Politico justifies ‘dodgy’ Rittenhouse fact check with ‘Orwellian’ verbal gymnastics

Politico had to go through “Orwellian double speak verbal gymnastics” to justify a dodgy fact check on Kyle Rittenhouse’s possession of an AR-15, according to Digital Editor Jack Houghton.

The Kyle Rittenhouse trial in America centres around a 17-year-old who shot two protesters dead and injured a third during civil unrest riots.

Prosecutors had charged Rittenhouse in relation to bringing his AR-15 rifle across state borders before the shooting, but the court had not ruled on the issue.

Fact checker Daniel Funke, while working for Politico, fact checked the claim that it was perfectly legal to carry the particular gun across state borders, and declared the claim false.

This week the judge in the trial, due to the rifle’s length, found it was in fact legal for Rittenhouse to take the rifle across state borders.

Politico subsequently issued a statement on Funke’s fact check which read: “In August 2020, we fact-checked a claim that it was “perfectly legal” for Rittenhouse to possess an AR-15 without parental supervision. Our reporting found that it was far from perfectly legal, and that it was, in fact, legally murky. That’s why we rated the claim False.”

Mr Houghton said it should not be a defence that “because Funke or Politico didn’t understand the law it meant the law was murky”.

“A judge did understand the law and the charge was dismissed on the spot,” he said.

“His words were clear, not murky.”

Видео Politico justifies ‘dodgy’ Rittenhouse fact check with ‘Orwellian’ verbal gymnastics канала Sky News Australia