Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson cooked up a claim about US President Joe Biden facing “questions” about his age this weekend only to leave out one important piece of information: He’s the one who asked that question.
Tomlinson, in a post to X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, wrote that Biden was “asked by a reporter” in Nantucket if he was “too old” to run for re-election.
“That’s stupid,” replied Biden, whose age has sparked discussion as he holds the status of the oldest president to hold office in US history.
Notably, Tomlinson’s voice is heard in a clip aired by Fox News just prior to the X post.
White House officials clowned Tomlinson for leaving out that detail.
″.@LucasFoxNews, are you able to speculate on whose voice that is shouting? It sounds familiar to me but I’m having difficulty placing it., wrote White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates.
“Lol that reporter was… you,” wrote White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Olivia Dalton.
Tomlinson – along with other network figures – also acknowledged that he asked Biden the question prior to Sunday morning, as well, Mediaite noted.
Critics on social media later weighed in on the reporter’s bizarre omission.
″The epitome of astroturfing a political attack,” wrote Aaron Rupar on Sunday.
Keith Olbermann also declared that the report was the first story Fox News made up in “NEARLY FOUR DAYS” in an apparent nod to the network retracting its “terrorist attack” report on a car explosion in Niagara Falls, New York.
″@LucasFoxNews is quoting himself here. He also reported ‘Biden was being questioned about his age’ when he was the only one who asked Lucas is not a professional and not honest. Let’s run him out of the industry,” Olbermann wrote.
HuffPost has reached out to Fox News for comment on the Tomlinson report.