<![CDATA[Lincoln Project Deletes Viral Tweet after Falsely Claiming Trump Supporter Called Obama ‘Monkey’]]> https://usagag.com/2020/08/25/lincoln-project-deletes-viral-tweet-after-falsely-claiming-trump-supporter-called-obama-monkey/ Tue, 25 Aug 2020 04:13:27 +0000 hourly 1 https://usagag.com Lincoln Project Deletes Viral Tweet after Falsely Claiming Trump Supporter Called Obama ‘Monkey’ The anti-Trump Lincoln Project was forced to delete a viral tweet that falsely claimed President Trump “relished” in a convention supporter calling former President Barack Obama a “monkey,” while the video clearly shows the term was not used.

“When President Trump mentioned Obama, someone from the crowd shouted, “Monkey!” and the president relished in it. Disgusting,” the Lincoln Project tweeted, tagging Republican senator Thom Tillis, who is up for reelection.

But footage of the clip in question, during which Trump claims Democrats “are trying to steal the election,” clearly shows an onlooker yelling “Spygate” — a reference to the president’s allegations that the Obama administration spied on his 2016 campaign.

The tweet was apparently stolen — the Lincoln Project has been called out repeatedly for copying content from other users — from a different account, which deleted the tweet after being corrected by journalist Aaron Rupar, who regularly covers Trump’s speeches.

But others immediately jumped on the false claim. “This should be headlined news,” Mehdi Hasan tweeted. Washington Post columnist and MSNBC contributor Jonathan Capehart compared the situation to Trump’s “very fine people” comments in 2017 about the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va.

While other journalists also attempted to correct the narrative, some did not. CBS White House correspondent Paula Reid wondered aloud if “Trump may have heard something different.”

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