Other news, 03/14/2021

• Trump misquoted in reports about Georgia call

Early media accounts of a phone call between former President Donald Trump and a top Georgia investigator contained false quotes, prompting at least one major media outlet to issue a correction.

The Wall Street Journal first published audio last week of the roughly six-minute call on Dec. 23 between Trump and Frances Watson, the chief investigator of the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, in which he urged her to look for fraud in mail-in ballots in Fulton County, where much of Atlanta is located.

Indeed, Trump can be heard telling Watson, who was in the middle of conducting an audit of voting results in Cobb County, that he won the 2020 election and that she would be "praised" when the "right answer comes out." He also insisted "something bad happened." However, the audio shows that early reports in January about that call, based on anonymous sourcing, misquoted Trump. In those reports, Trump was quoted as urging Watson to "find the fraud," and if she did so, the investigator would be a "national hero." 

the Washington Post stuck a long correction note to the top its report:

Correction: Two months after publication of this story, the Georgia secretary of state released an audio recording of President Donald Trump’s December phone call with the state’s top elections investigator. The recording revealed that The Post misquoted Trump’s comments on the call, based on information provided by a source. Trump did not tell the investigator to “find the fraud” or say she would be “a national hero” if she did so. Instead, Trump urged the investigator to scrutinize ballots in Fulton County, Ga., asserting she would find “dishonesty” there. He also told her that she had “the most important job in the country right now.” A story about the recording can be found here. The headline and text of this story have been corrected to remove quotes misattributed to Trump.

— Washington Post

 

• US military halts gender-neutral Army Combat Fitness Test (ACFT) test as female soldiers were failing at a rate of 65%, according to a Pentagon study. Review to make it fair to "both genders" underway. "We must cancel good standards of fitness for our army because it means women fail them."
• Top Biden adviser Richmond suggests White House will move on reparations without Congress. “We have to start breaking down systemic racism," senior White House adviser Cedric Richmond said.
• Fence around the Federal Courthouse in #Portland is going back up after Thursday night’s violent riot outside the building.
• Ted Lieu says a Capitol Police officer was murdered by rioters. However investigators haven’t completed their inquiry and no charges have been filed in the death of Brian Sicknick. Earlier this month, FBI Director Chris Wray said, "I have to be careful at this stage," in talking about the Sicknick investigation, adding: "We’re not at a point where we can disclose or confirm a cause of death.”
• “It should be called the Trump vaccine.” Former Bill Clinton Advisor Dick Morris slams Biden for taking credit for the COVID vaccine: Biden “was like the rooster who took credit for the dawn.”