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Did the Washington Times Run a ‘President Gore’ Cover the Day After the 2000 Election?
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The Dispatch Fact Check

Did the Washington Times Run a ‘President Gore’ Cover the Day After the 2000 Election?

No.

Khaya Himmelman
Nov 10, 2020
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Did the Washington Times Run a ‘President Gore’ Cover the Day After the 2000 Election?
factcheck.thedispatch.com

On Sunday, shortly after it was announced that Joe Biden defeated President Trump in the 2020 election, Tim Murtaugh, communications director for Trump’s re-election campaign, tweeted a photo of what appears to be the front page of the Washington Times from November 8, 2000, with the headline “President Gore,” along with a photo of Gore. 

The tweet features a screenshot of the newspaper cover and has since been deleted.

Trump has expressed similar sentiments about what he perceives to be the media’s role in the election. Sunday afternoon, Trump tweeted the following:

Twitter avatar for @realDonaldTrumpDonald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
Since when does the Lamestream Media call who our next president will be? We have all learned a lot in the last two weeks!

November 8th 2020

117,077 Retweets650,674 Likes

The newspaper in Murtaugh’s tweet, however, was fake and the Washington Times never wrote the headline “President Gore” the day after the 2000 presidential election. 

The Washington Times quickly clarified the matter, and tweeted on Sunday:

Twitter avatar for @WashTimesThe Washington Times @WashTimes
@TimMurtaugh @TeamTrump Those photos have been doctored. The Washington Times never ran a "President Gore" headline.

November 8th 2020

4,469 Retweets22,771 Likes

The Washington Times also added that Murtaugh was “officially notified about the error”:

Twitter avatar for @WashTimesThe Washington Times @WashTimes
@TimMurtaugh @TeamTrump We also wish to add that Mr. Murtaugh has been officially notified via email about this error.

November 8th 2020

314 Retweets5,109 Likes

In reality, the front page of the Washington Times from November 8, 2000 showed a photo of President Bush, with an announcement that Bush won the 2000 election after defeating Gore in Florida.

If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at factcheck@thedispatch.com. If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email corrections@thedispatch.com.

This fact check is available at IFCN’s 2020 U.S. Elections FactChat #Chatbot on WhatsApp. Click here for more.

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Did the Washington Times Run a ‘President Gore’ Cover the Day After the 2000 Election?
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Kaitlin Johnson
Nov 11, 2020

How emblematic of the Trump era.

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Jeff Lavallee
Nov 11, 2020

Trump is starting to behave like so many of our former girlfriends. "Don't leave angry...Just leave."

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