Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) refused to apologize for tweet since deleted described the story of a 10-year-old Ohio rape victim as a “lie”, claiming on Thursday he was merely “responding to a headline” and taking down the post after the accused accused of rape.
Republicans and right-wing experts have backtracking and pivoting after Gerson Fuentes 27 years old was arranged in court on Wednesday charged with raping a person under the age of 13. Court records reveal that the alleged rape of the 10-year-old girl took place on May 12, the girl’s pregnancy was then transferred to local childcare facilities on June 22. , and eight days later, she had a medical abortion in neighboring Indiana.
The story of the rape and abortion of an unidentified child quickly became the focus of the abortion rights debate after Indianapolis star report on her situation on July 1st. While right-wing media—And some mainstream journalists — doubt the veracity of the report because it has only a single source, Star of The source was an obstetrician-gynecologist in Indiana who spoke to a child abuse doctor in Ohio who examined the girl. (Patient was six weeks and three days pregnant, shortly after Ohio’s trigger law banned abortions six weeks later Roe v. Wade’s reverse.)
Share the story of July 12 from Judge Washington about Ohio Attorney General David Yost claiming his office had not seen any evidence of the 10-year-old rape victim, Jordan tweeted: “Another lie. Is anyone surprised? “
However, when Fuentes’ arrest was reported on Wednesday, the Ohio congressman quietly deleted the tweet without any explanation. (Yost, for my part, release a statement admitted the arrest. He didn’t apologize for his bombastic comments that fuel the right-wing outrage cycle).
CNN reporter Manu Raju finally got Jordan to break his silence about his erroneous tweet on Thursday. MAGA’s attorney did not offer any regrets. Instead, in defiance of other conservatives, he revolved around discussing Fuentes’ status as an undocumented immigrant.
“Why did you delete the tweet?” Raj asked.
“Well, because we know that this is an illegal alien who committed this heinous crime,” Jordan replied. “So we deleted the tweet.”
The CNN reporter then asked if Jordan had apologized to the girl or her family for “assume it was a lie”, prompting the congressman to resort to some cookie logic.
“I never doubted the child,” he declared. “I responded to a headline from your profession, the news profession, which always happens on Twitter. I was suspicious of Joe Biden, which is usually a smart thing to do.”
While announcing his executive order last week to protect access to reproductive health care, the president referenced the Star report, reminding washington articles to publish a fact check question the story. That article, was updated, soon after that The Wall Street Journal Editorial board labeled the rape a “fantasy story,” and multiple Fox News segments called the story “fake” and “incorrect. “
