Michelle Obama's chief speechwriter, Sarah Hurwitz, pointedly stressed the importance of White House fact-checkers in an op-ed for USA Today on Thursday. "The truth is that one of the most important and time-consuming parts of our jobs in the Obama White House, as in all recent administrations, was also the least glamorous: fact-checking," Hurwitz wrote. "The thought of the president or first lady inadvertently saying something untrue to any of these people because we hadn't thoroughly checked it — that was unbearable to us, and it would have been unacceptable to them."
The op-ed does not reference President Donald Trump by name, although the accusation can be read between the lines. Trump was heavily criticized for asserting in a speech Saturday that his inauguration crowd "went all the way back to the Washington Monument," despite photographic evidence proving such a statement untrue. Trump and his staff have also claimed that "millions" of people voted illegally in the 2016 U.S. election, although they have not provided evidence to back up such claims.
"While our fact-checkers occasionally drove us crazy, we were incredibly grateful for their work," Hurwitz wrote. "It is an awesome — and terrifying — responsibility to write speeches for the leader of the free world and his or her spouse. Their words can affect markets and cause international incidents. And through their speeches, the president and first lady speak directly to the American people about their most pressing and personal concerns." Read more about the White House speechwriters and fact-checkers at USA Today.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deploymentSpeed Read The Trump administration has ‘infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself,’ the judge ruled
-
Trump accuses Democrats of sedition meriting ‘death’Speed Read The president called for Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for urging the military to refuse illegal orders
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
-
Judge blasts ‘profound’ errors in Comey caseSpeed Read ‘Government misconduct’ may necessitate dismissing the charges against the former FBI director altogether
-
Ecuador rejects push to allow US military basesSpeed Read Voters rejected a repeal of a constitutional ban on US and other foreign military bases in the country
