Seattle Times blasted for saying Trump 'falsely' claimed BLM protestors took over big part of the city in 2020
Social media users ripped The Seattle Times this week for stating that former President Trump "falsely claimed" during the debate that Black Lives Matter/Antifa protesters took over a "big portion" of Seattle during riots in 2020.
In a piece published the morning after his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, the outlet called out Trump for allegedly getting the size of the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) wrong. Trump stated during the debate that the protest that wrested control of city blocks from local authorities in Seattle was "big," while the outlet corrected him saying it was only "six city blocks" and "fluctuated."
X accounts slammed the outlet for the pettiness of its fact-check. The Post Millennial reporter Katie Daviscourt remarked, "I can't believe this is actually a published article in The Seattle Times. Shame on them."
During the debate, Trump brought up the CHOP to point out the alleged hypocrisy of his opponents who have blamed him for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot but supported the riots that previous summer.
"When are the people that burned down Minneapolis going to be prosecuted or in Seattle? They went into Seattle, they took over a big percentage of the city of Seattle. When are those people going to be prosecuted?" he asked, elsewhere noting that Harris raised bail funds for those arrested during the BLM riots that summer.
The CHOP zone was occupied by protesters from "approximately June 10 to July 1, 2020" the Times reported. In that space, multiple shootings occurred, one resulting in the murder of teenager Antonio Mays Jr.
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The outlet disputed Trump’s description of the CHOP area’s size, writing, "Former President Donald Trump referenced Seattle’s Capitol Hill Organized Protest during the presidential debate Tuesday night, falsely claiming protesters took over a big portion of the city."
"The zone’s size fluctuated, but it essentially occupied about six city blocks surrounding the Seattle Police Department East Precinct building and Cal Anderson Park, extending east to 12th Avenue, west to Broadway, south to East Pine Street and north to East Denny Way."
SEATTLE POLICE RETAKE PRECINCT IN CHOP, ARREST MULTIPLE PROTESTERS FOLLOWING DURKAN ORDERS
Other social media users tore into the article.
Conservative account Gunter Eagleman remarked, "Wow, you still haven’t deleted this. Says everything."
Former model and Trump supporter Adrianne Curry blasted the outlet, posting, "are you F---ING KIDDING ME? you should be ashamed to even leave your homes, you communist propagandists."
Journalist Andy Ngo replied to the piece, stating, "This is disgusting gaslighting from @vonnaiphair and her editors at Seattle Times. I was there on the ground undercover. As their own reporting at the time stated, SIX city streets in a densely occupied business and residential area were taken over by armed force. The extremists belonged to BLM-Antifa groups."
He added, "People were killed in the chaos and anarchy that lasted for weeks. Black teens were called white supremacists and shot up."
The Seattle Times did not immediately reply to Fox News Digital's request for comment.