***A response from the Anti-Defamation League is posted at the bottom. (June 11, 4:25 p.m. ET)
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Towards the end of her show’s first hour on Thursday, WAMU host and NPR affiliate Diane Rehm revisited her ” target=”_blank”>The interview blew up on Twitter and the blogosphere Wednesday afternoon, and Rehm released a statement, admitted her mistake, and said she got the idea of dual citizenship from a Facebook commenter. She then added that she should’ve asked Sanders whether he’s in fact a dual citizen (instead of stating it as fact) and said she’s “glad to play a role in putting this rumor to rest.”
Journalists and commentators blasted and mocked Rehm’s interview and her explanation that she sourced a fantastical internet rumor (one almost certainly created by anti-Semites).
If only Diane Rehm knew that Bernie Sanders once served as the Mossad's Burlington, Vermont, station chief.
— Jeffrey Goldberg (@JeffreyGoldberg) " charset="utf-8">
On the next Diane Rehm Show, does jet fuel burn hot enough to melt steel? Facebook commenters disagree.
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) ” target=”_blank”>wrong to raise the topic at all, whether as a question or a statement of fact.
Thursday on air, Rehm basically repeated her Wednesday statement. You can listen ” target=”_blank”>NJDC statement read. “Sadly, it looks like Ms. Rehm, a widely celebrated journalist, is perpetuating the problem instead of being a part of the solution.”
I requested comment from the ADL, and will post their statement if and when I receive one.
Meanwhile, it seems that Sanders is more or less over it. ” target=”_blank”>figured out precisely how this happened. In short, Rehm was given shoddily sourced prep notes for the show and she, in turn, failed to scrutinize those notes.
CNNMoney said the dual-citizenship question was posted by a fan of Diane Rehm’s Facebook page, which solicited questions from listeners in advance of Rehm’s interview with Bernie Sanders.
The Facebook comment on Rehm’s page that set this all off was, “Senator Sanders — you hold dual Israeli/American citizenship. Why should the president of our country be allowed to maintain full citizenship in another country at the same time?”
Rehm’s producer included the question in Rehm’s prep notes and, according to CNNMoney and Yore, determined that the dual-citizenship issue was legitimate even after doing background research.
“In the Sanders Israeli citizenship case, the producers did not find a specific news article from a trusted news organization confirming that Sanders had dual citizenship, but did find references to dual citizenship held by members of Congress,” Yore told CNNMoney. “The producer also found that dual citizenship was a longstanding issue in American politics.”
According to CNNMoney, Yore added, “The producer also found several articles in mainstream publications suggesting dual citizenship might create a conflict of interest or a perceived conflict of interest and thus was a legitimate issue for voters to consider.”
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An email from the ADL: June 11, 4:25 p.m. ET
“We still think her apology is not quite adequate. It would be helpful to know why she thought it was a relevant question in the first place.”
