On Thursday, Eric Michael Garcia of the Independent published an article alleging that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis met with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas the day before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade.
As others pointed out, the story was meant to question Justice Thomas’s integrity, implying that he consulted a conservative politician shortly before the Supreme Court rendered its decision on Roe.
However, DeSantis’ Deputy Press Secretary, Jeremy Redfern, was one of the first to notice a significant problem with the story.
The luncheon where DeSantis and Thomas met that Garcia referenced happened over a year ago.
Hey @EricMGarcia from the @Independent,
Is June 23th, 2021 a day before June 24th, 2022? pic.twitter.com/VuvwsljSSD
— Jeremy Redfern (@JeremyRedfernFL) October 28, 2022
DeSantis Rapid Response Director Christina Pushaw pointed out that even if the story was true, the allegation behind the story still had circumstantial evidence at best and was unlikely to be true.
She called it “Patently absurd to anyone who has followed Governor DeSantis or Clarence Thomas for any amount of time.”
And the implication is that Governor DeSantis, of all people, would try to pressure Clarence Thomas to change the outcome of a SCOTUS decision. Which is patently absurd to anyone who has followed Governor DeSantis or Clarence Thomas for any amount of time.
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) October 28, 2022
In a show of humility, Garcia was quick to apologize for the mistake, repeating multiple times that the mistake was his fault and that he was very sorry.
Oh my God!!! I am so sorry. This is so my fault. I am so sorry
— Eric Michael Garcia (@EricMGarcia) October 28, 2022
In a subsequent Tweet, he clarified that he was “not trying to mislead” readers and said that he was “legitimately embarrassed” before adding that he should have checked the dates before publishing the article.
I am legitimately so sorry. I was not trying to mislead. I am legitimately embarrassed and humiliated. I never wanted to do anything malicious. I am so apologetic. I should have double-checked the dates. https://t.co/bDoYdUYGtF
— Eric Michael Garcia (@EricMGarcia) October 28, 2022
Garcia took it a step further and told prominent liberal social media accounts, such as Occupy Democrats, to take down Tweets sharing his story.
In a dig at the liberal media giant, he even went so far as to call them “the biggest purveyors of misinformation”
Hey, Occupy Democrats. I think y'all are the biggest purveyors of misinformation already. But I retracted the story. Take this down. Now. https://t.co/4bWa2oRTzR
— Eric Michael Garcia (@EricMGarcia) October 28, 2022
Occupy Democrats have not taken down their Tweet at the time of the publication of this article, but a fact check was appended to their Tweet clarifying that the meeting between Thomas and DeSantis happened in 2021, not the day before Roe v Wade was repealed.
BREAKING: Justice Clarence Thomas is EXPOSED as leaked emails reveal that he had a shady meeting with MAGA Gov. Ron DeSantis the day before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade — raising serious questions about what was discussed. RT TO DEMAND A FULL INVESTIGATION!
— Occupy Democrats (@OccupyDemocrats) October 27, 2022
Other prominent liberal accounts echoed the claims made by Garcia.
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‘Call to Activism,’ an account with over 860,000 followers, has left their tweet up that has over 30,000 likes.
The replies include angry comments demanding that Clarence Thomas resign from the Supreme Court and that he and DeSantis are investigated.
BREAKING: Clarence Thomas had lunch with Ron DeSantis one day before abortion rights was struck down according to newly obtained emails.
Who agrees Clarence Thomas should be IMPEACHED!
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) October 27, 2022
For his part, Garcia said that the story was “in the process of being retracted” on Friday morning after issuing another apology.
The story is in the process of being retracted. I am just embarrassed as hell. Words cannot describe how mortified I am. I try to be honest in my work. I don't try to do gotcha journalism. I always hated that. I can never apologize enough.
— Eric Michael Garcia (@EricMGarcia) October 28, 2022
The story seems to have been deleted from the Independent as it did not appear on Garcia’s author page on the website this morning.
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