The Hill deleted a false claim Friday that a retired GOP congressman had lashed out at President Donald Trump for touting the steel slat design of his proposed wall on Twitter.
“Retired GOP lawmaker on Trump’s ‘steel slat barrier’ wall: ‘Sit on it, you imbecile,'” read the since-deleted tweet. (RELATED: John Dingell, Longest-Serving Congress Member Of Congress, Announces Retirement)
The Hill tweets wrong party in attack on President Donald Trump. (Screenshot/Twitter)
The 92-year-old retired congressman who made the statement was John Dingell, who is actually a Michigan Democrat who served in the House of Representatives from 1955 to 2015. In response to the president’s tweet that called his proposed wall both “beautiful” and “totally effective,” Dingell was blunt:
Sit on it, you imbecile. https://t.co/R4jOyjxsqv
— John Dingell (@JohnDingell) December 21, 2018
After deleting the original tweet, The Hill posted a replacement, mentioning Dingell by name but omitting party affiliation.
John Dingell rips Trump’s “steel slat barrier” wall: “Sit on it, you imbecile” https://t.co/GEbf6HwOTb pic.twitter.com/C96kN8xKnx
— The Hill (@thehill) December 22, 2018
No mention was made of the deleted tweet.