The New York Times acknowledged that former President Trump's scathing attack on Vice President Kamala Harris was “fundamentally true” after fact-checking the paper, saying former President Trump's claims “need context.”
Trump attacked his progressive rival after CNN reported that a 2019 ACLU questionnaire that Harris filled out as a presidential candidate showed she supported taxpayer-funded sex-reassignment surgery for illegal immigrants in custody.
“She wants to give illegal immigrants in prison right now sex reassignment surgery,” Trump said during Tuesday's presidential debate.
Sheryl Gay Stolberg, health reporter for the Times Fact check provided During its live coverage of the debate, the paper decided that Trump's claims “needed context.”
ABC debate moderator angered by Trump's hard fact-checking and soft treatment of Harris
The New York Times has changed its stance on former President Trump's claim that Vice President Kamala Harris supports funding sex-reassignment surgery for illegal immigrants in custody. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
But the context her fact check provided further supported Trump's claim: In addition to citing the ACLU's questionnaire and Harris' responses, Stolberg wrote that “she said she supports using taxpayer funds to provide access to gender-affirming health care for transgender and non-binary people in immigration detention and prisons.”
Stolberg appeared to criticize CNN's coverage, saying it had “drawn harsh criticism from gay and transgender advocates,” before noting that a Harris campaign spokesperson had later tried to distance the vice president from her far-left positions, saying “the survey is not something she proposed or campaigned on.”
Voters gave Harris the win, but she praised Trump on policy, something that rubbed Trump the wrong way.
Rather than accept the truth of the Times' “this needs context” label, conservative critics online mocked it, even though the context was pro-Trump.
Fox News contributor Guy Benson wrote, “The New York Times: 'We need context!' Context: That's literally her position.”
Conservative digital strategist Greg Price similarly posted, “Trump: 'She wants to give sex-reassignment surgery to illegal immigrants in prison'. New York Times: 'This needs context'. Context: 'Oh, she actually supported it.'”
the next day, The report states: The Times article presented highlights from the political showdown and acknowledged that Trump's comments were valid, calling them “basically true but the boldest-sounding offensive statements.”
The Times did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
The New York Times previously ran a fact-check saying Trump's attacks on Harris “need context.” (Reuters/Lucas Jackson)
The drive to deny Trump's attacks on Harris spread across the traditional media, with Time magazine being forced to publish a correction declaring Trump's claims “false.”
“The original version of this story mistakenly falsely reported that Donald Trump accused Kamala Harris of supporting 'sex reassignment surgery for illegal immigrants in prison.' As a 2019 presidential candidate, Harris responded to a survey saying she supported taxpayer-funded sex reassignment treatment for immigrants in detention,” TIME corrected.
Time Magazine corrects claim that Harris funded immigrants' gender transitions as 'false'
New Yorker staff writer Susan Glasser wrote: In a post-debate column“I was also struck by the Vice President's statement that he wanted to give sex reassignment surgery to illegal immigrants in prison. What on earth was he talking about? No one knows, but of course that was exactly what Ms. Harris was advocating.”
Many in the traditional media rushed to argue that Trump's attacks on Harris were false. (Win McNamee)
Click here to get the FOX News app
The Atlantic's Ari Breland also laughed off Trump's claims. write“'Sex reassignment surgery for illegal immigrants in prison' is the phrase that ChatGPT spits out when you type in a right-wing post and ask it to parody it.”
Breland's article initially accused Trump of “falsely” suggesting that Harris wanted to provide sex-reassignment surgery to illegal immigrants. Updated to acknowledge That's what Harris actually told the ACLU.
