So, I’m told Pruitt’s spokesperson Jahan Wilcox was the one who “provided” @FreeBeacon the “internal EPA documents” showing Obama’s EPA heads spent more than Pruitt on international travel (which is disingenuous, as I explain here: https://t.co/XgT33xuRGe) pic.twitter.com/cZleo2A4R0

— Emily Atkin (@emorwee) March 29, 2018

EPA’s Wilcox shopped these documents around to multiple reporters. @FreeBeacon were the only ones to take the bait. They published uncritically with a quote Wilcox provided along with the documents. pic.twitter.com/4kigEIr5ZC

— Emily Atkin (@emorwee) March 29, 2018

The next day, a conservative news outlet with a much wider reach—@FoxNews News—aggregated the story EPA’s political operative gave to @FreeBeacon, also without a critical eye. https://t.co/HxaSpyQ40m

— Emily Atkin (@emorwee) March 29, 2018

Then, Scott Pruitt went on multiple conservative radio stations, and used the story he created to defend himself against questions about his travel expenses. https://t.co/XgT33xuRGe

— Emily Atkin (@emorwee) March 29, 2018

To recap:

Pruitt concocted a false story that Obama’s EPA heads spent more than him on travel.

His team shopped the false story to journalists.

Journalists republished the false story.

Pruitt used the false story to defend himself.

https://t.co/XgT33xuRGe

— Emily Atkin (@emorwee) March 29, 2018

I want to be shocked but…this is almost how it goes in political media as standard operating practice: GOPer/conservative makes claim, gets taken at face value with no verification and gets repeated verbatim even after he’s been debunked.

Liberal makes verifiable claim, gets treated like a liar from the start and has to give proof in triplicate just to upgrade his claim to ‘both sides same thing’ in the media.