Retracted

PolitiFact Iowa Gives Rubio 'Pants on Fire' for a Quote He Didn't Say

PolitiFact Iowa rated Marco Rubio 'Pants on Fire' for saying North Korea had more than 2,000 nuclear warheads.

First reported Nov 13, 2015 · PolitiFact Iowa / Des Moines Register

Screenshot of the original report as published — Screenshot of the report as published: politifact.com. Tap to open the source.

Who it helped: Democrats

The misquote made a Republican presidential candidate look wildly inaccurate.

What was reported

PolitiFact Iowa rated Marco Rubio 'Pants on Fire' for saying North Korea had more than 2,000 nuclear warheads.

What actually happened

Rubio had actually said 'over two-dozen' warheads. After his campaign objected, PolitiFact Iowa rewrote the fact-check, changed the rating to Half True, and added an editor's note acknowledging the misquote.

The proof

PolitiFact Iowa's editor's note concedes it misquoted Rubio.

The receipt. Copy this and paste it anywhere:

PolitiFact Iowa Gives Rubio 'Pants on Fire' for a Quote He Didn't Say — Retracted. PolitiFact Iowa's editor's note concedes it misquoted Rubio. Full file: https://www.thepropagandafiles.com/case/politifact-iowa-rubio-2000-nukes/

Original reporting

PolitiFact Iowa: revised Rubio fact-check carrying the editor's notehttp://www.politifact.com/iowa/statements/2015/nov/14/marco-rubio/rubio-north-korea-has-over-two-dozen-nukes/

Corrections, findings & records

iMediaEthics: PolitiFact Iowa messes up Rubio nuclear warheads fact checkhttps://www.imediaethics.org/politifact-iowa-messes-up-nuclear-warheads-fact-check-marco-rubio-didnt-say-north-korea-had-more-than-2000/

Archived copies

Stories get edited after publication. These open the Internet Archive's earliest saved copy of each original.

Archived copy: PolitiFact Iowa: revised Rubio fact-check carrying the editor's notehttps://web.archive.org/web/2/http://www.politifact.com/iowa/statements/2015/nov/14/marco-rubio/rubio-north-korea-has-over-two-dozen-nukes/