Edward Wong

THE OFFENSE

New York Times reporter Edward Wong sent a request for comment at 2:28am on Easter Sunday and published his story regarding an unreliably sourced draft executive order (without receiving comment) roughly an hour later at 3:30am.

THE TRUTH

The draft executive order had, in NYT’s own words, “…no indications that Mr. Rubio or his top aides have signed off on the document.” In the same article Edward Wong also wrote, “It was not immediately clear who had compiled the document or what stage of internal debates over a restructuring of the State Department it reflected.” Despite being unable to confirm the origin of the alleged draft executive order, or even its legitimacy as an official State Department document, the New York Times published the article without comment from the White House Press Office.

KEY POINTS

• The New York Times posted an unsubstantiated and irresponsibly sourced draft executive order without confirming its legitimacy, or giving the White House proper time to respond to the inquiry.

SOURCES

• The New York Times posted an unsubstantiated an irresponsibly sourced draft executive order without confirming its legitimacy, or giving the White House proper time to respond to the inquiry.
• Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly's Statement