Though we sent this on April 16, 2026, we don’t anticipate anyone at the destination email address reading our correction request before April 17, 2026.
As detailed at PolitiFactBias.com, PolitiFact mishandled quotations from a transcript, omitting material that interfered with the fact check’s intended narrative that President Trump did not know whether Sen. Thom Tillis continues serving in the Senate despite his decision not to run for re-election.
Did we mention PolitiFact sent its standard receipt acknowledgment email soon after we sent our correction request?
Dear Truth-O-Meter,
Your April 15, 2026 fact check of President Trump commits a shocking style failure on the transcript serving as the basis of the fact check.
The fact check, while ostensibly offering a version of the linked source transcript, elides key portions of the transcript, leaving the audience without the clear evidence Mr. Trump knew Sen. Thom Tillis would, as senator, have an opportunity to vote on an expected upcoming confirmation hearing. Eliding the former of the two sections should have required an ellipsis under AP Style.
The writer and editors may have experienced confusion because of the rule against starting a quotation with an ellipsis. But that rule applies to a single quotation. The fact check leads readers to falsely believe they are reading a full transcript, which would count in toto as a quotation of your source. So there’s omitted material in the midst of that quotation with no cue to the reader.
And of course it was misleading to make the specific focus of the fact check whether Trump was aware Tillis remained active in the Senate when the context clearly shows he was aware.
Maria Bartiromo: “And you think Kevin Warsh can get confirmed? Do you think Thom Tillis is going to give you a vote?
Donald Trump: “Well, we’re going to have to find out. He might not, but that’s why Thom Tillis is no longer a Senator.
Maria Bartiromo: “OK. On the on the AI thing --”
Donald Trump: “You know Thom Tillis is no longer a Senator, right? He quit.”
Maria Bartiromo: “Well, he’s on his way out.”
Donald Trump “Well, no, he quit, but he quit. And I think he doesn’t want the legacy of stopping a great -- a person who could be great. I think Kevin Warsh is going to be great. He doesn’t want the legacy of having an incompetent guy stay there for longer than is necessary. I know Thom Tillis, he’s a good man, I don’t think he’s going to hurt.”
The first part in bold was elided misleadingly using faulty AP Style.
The second part in bold was elided misleadingly. Together, both quotations would render moot the issue posed at the start of the fact check: “They can’t even agree on whether Tillis is still a senator.”
The evidence says both Tillis and Trump recognize Tillis has announced an intention to relinquish his seat in the Senate. And the evidence says both Tillis and Trump foresee Tillis having a say on the Kevin Warsh nomination.These truths do not dovetail with the narrative promoted by your fact check.
Please correct the false impressions created with the selective reporting of facts, and do observe proper AP style with your handling of the quotation/s.
--
Sincerely,
Bryan W. White
editor
zebrafactcheck.com