When word broke that the U.S. ambassador to Panama quit, one MSNBC producer jumped to connect the dots to President Trump's alleged profanity in a closed-door meeting.
The problem was, Mary Emily O’Hara got out over her skis and was forced to delete an erroneous tweet that blamed Trump's comments for John Feeley resignation. The diplomat had given his notice well before Trump allegedly branded certain impoverished countries "s---holes."
“BREAKING: NBC confirms with the State Department that the U.S. Ambassador to Panama, John Feeley, has resigned because he can no longer feels he can comfortably serve under @realDonaldTrump. Feeley is the first U.S. diplomat to resign over the president’s comments,” O’Hara initially wrote.
It was quickly revealed that Feeley resigned 24 hours before O’Hara’s tweet, well before it was reported that Trump referred to some African nations as “s---hole” countries. Additionally, Feeley’s resignation letter was dated Dec. 27, 2017 – so was clearly thinking about the decision well before Trump’s alleged remark.
O’Hara eventually deleted her tweet and sent a follow-up explaining the situation, but didn’t exactly apologize or retract the misleading first statement.
“I deleted an earlier tweet about Ambassador Feeley’s resignation over concerns the phrasing was misleading,” she wrote.
The initial tweet that suggested Feeley stepped down because of Trump’s rhetoric was retweeted over 2,800 times but the correction hasn’t received as much attention as was only retweeted 58 times at the time this story was published. She sent another tweet explaining Feeley quit before the alleged comment, but didn’t mention her deleted tweet in that message.
In fairness to MSNBC, O’Hara’s Twitter bio states that her tweets do not reflect her employer.
FILE- In this Jan. 9, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with lawmakers on immigration policy in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington. Trump used profane language Thursday, Jan. 11, as he questioned why the U.S. should permit immigrants from certain countries, according to three people briefed on the conversation. The White House did not deny the comment. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) (Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
On Thursday afternoon, the Washington Post reported that Trump made the vulgar reference, prompting CNN and MSNBC to blow up their primetime coverage to examine the comment. Liberal pundits were especially outraged and the president was called racist on more than one occasion.
Meanwhile, Trump both defended his immigration stance while claiming the reports about his meeting with senators were inaccurate in a flurry of tweets Friday morning.
“The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made - a big setback for DACA!” Trump tweeted.
Meanwhile, a variety of politicians have defended Trump saying they don’t recall him using the “s---hole” term, while others have claimed it was an accurate quote.
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