USA Today is getting roasted on social media after they issued a “fact-check” on a photograph that shows Joe Biden’s soon-to-be press secretary wearing a fur hat adorned with a Communist hammer and sickle logo.
A photograph taken of Jen Psaki in 2014 resurfaced showing her posing with her then-boss, former Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova during her tenure as a State Department spokesperson.
Psaki is seen wearing a pink shapka, or fur hat, that bears the communist hammer-and-sickle logo as part of a gift exchange between herself and her Russian counterpart Zakharova.
Why in the world would any freedom-loving America wear anything that promoted a murderous Communist regime?
Why are you fat checking this? No one’s making a claim just showing her wearing a commie hat… THATS A FACT!!!
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) December 1, 2020
If the media stopped running cover for Democrats as their primary mission maybe they have some credibility left. https://t.co/DtcKwkAev9
USA Today jumped in and provided cover for Psaki after conservatives raised concerns.
“The claim: A photo shows Jen Psaki wearing a hammer and sickle hat while posing with officials from Russia,” USA Today wrote before reporting that Psaki did not end up keeping the hat according to a source familiar with the gift exchange. “Our ruling: Missing context.”
The “fact check” explained, “The image is real, but claims that the hat was anything more a gift or that Psaki was with Russian officials in any capacity beyond her official role are MISSING CONTEXT.”
Missing context? She’s got a Communist hat on her head. It’s absolutely inexcusable.
“Why are you [fact] checking this? No one’s making a claim just showing her wearing a commie hat… [THAT’S] A FACT!!!” Donald Trump Jr. exclaimed. “If the media stopped running cover for Democrats as their primary mission maybe they have some credibility left.”
“This is not a fact-check. You’re fact-checking a photo saying it ‘needs context.’ That’s honestly Orwellian,” Matt Whitlock of the National Republican Senatorial Committee told USA Today’s fact checker Camille Caldera.
Here’s Jen Psaki hugging Russia's Foreign Minister and Russia’s chief foreign affairs propagandist while wearing a pink hammer and sickle hat pic.twitter.com/WMJytaxd7J
— Matt Wolking (@MattWolking) November 30, 2020