The Washington Post announced Wednesday they deleted a tweet containing a story that suggested, in its initial headline, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) raid on Mar-a-Lago was politically motivated.
The story’s original headline read “Garland vowed to depoliticize Justice. Then the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago,” according to the Post’s since-deleted tweet. The piece described the FBI’s raid as “highly unusual” and dove into the U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Department of Justice’s (DOJ) alleged political motivations regarding the search.
The Post later edited the story’s headline to: “FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago lands Merrick Garland in a political firestorm.” The outlet deleted the tweet containing the original headline.
“Clarification: A previous tweet of this story had a headline that has changed after publishing. We’ve deleted the tweet,” The Post said.
Clarification: A previous tweet of this story had a headline that has changed after publishing. We’ve deleted the tweet.
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 10, 2022
The initial headline received a wave of backlash from liberal-leaning figures and supporters of the raid.
“This is outrageous. The Washington Post should retract and apologize. Does @washingtonpost have an ombudsman?” former Clinton administration official Claude Taylor said.
This is outrageous. The Washington Post should retract and apologize. Does @washingtonpost have an ombudsman? https://t.co/E9hsNxFP1Y
— Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) August 10, 2022
First off, if a Democrat had stolen boxes and boxes of documents “clearly marked as classified,” it wouldn’t be a goddamn one day story like this was. It’d be talked about every damn day until the next election.
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) August 10, 2022
A Washington Post report on the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago privileges Republican lies against Merrick Garland https://t.co/wqpFAhyI6t pic.twitter.com/uBeVouJwsP
— Media Matters (@mmfa) August 10, 2022
After news of the search broke, I said that in the weeks ahead we would need to employ a careful distinction: between the properly political and the unduly politicized. This headline (now abandoned by the Post) shows you why I said that.
Conflate the two terms at your peril. pic.twitter.com/IJH8Gd8AdG
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) August 10, 2022
I’m still not feeling great and have no voice so I can’t do things like read that dumb Washington Post story while maintaining my path to recovery.
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) August 10, 2022
So much work to make some of these writers not be terrible. Like—I don’t get paid by the @washingtonpost. Why the heck do I have to point out their mistakes? https://t.co/7liSyOQOAt
— Soledad O’Brien (@soledadobrien) August 10, 2022
The Washington Post disgraces itself with this story, and the headline is particularly awful. pic.twitter.com/Tl4yQk7Bci
— Dan Gillmor (@dangillmor) August 10, 2022
Several political figures and members of the media, including some Democrats, have accused the DOJ of pulling a political stunt by raiding former President Donald Trump’s private residence. The raid occurred in connection to 15 boxes reportedly containing classified White House documents that had been moved to Mar-a-Lago. (RELATED: ‘A Very Good Day For Donald Trump’: Alyssa Farah Griffin Says The DOJ May Have ‘Handed’ Trump 2024 After Raid)
“DOJ must immediately explain the reason for its raid & it must be more than a search for inconsequential archives or it will be viewed as a political tactic and undermine any future credible investigation & legitimacy of January 6 investigations,” former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.
CNN legal analysts Andrew McCabe and Paul Callan agreed the search for those documents do “not warrant” a raid, speculating there is likely something more to the case that has not yet been publicly disclosed.
Trump accused the FBI and DOJ of participating in “prosecutorial misconduct” to hurt him politically in a Monday statement announcing the raid.