Politico posted a video to Twitter on Monday falsely accusing President Donald Trump of taking a red Trump hat from a boy on line at the White House Easter Egg Roll and then cruelly tossing the hat into the crowd after he signed the hat. The Washington Post reported the same lie in an online article.
Screen images of President Trump tossing hat at White House Easter Egg Roll, image via Twitter.
The Politico video was viewed over 3 million times since being posted at 11:51 a.m. with the caption, “A kid asks Trump to sign his hat at the White House Easter Egg Roll. The president signs … and then tosses the hat into the crowd.”
A kid asks Trump to sign his hat at the White House Easter Egg Roll. The president signs … and then tosses the hat into the crowd. pic.twitter.com/7ExdhpO97H
— POLITICO (@politico) April 17, 2017
The 24-second video does show Trump taking a hat, signing it and then tossing it up in the air to the crowd. What the video doesn’t show is where the hat landed.
Politico went to the effort of captioning the video so viewers could understand that Trump was asked to sign the hat and then a cry of “No!” went out when he tossed the hat.
The video is edited, but a boy can be heard saying, “Will you sign my hat?,” as Trump walks in between green protective ‘snow fencing’. A boy in a pale lavender dress shirt can briefly be seen leaning over the fence and handing his hat to Trump. The video is cut and resumes with Trump signing the red hat. The boy can be heard saying, “Thank you.” Trump then tosses the hat in the air and, “No!” can be heard cried out. Trump then smiles and points with the pen where the boy in the lavender shirt would have been (but is not seen on camera.) Who caught the hat is not seen in the Politico video. Trump then takes a hat handed to him by another kid, signs it then tosses it back.
NBC Nightly News (yes, NBC Nightly News) posted to Politico with their own video informing Politico that from their angle it appeared that Trump tossed the hat back to the boy who had handed him the hat, “Replying to @politico Appears, in another angle, that he threw it back to the teen who handed it to him.”
The 22-second long NBC Nightly News video, which unlike Politico’s video is unedited, shows the boy leaning over the fencing and handing the red hat to Trump using his right hand. After Trump signs and tosses the hat up in the air the boy can be seen reaching up and catching it with his left hand then walking away. He turns and holds the hat high for Trump to see and says, “Thank you.”
The Washington Post also falsely accused Trump, headlining an article, “Trump jokes with Easter Egg Roll attendees, throws ‘Make America Great Again’ hat back into crowd”
…It’s also a chance for the president to interact with regular Americans a little bit. President Trump walked the rope line at Monday’s event, shaking hands, taking photos and signing memorabilia. Perhaps the most entertaining moment of his South Lawn excursion came when signing a red “Make America Great Again” hat proffered by a hand in the crowd.
Trump, using a thick Sharpie, put his signature on the bill of the cap, then looked up and lobbed it back into the crowd, with a smile, nowhere near the hand that had given it to him (presumably leaving the hat’s owner to scramble as Trump looked on and the crowd laughed)…”
The Post later appended an update:
Update: A different angle of the incident appears to show the man who originally handed President Trump the hat later catching it and saying, “Thank you” as people laughed.”
The DC liberal media’s smear of Trump went around the world, (as Mark Twain said, “A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”) with Australian media calling it a “fresh gaffe” for Trump.
Donald Trump has been filmed offering to a sign a young fan’s hat before throwing into a crowd and laughing. #9Newshttps://t.co/jbr1K9k5XP
— 9News Australia (@9NewsAUS) April 17, 2017
Politico got what it wanted, as others picked up the video and smeared Trump as a bully.
https://twitter.com/Millennial_Dems/status/854047695891247104
Buzzfeed of course was quick to pile on.
Trump just tossed some guy's hat into the crowd after signing it for him https://t.co/8ixbNx2I1o pic.twitter.com/JSEbaYoRTm
— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) April 17, 2017
And Dan Pfieiffer, former Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama, picked up the Politico smear with his own snide comment, “This is a metaphor for the entire Trump Presidency to date. The hat can be health care, internet data, trust, whatever.”
This is a metaphor for the entire Trump Presidency to date. The hat can be health care, internet data, trust, whatever. https://t.co/8ARXenSDB9
— Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) April 17, 2017
Just hours before the Politico, WaPo smear, Trump posted about the fake news media to Twitter, saying “The Fake Media (not Real Media) has gotten even worse since the election. Every story is badly slanted. We have to hold them to the truth!”
The Fake Media (not Real Media) has gotten even worse since the election. Every story is badly slanted. We have to hold them to the truth!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2017
President Trump, ahead of the curve as usual.