Fox News Anchor Fumbles With Facts During Segment On 'Fake News'

During a Sunday segment sounding the alarm about the rise of fake news in the mainstream media, Fox News anchor Leland Vittert twice claimed that The Washington Post had fired a reporter over a misleading tweet that sparked the ire of President Donald Trump .

In reality, the Post did no such thing.

Vitterts comments came during an on-air discussion with conservative radio host Jeff Katz about a handful of recent errors in reporting on the Trump administration.

I think its inexcusable, Vittert said after Katz claimed many newsrooms were acting on behalf of the so-called resistance movement with little regard for the facts. You talk about this, and at least for one reporter it turned out to be inexcusable, he doesnt have a job anymore, and thats from The Washington Post.

He apologized, and he now has since left, he said again later in the segment.

Vittert was referring to Post reporter Dave Weigel, who retweeted a widely shared photo of a sparsely filled Florida venue where Trump was scheduled to speak on Friday. Packed to the rafters, Weigel wrote with the image, quoting Trumps own description of the rally.

Trump, who often fixates on the sizes of his crowds at speaking engagements, went after Weigel over the tweet and said the photo showed the venue hours before he arrived though that detail has been the subject of debate . Trump tweeted that the Post should issue an apology and a retraction despite the photo appearing only on Weigels personal Twitter account and called for his firing.

The Post has not done so. It issued a statement standing by Weigels integrity as a reporter, noting that he promptly apologized to Trump and deleted the tweet.

Vittert released an on-air correction and apology for the error after it was brought to his attention.

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Heres @LelandVittert's on-air correction and apology after falsely reporting @daveweigel left the Post. pic.twitter.com/GE2nz0NHVk

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Heres @LelandVittert 's on-air correction and apology after falsely reporting @daveweigel left the Post. pic.twitter.com/GE2nz0NHVk
mo (@myday2say) December 10, 2017

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