Fake News: Media Fabricates Acosta Quote, Nancy Pelosi's Daughter Eats It up

The daughter of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California was caught spreading fake news Wednesday in the form of a fabricated quote from Trump administration Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta.

Acosta, who has been under fire for his handling of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s case while he was a federal prosecutor in Florida, defended himself at a news conference Wednesday.

Acosta has been accused of giving Epstein, who was arrested on sex trafficking charges last week, a “sweetheart” deal by allowing him to plead guilty to lesser crimes in exchange for a lenient sentence.

“Mr Epstein was a very wealthy and important person, his friends even more so, and these girls – much as we sympathized with them – just weren’t either of those things,” Christine Pelosi wrote in a since-deleted tweet that purported to quote Acosta.

@sfpelosi / Twitter screen shot

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But Acosta said no such thing.

The fake quote appeared to have come from a tweet by The Atlantic’s David Frum, who acknowledged that the “sardonic comment should not have been phrased in a way that looked like a quotation.”

sorry – that sardonic comment should not have been phrased in a way that looked like a quotation, deleted.

— David Frum (@davidfrum) July 10, 2019

While Frum deleted his original tweet, other pundits appeared to confirm what the source of confusion was:

David Frum first tweeted the “quote” as a sarcastic paraphrasing of Acosta. Frum deleted later when he realized people were taking it seriously. Pelosi here just cribbed a since-deleted tweet and didn’t even offer attribution.

— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) July 10, 2019

It was from a since-deleted @davidfrum tweet parodying Acosta. Seems she just cut/pasted it.

— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) July 10, 2019

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Pelosi wasn’t the only one who fell for the fake news.

The Twitter page for the U.K. Independent also posted the fabricated quote.

@Independent / Twitter screen shot

Despite some users pointing out the quote was fake, plenty of others tweeted it out as if it were fact.

how do you defend an action that the FBI has proven to be a mistake?

You say this?

“Mr Epstein was a very wealthy and important person … and these girls – much as we sympathised with them – just weren’t either of those things”.

— Real Truth Stings (@RealStings) July 10, 2019

iRT sfpelosi: #Acosta straight up admitting his double standard of justice

“Mr Epstein was a very wealthy and important person, his frien…

— Chan (@cghnyeol) July 10, 2019

Pelosi’s tweet, before it was deleted, garnered more than 1,000 retweets.

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