MSNBC journalist Eric Michael Garcia discovered he was in a world of trouble on Friday when it turned out a story he thought was a major scoop turned out to be nothing of the sort.
When he discovered a major scoop alleging a Supreme Court conspiracy was actually simply him reading dates erroneously, Garcia attempted to plead forgiveness on social media.
Garcia’s story, first published in The Independent, claimed that DeSantis met with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas the day before Roe v. Wade was overturned on June 24, 2022.
The only problem with Garcia’s claim was that the conference took place in 2021, not 2022.
The narrative featured excerpts from emails sent by Thomas’ team detailing his conversation with DeSantis on June 23, 2021, one year before the Supreme Court reversed the landmark ruling of Roe vs. Wade.
Jeremy Redfern, the governor’s deputy press secretary, pointed out the inaccuracy in the piece on Twitter on Friday.
Garcia replied, saying he is “legitimately embarrassed and humiliated” by his fake story.
According to Christina Pushaw, the DeSantis campaign’s Rapid Response Director, the narrative intended to infer that the governor coerced Thomas into overturning Roe v. Wade.
We are taking the article down. I cannot apologize enough. I should have double-checked triple-checked dates.
— Eric Michael Garcia (@EricMGarcia) October 28, 2022
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
Politico said that the emails disclosed in the piece previously indicated the governor’s interaction with Thomas.
Ginni Thomas, Thomas’ wife, is said to have coordinated with the DeSantis administration to have the governor speak to coalition groups.
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