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Former President Donald Trump's first White House press secretary and contestant on Dancing with the Stars, Sean Spicer, set the precedent for the combative tone all of Trump's four press secretaries would take over the course of his presidency.
Spicer continues to claim the media deliberately covers Trump unfavorably and recently accused CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale of biased coverage of President Joe Biden because Dale tweeted out the President's schedule.
Spicer claimed Dale was working "on behalf of the Biden press shop."
The so called fact checker for @CNN has gone from editorializing on every moment of Trump to announcing the… https://t.co/n79SAowSnt— Sean Spicer (@Sean Spicer) 1618532981.0
There's just one problem: Dale regularly tweeted Trump's daily schedules literally hundreds of times during Trump's tenure in the White House.
Here’s Trump’s public schedule for tomorrow, the last full day of his term. https://t.co/4CaMTp8QPm— Daniel Dale (@Daniel Dale) 1611022970.0
Here’s Trump’s public schedule for tomorrow. (Public schedules don’t include all of a president’s activities.) https://t.co/XIse7Hy336— Daniel Dale (@Daniel Dale) 1605490400.0
Here's Trump's public schedule for today. (Public schedules don't include all of a president's activities.) https://t.co/VOwxPCN9Xi— Daniel Dale (@Daniel Dale) 1599828432.0
Here's Trump's public schedule for today. (Public schedules don't include all of a president's activities.) https://t.co/bxEKaahE7c— Daniel Dale (@Daniel Dale) 1575555413.0
Dale didn't hesitate to point this out.
I posted Trump’s schedule almost every day (except for weekends and my own vacations) starting on January 21, 2018,… https://t.co/zqBaOqCYxO— Daniel Dale (@Daniel Dale) 1618577042.0
And Spicer's rebuttal was somewhat incoherent.
Right. But you did you so-called fact checking then. You have given that up to be a scribe for the WH press office https://t.co/fEqOowJuZa— Sean Spicer (@Sean Spicer) 1618578197.0
Dale gently told him to "take the L."
@seanspicer As the cool young folks say: take the L. All the best, Sean.— Daniel Dale (@Daniel Dale) 1618581047.0
Dale has received widespread criticism from the right for his real-time fact-checks of Trump. When the former President departed the White House, Dale was accused of bias for saying he would expand his fact checking to focus on online disinformation in addition to fact-checking Biden.
Some—like Trump's son, Donald Trump, Jr.—said this was just an excuse for Dale to smear Republicans. Dale responded that, with Trump out of the White House, he'd have more time to fact-check other sources because no politician told more outright lies than Trump—who made over 30 thousand false claims during his four years in office.
Dale wasn't the only one to point out Spicer's disinformation.
If there’s a more dishonest person than Sean Spicer on this planet, I’ve yet to encounter him… https://t.co/jGU4qu4t2K— Parker Molloy (@Parker Molloy) 1618581662.0
You ostensibly work for a news outlet so it might have been a good idea to check and learn that @ddale8 did this fo… https://t.co/MT62u02Zax— Daniel W. Drezner (@Daniel W. Drezner) 1618578999.0
@seanspicer @CNN @WhiteHouse ... @ddale8 literally announced Trump's (empty) schedule all the time and so either yo… https://t.co/NA5O1Bn4Lr— Elie Mystal (@Elie Mystal) 1618582800.0
@seanspicer @CNN @WhiteHouse He literally did this every day for three years when Trump was president. But maybe yo… https://t.co/gIrM7RLhrv— Asha Rangappa (@Asha Rangappa) 1618585920.0
@seanspicer @CNN @WhiteHouse When you attack the fact checker, best to check your facts first. He’s been posting th… https://t.co/TvzRcrXNLu— Helen Kennedy (@Helen Kennedy) 1618577311.0
They also emphasized that Dale has fact-checked Biden as well.
@seanspicer Oh yeah, he’s clearly given up on the whole fact checking thing 🙄🤡 https://t.co/RQT5vumwjs— Scotiabank Scott (@Scotiabank Scott) 1618581794.0
@seanspicer Again, I've seen him post fact checking of Biden as well, maybe he just doesn't lie quite as much.— Sandy Watson (@Sandy Watson) 1618579330.0
It should be telling when the fact checker, who has corrected Biden on numerous occasions when he's misquoted a sta… https://t.co/2A4aOASRiG— Rory Roberge (@Rory Roberge) 1618578063.0
Spicer now works for Newsmax, a far-right disinformation outlet.