's tweet took Trump out of context. Trump actually read off the long title of the executive order at the press conference, and then joked that he wasn't going to read the entire thing out loud.
Baker later deleted the tweet and explained in a tweet seven hours later what Trump actually meant.
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