News/Commentary

WaPo ‘fact checker’ goes easy on Biden, media over dubious tale of 10-yr-old rape victim

July 10, 2022 | | Print Article

The Washington Post’s so-called “fact-checker,” Glenn Kessler, is facing scrutiny for mildly chiding President Joe Biden and the establishment press for spreading what appears to be a blatant lie.

The possible lie emerged on July 1st, when The Indianapolis Star ran a piece claiming an abortionist in Indiana, Caitlan Bernard, had received a call from “a child abuse doctor” in Ohio about a pregnant 10-year-old rape victim who needed an abortion but was unable to obtain it because of the state’s laws.

The “child abuse doctor” apparently decided to send the girl Bernard’s way so she could obtain the needed abortion.

Speaking seven days later about the reversal of Roe v. Wade, the president repeated the possible lie.

“Just last week, it was reported that a 10-year-old girl was a rape victim in Ohio — 10 years old — and she was forced to have to travel out of the state, to Indiana, to seek to terminate the [pregnancy] and maybe save her life,” he said from the White House.

The media meanwhile spread the lie far and wide.

There was just one problem: Little about the story added up.

“The only source cited for the anecdote was Bernard. She’s on the record, but there is no indication that the newspaper made other attempts to confirm her account. The story’s lead reporter, Shari Rudavsky, did not respond to a query asking whether additional sourcing was obtained,” Kessler reported Saturday.

Strike one.

“Under Ohio law, a physician, as a mandated reporter under Ohio Revised Code 2151.421, would be required to report any case of known or suspected physical, sexual or emotional abuse or neglect of a child to their local child welfare or law enforcement agency. So Bernard’s colleague would have had to make such a report to law enforcement at the same time he or she contacted Bernard. Presumably, then a criminal case would have been opened,” Kessler continued.

But when pressed by Kessler, Bernard refused to specify the city where the 10-year-old girl was from.

“Thank you for reaching out. I’m sorry, but I don’t have any information to share,” was all she reportedly said.

Strike two.

Kessler then checked with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s office and discovered that they too hadn’t heard about the case.

Devine’s press secretary, Dan Tierney, “said the governor’s office was unaware of any specific case but he said under the state’s decentralized system, records would be held at a local level. Thus, he said, it would be hard to confirm a report without knowing the local jurisdiction to narrow the search.”

But, he added, “The rape of a ten-year-old certainly would be newsworthy.”

Exactly.

Strike three.

And lastly, Kessler checked with local child services agencies in Ohio’s “most populous cities.”

“None of the officials we reached were aware of such a case in their areas,” he reported.

Strike four.

But it gets worse, according to award-winning journalist Megan Fox of PJ Media. Her research led to the discovery that Bernard is a virulent left-wing activist with a history of crying to the media about Trump, about abortion, about everything:

Kessler for his part failed to notice Bernard’s past activism. Still, even the facts he cited were more than enough to justify questioning the validity of her story. And in fairness to him, he did conclude by admitting that the story may not be true.

“This is a very difficult story to check. Bernard is on the record, but obtaining documents or other confirmation is all but impossible without details that would identify the locality where the rape occurred,” he wrote.

“With news reports around the globe and now a presidential imprimatur, however, the story has acquired the status of a ‘fact’ no matter its provenance. If a rapist is ever charged, the fact finally would have more solid grounding.”

The problem is that he offered little to no criticism of both the media and Biden, both of whom have a habit of latching onto any story, no matter how fraudulent, to boost their preferred narratives.

The same thing happened in April when the president began falsely blaming inflation on Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kessler “fact-checked” him at the time, but as noted by Fox News, he refused to assign the president any Pinocchios.

The question remains … why not!?

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Vivek Saxena
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