The Daily Beast, the partisan digital media outlet that recently doxed an African-American working-class Trump supporter for creating a parody video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), is under fire for falsely reporting that President Donald Trump’s sons bailed on their drink tab at a pub in Ireland.
Donald Trump Jr. and younger brother Eric visited Igoe Inn Bar & Restaurant in Doonbeg, Ireland, during their father’s 5-day visit to Western Europe to meet the British royal family and attend the 75th anniversary of D-Day commemorative ceremonies. According to the Irish Mirror, the Trump sons ordered a round of drinks for “ecstatic locals” and even “helped out by pulling the pints.”
In an interview with the Mirror, The pub’s owner, Caroline Kennedy, sang the Trump sons’ praises, describing the pair as both “lovely and down to earth.”
“They’re loving the reception they are getting. When they came into the pub they said they wouldn’t get this welcome in New York,” Kennedy said. “They were so lovely and down to earth and gave a great hello to everyone. I said, ‘Come on lads you have to come in and pull a drink’ so they did.”
When asked who covered the tab, the pub owner replied that she wasn’t certain who paid it, adding that the sons didn’t carry around cash on them.
“We were told it’d be all sorted later so there’s no problem,” Kennedy said.
“We have the world press in our village and we are being zoomed in around the world and you couldn’t buy that publicity,” she beamed.
On Saturday, the Daily Beast published a report entitled, “Eric and Donald Trump Jr. Still Have Not Paid Irish Bar Tab,” in which it claimed that Don and Eric skipped out on the bill. However, the Trump International Golf Links & Hotel, located in the small western village of Ireland, had actually arranged to pay the tab in its entirety.
Following the Daily Beast’s report, the Igoe dispelled it as fake news.
“We have just had the most fantastic week in Doonbeg with the visit of the Trump family. I would like to clarify that The Igoe Inn was paid in full for the round of drinks that Eric & Don bought for our customers. We appreciate their business,” the statement read.
“We Do Not appreciate being misquoted,” it concluded.
On top of the pub’s criticism, Arthur Schwartz, a seasoned Republican operative and spokesman for Don Jr., also called out the Daily Beast in a series of tweets.
“Why does @thedailybeast aggregate and promote lies? This is why no one trusts the media. Holding my breath waiting for an apology from the hacks at The Daily Beast,” wrote Schwartz.
Schwartz wrote in a subsequent tweet directed at the Daily Beast’s editor-in-chief Noah Shachtman: “This tweet was the definition of fake news. Where’s the apology @NoahShachtman? You don’t get to lie, destroy the evidence of your lies & not apologize. You’re not Hillary Clinton.”
After taking a battering on social media, the Daily Beast finally conceded that its initial report was inaccurate, but failed to issue a correction for its reporting:
An item in our Cheat Sheet, quoting a local Irish paper, said that Eric and Donald Jr. Trump had not paid their bill at a local pub. In fact, a nearby Trump golf club did later reimburse the bar. The item has been updated, and we regret the error,” the publication tweeted. The story’s updated headline presently reads: “Golf Course Pays Off Trump Sons’ Irish Bar Bill.
Schwartz, unsatisfied with the Daily Beast’s failure to issue a correction, hit the publication one last time for its handling of the debacle. “You spelled “We apologize to Don & Eric Trump for the piss poor quality of our reporting” wrong,” he replied to the Daily Beast on Twitter.