Gold Star Family members are now being smeared by ‘fact checkers’ who find their account of President Joe Biden checking his watch multiple times during the dignified transfer ceremony on Sunday to be inconvenient to the party’s agenda. Several Gold Star family members have come forward publicly with their testimonials about Biden’s ‘disrespect’ during the solemn affair, which undoubtedly has Democrat-friendly publications scrambling to do damage control on the president’s behalf as his poll numbers continue to slide.
On Wednesday, the USA Today published a misleading ‘fact check‘ on the event, written by Daniel Funke. The ‘fact checker’ says that he is an alum of Politifact and Poynter, while asking people to send him tips on ‘hoaxes.’ Unfortunately, Funke is involved in spreading a few hoaxes himself.
The fact checker finished off his ‘fact check’ commentary on Twitter by insinuating that the Gold Star families were lying.
However, Funke wound up being fact-checked on his own fact-check after a number of commentators put the publication on blast. At the very top of his story is a very embarrassing ‘correction.’
“Corrections & Clarifications: This story was updated Sept. 2 to note that Biden checked his watch multiple times at the dignified transfer event, including during the ceremony itself. The rating on this claim has been changed from partly false to missing context.”
That is the new takeaway of the story. However, it is not ‘missing context.’ The ‘clarification’ takes away the entire rationale for even doing the ‘fact check.’ The story tself reads more like public relations for the Biden administration than a sincere attempt to get at the truth, regardless.
“The full video of the dignified transfer ceremony shows Biden honored each of the fallen U.S. service members,” the story says. But it is at odds with Gold Star Family members’ accounts.
Two of the Gold Star Family members, Mark Schmitz and Darin Hoover, appeared on “Hannity” and gave their view of how the president handled the ceremony.
“In reference to the checking of his watch, that didn’t happen just once,” Hoover remarked. “It happened on every single one that came out of that airplane. It happened on every single one of them. They would release the salute, and he would look down at his watch on every last one. All 13, he looked down at his watch.”
“Mark, do you want to comment on the watch incident? Did you notice the same thing?” Hannity asked.
“Yes, I did. I leaned into my son’s mother’s ear in I said ‘I swear to god if he checks his watch one more time’ and that was probably only four times in, I couldn’t look at him anymore after that,” Schmitz said. “Considering the time and why we were there, I found it to be the most disrespectful thing I’d ever seen.”
Shana Chappell, mother of slain Marine Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikou, vouched for the account, while putting the number of times she personally saw Biden check his watch at five times.
“[By the way] as my son and the rest of our fallen Heros were being taken off the plane yesterday I watched you disrespect us all 5 different times by checking your watch!” she said. “What the f*** was so important that you had to keep looking at our watch?”
Meanwhile, other ‘fact checkers,’ such as Snopes, are trying to cast doubt on the Gold Star Family members’ accounts by saying they cannot find evidence that President Biden literally looked at his watch thirteen times.
USA Today in particular, however, came under heavy fire for the erroneous ‘fact check,’ which led to the ‘clarification.’
Fact Checked this for you @USATODAY pic.twitter.com/NotdEuPR2e
— PatrioticBabe (@PatrioticBabe_) September 3, 2021
I asked the @USATODAY fact checker if he plans to apologize to the Gold Star families he falsely accused of lying.
If you know a veteran’s group, make sure they politely contact USA Today to ask why they smear Gold Star families. pic.twitter.com/xKMLZwomNL
— Cernovich (@Cernovich) September 3, 2021
In the last 72 hours Joe Biden has told *dozens* of verifiable — I meant truly egregious — LIES.
Demonstrable Mistruths.
Yet @USATODAY & @dpfunke
decided to turn all guns on the GOLD STAR families?Why? Because the truth was HURTING Joe Biden
Where have I seen this before?
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) September 3, 2021
Nobody wants a Commander-in-Chief that sucks. So, nobody would make up a lie about Biden's misconduct reported by Gold Star Families.
By claiming they are liars, you are adding disgrace to an already disgraceful story. Shame on you @USATODAY. I hope they sue you for defamation.
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) September 3, 2021
There was surely a good reason for the ‘fact check’ being corrected. And it’s not because these Democratic Party water carriers suddenly care about the truth. There were likely going to be serious consequences if they didn’t confess that their implied smear of Gold Star Families was based on a lie.
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Jen Psaki Has a Mortified Reaction When Asked About Biden Watch-Checking at Fallen Soldiers Ceremony
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OPINION: This article contains commentary which reflects the author's opinion.