Report: Donald Trump never threw a baby out of a rally
Some new developments are unfolding in Donald Trump's babygate controversy.
On Friday, Trump charged the media with being "dishonest" about his handling of a crying baby at an Ashburn, Virginia, rally earlier in the week.
"The press came out with headlines: 'Trump throws baby out of arena.' So dishonest. I mean these are dishonest people," the GOP nominee said at a Green Bay, Wisconsin, event Friday evening, insisting that he had been joking when he said the infant needed to leave. "Everyone's having fun, we're smiling, I'm waving. Everyone's having fun, but they say Trump throws baby [out]. You know how terrible that is? It's such a lie. And they know it's a lie."
That same day, Trump's general election opponent, Hillary Clinton, came out with a mocking video of Trump's own words from that memorable Virginia campaign stop, circulating it on social media:
The truth of the matter, however, remained unresolved -- until now.
The enterprising fact-checkers at the Washington Post tracked down two sources -- an eyewitness to the proceedings and the mother of said baby -- and determined that Trump was, in fact, telling the truth Friday about how he treated the bawling infant.
This is how Daniel Dale, a reporter from the Toronto Star and firsthand witness to the events, described what happened, according to the Post:
The baby was one row in front of me, three or four rows from the stage, at Trump's event at a high school in Ashburn, Va. When it began to cry, Trump said, "Don't worry about that baby, I love babies. I love babies. I hear that baby crying, I like it. I like it. What a baby, what a beautiful baby. Don't worry, don't worry. The mom's running around -- don't worry about it."
People applauded. One minute later, though, the baby began to cry again. This time, the mother quickly decided to take the baby out of the room. Trump, looking in our direction, appeared to notice that she was on her way to the exit.
And then he said, "Actually, I was only kidding. You can get the baby out of here. That's all right. Don't worry. I think she really believed me that I love having a baby crying while I'm speaking?" He cupped his hand over his eyes to watch her leave. "That's OK, people don't understand. That's OK."
Dale noted that "mom and baby, very much not kicked out, came back to their seat a bit later."
The Post confirmed Dale's retelling with an account from the infant's mother, Devan Ebert.
"The media did in fact blow this entire situation out of proportion," Ebert, from Virginia, wrote in an email. "I'm not looking to make it into anything bigger. All I'm hoping is that Trump personally is aware that I am in agreement with him and stand by the fact that I was never kicked out of the rally."
She told the paper that she had left the rally of her own volition because it was the "considerate thing to do for others around, trying to listen or for those presenting."
"It was blatantly obvious he was joking," Ebert said.