Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) railed against The New York Times on Thursday over the newspaper fact-checking President Joe Biden after it published a report on how he made some “misleading” statements about the economy, jobs, and taxes while on the campaign trail.
During an appearance on MSNBC, where she is an analyst, McCaskill shared with the hosts of “Morning Joe” an idea for how the Gray Lady and other news outlets ought to consider Biden’s rival, former President Donald Trump, before verifying or disputing the accuracy of what he says.
“Can I make a suggestion? I move that every newspaper in America quits doing any fact-checks on Joe Biden until they fact-check Donald Trump every morning on the front page. It is ridiculous that The New York Times fact-checked Joe Biden on something,” McCaskill said.
“I mean, he vomits lies, Trump vomits lies. Every day, over and over and over again,” she added. “And it is just ridiculous that The New York Times is doing a fact-check on Biden while they let Trump — while they’re numb to the torrent of lies coming out of Trump’s mouth.”
The New York Times does examine the truthfulness of what Trump is saying, as evidenced by a search of the author page of the same fact-checker who examined Biden’s economic talking points, as do other outlets such as The Washington Post — though perhaps not as regularly and prominently as McCaskill would like.
A.G. Sulzberger, the publisher of The New York Times, recently said the White House is “extremely upset” with unflattering coverage of Biden in regard to concerns about his age and low approval numbers.
In an interview with the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, which was published online on Monday, Sulzberger stressed the need to keep tabs on Biden, as well as Trump, as they both run for a second term.
“We are going to continue to report fully and fairly, not just on Donald Trump but also on President Joe Biden,” Sulzberger said. “He is a historically unpopular incumbent and the oldest man to ever hold this office. We’ve reported on both of those realities extensively, and the White House has been extremely upset about it.”
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