Kessler’s Departure from the Washington Post and Controversial Tenure
The Washington Post’s fact-checking leader has accepted a buyout, which has sparked a look back at some of his more questionable moments during his lengthy career. Glenn Kessler shared his decision on Facebook after other prominent figures, including Jonathan Capehart and Katherine Rumpel, accepted similar offers.
Kessler noted that their assumption about the Biden administration was that it would be more honest. However, it seems that the mainstream media has faced significant backlash regarding its credibility, especially given its handling of Biden’s apparent mental decline.
“I left on July 31 and took the buyout, capping nearly 15 years as the Fact Checker over 27 years with the Post,” he wrote. “In today’s climate, financial considerations can’t be ignored, especially when it comes to holding politicians accountable.”
After his exit, Kessler mentioned he couldn’t find anyone to take over his role as the editor of the Fact Checker.
In the past, Blaze News has highlighted several instances of what they consider biased fact-checks by Kessler. For instance, in June 2020, he criticized Trump for saying that Democrats led the most crime-ridden cities, even though data showed that many of those cities were indeed run by Democrats. Still, they labeled Trump’s assertion as false.
Another example occurred in October 2020, when Kessler downplayed allegations that Joe Biden had sold political favors for his son Hunter. Later, he quietly updated that article, acknowledging that some of the evidence was indeed verified.
After Trump’s first term, in January 2021, Kessler admitted the media had assumed the Biden administration would be less deceptive, a stance that backfired as the media faced questions about its reliability during this period.
In April 2021, Kessler drew criticism for questioning a South Carolina Republican senator’s story about his own background, which did not sit well with many on the right.
Moreover, in April 2020, he shared a video that criticized the Trump administration’s early response to the pandemic but later conceded that China had hidden important details.
Not all Kessler’s work was dismissed by critics on the right, though. He called out Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in August 2018 for five false claims, to which she responded by condemning the criticism as sexist. In March 2021, he rated Biden’s mischaracterization of Georgia’s voting law as a notable lie. Then in June 2021, Kessler scrutinized Biden’s claims regarding gun rights, asserting that the president’s arguments on gun control were weak.
By September 2021, he took special notice of a claim from Senator Chuck Schumer about Americans seeking to leave Afghanistan before Taliban control, declaring it false. In a more recent instance from February 2023, Kessler defended the Trump administration from leftist accusations regarding its policies and their alleged role in the East Palestine train derailment.
Kessler reported that he had authored or edited over 3,000 articles for the Fact Checker. “My pieces were among the most frequently read on the website,” he remarked, noting that while there were critics from both sides, many readers valued the attempt to clarify truth amidst the political noise.
