WashPost’s Kessler Touts ‘Most Popular’ Fact Checks of 2020; Only One for Biden!

Washington Post Glenn Kessler, a fact-checker, displayed his top 10 most popular articles for the year today on CNN. Surprisingly, the president who makes frequent gaffes only earned one place on this list. The surprising result surprised even the journalist, who famously dumped a falsehood database to support President Biden. 

Continue reading Neue Day, guest host John Avlon welcomed Kessler for this “thankless job,” before discussing the most popular fact check of the year with Post readers, “debunking the claim that the Taliban had seized $85 billion” dollars of U.S. weapons.”

Avlon scoffed at this “partisan stat” from the right. Kessler We tried to minimize the reality that millions of dollars worth of weapons were still in Afghanistan following President Biden’s catastrophic evacuation.

So that is the $85 billion figure. Technically, it was actually 83. It refers to all funds that were appropriated for Afghan security forces. It was only 75 billion that got to Afghanistan. And then, less than 30 percent of the money went towards weapons. So you can see already way lower than $85 billion, you’re in the $20 billion dollar range, and a lot of those weapons, that’s a figure over 20, 25 — 20–20 years, so uh, the actual number of weapons that were abandoned, most of which before the army left they disabled is much, much smaller. 

And this was supposed to make Biden’s Afghanistan debacle look better? 

Kessler also fact checked Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert over an exaggerated personal story about why she open carries and dunked on Republican Congressman Jim Jordan for saying Nancy Pelosi denied a request for National Guard presence prior to January 6 by the Capitol Police when he could find no evidence to support this. This is the Post likes to go after Republicans’ tall tales but avoids Democrats’ fake stories like the plague. 

That is why, President Biden who has a history of lying, gaffes and deceit, was only able to secure one spot in the top 10.

AVLON: For sure. And I want to go– to point out it is not just Republicans telling tall tales all the time. Biden falsely claimed that Georgia’s new voting restrictions had ended early voting hours. It wasn’t true. 

KESSLER: No. While there are many issues people could raise regarding certain aspects of the law, the president continued to insist that the bill would reduce voting hours. However, it actually increased voting opportunities for large areas of Georgia. It didn’t change the voting hours for election day. He repeated this three times and it was not something we were able to understand.

Hmm, maybe because Biden kept hearing this lie on CNN?

Kessler faked shock that his Biden fact-checks didn’t appeal to the Post’s far left readers. “Interestingly, we fact checked Joe Biden more than any other politician or person this past year, but fact checks about Biden don’t initially get the eyeballs you would expect,”He simply shrugged. Avlon seemed unbothered by it as well, quipping, “Well, maybe a volume issue as well.” But in 2019, CNN was enthralled by Kessler giving President Trump tens of thousands of fact checks.

While Biden got one fact check from Kessler, the journalist actually defended Biden twice in this top ten list: on the Afghanistan pullout, and a “viral” tweet that was only up for a few hours misquoting Biden. He continues to follow his partisan trend. 

Fact checking was done on the Wuhan laboratory leak theory being the source of COVID-19. Kessler didn’t blame CNN, his paper, or CNN. The New York TimesThis theory was dismissed by Ted Cruz and Senator Tom Cotton as fringe conspiracies.

CNN’s segment skipped Kessler’s defense of Anthony Fauci from critics over the NIH funding for Wuhan gain-of function research.

CNN and Washington Post’s slanted fact-checking was sponsored by Whole Foods. Contact them via the Conservatives Fight Back link.

You can read the transcript here:

CNN Neue Day

12/28/2021

JOHN ALON: Fact check can be difficult. However, someone must do it. The political landscape in 2021 has provided a seemingly endless supply of work for journalists like the Washington Post’s Glen Kessler, who’s tasked with setting the record straight and doling out the Pinocchios. To discuss some of the most popular facts checks from the last year, he joins us. Glen, it’s great to meet you. 

WASHINGTON Post Fact-Checker, GLENN KESSLER : We are glad to be here. 

AVLON : Let’s begin with the number one article, which was the most read this year. It debunked the claims that the Taliban had stolen $85 billions (billions with a B) of U.S. weaponry. Let’s go through this one. 

KESSLER, Right. So that was $85 billion. Technically, it was 83. This number represented all the money that was appropriated for Afghan security forces. Only 75 billion went to Afghanistan, and less than 30% was used for weapons. So you can see already way lower than $85 billion, you’re in the $20 billion dollar range, and a lot of those weapons, that’s a figure over 20, 25 — 20–20 years, so uh, the actual number of weapons that were abandoned, most of which before the army left they disabled is much, much smaller. 

It is important to note that this fact can disrupt the party stat. 

The lab leak theory about the origins and spread of coronavirus was another popular topic. Although there was initial resistance, evidence soon started to appear that prompted some serious investigations. This is certainly not a conspiracy theory. Let’s go through this. 

KESSLER: Right. What I did was to create a timeline which led the reader through the important events, the articles of scientists, and expert opinion. This led them to believe that the laboratory leak theory could be true. However, there have been questions about how that lab was run and what tests were being done in it that support that belief. The fact check allowed readers to see how scientific consensus has changed in the intervening years. 

AVLON – While the absence of transparency from China and lack of cooperation does not help, it raises additional questions. Fact check also number 3 the story about Lauren Boebert (Republican from Colorado) regarding her political roots. She claimed that she allowed her staff to have guns because a man had been killed in her restaurant. Glen, is that the truth? 

KESSLER: Right, yeah. KESSLER: Yes. I got coroner’s and police reports. But what really happened? A man was involved in a suspected drug deal at her restaurant. He then collapsed and ran away. This had nothing whatsoever to do with murder. According to her, it was a fight. She described the fight as taking place at a distance from her restaurant. It was quickly determined that it had been caused by a drug overdose within one day. It was an easy story for her to tell, and it helped her understand why she became a politician. But it wasn’t the whole truth. 

AVLON: For sure. And I want to go– to point out it is not just Republicans telling tall tales all the time. Biden falsely claimed that Georgia’s new voting restrictions had ended early voting hours. It wasn’t true. 

KESSLER: No. While there are many issues people could raise regarding certain aspects of the law, the president continued to insist that the bill would reduce voting hours. However, it actually increased voting opportunities for large areas of Georgia. It didn’t change the voting hours for election day. We could not understand why he repeated it three times. We fact-checked Joe Biden the most than any politician or individual this year. However, Biden fact checks don’t always get as many eyes. 

AVLON Quick, let me get to five. It is January 6. Jim Jordan claimed that Nancy Pelosi had denied the request to the National Guard for additional reinforcements of the Capitol Police. What’s the truth about that?

KESSLER: There is absolutely no proof to back that. These are just a few examples of Republicans trying to shift blame and reframe January 6. Pelosi would be a person they blame. This was Jim Jordan’s tweet. We looked into the matter and found that there has been a lot of testimony. There is no supporting evidence. 

AVLON. Thank you Glenn Kessler, for everything you did to wrap up 2021. Here’s to 2022, I know there’ll be more fact-checks ahead.

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