Polish President Andrzej Duda issued a call to “fight fake news” after multiple outlets reported his wife snubbed President Donald Trump on a handshake. CNN’s editor-at-large Chris Cillizza, CNBC, The New York Daily News, the Huffington Post and other outlets tweeted and reported a deceptively cut video allegedly showing Polish First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda ignoring President Trump when he moved to shake hands with her on Thursday.
OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD https://t.co/Ngdtuuu21q
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) July 6, 2017
Cillizza claimed he knew the three-second clip he tweeted “was a funny video of a misunderstanding,” not real news.
“I know! It was a funny video of a misunderstanding! Nothing more! The same thing has happened to me a billion times!” he tweeted to a Twitter user who called him out for spreading “fake news.”
I know! It was a funny video of a misunderstanding! Nothing more! The same thing has happened to me a billion times! https://t.co/xmA0gK5xYS
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) July 6, 2017
“President Trump just can’t get a proper handshake abroad,” Jason Silverson “reported” at The New York Daily News. The First Lady of Poland appeared to snub Trump for a handshake Thursday after he gave a speech in Warsaw — giving Trump yet another public gaffe during a foreign trip.”
The Huffington Post published a video titled, “Poland’s first lady ignored the hell out of Trump’s handshake.”
“ANOTHER SNUB FOR TRUMP Poland’s First Lady, Agata Kornhauser-Duda, swerved away from Trump to shake Melania’s hand,” tweeted Huffington Post contributor Aaron Vallely.
President Duda took to Twitter to say the “surprising reports” were false.
“Contrary to some surprising reports my wife did shake hands with Mrs. and Mr. Trump @POTUS after a great visit. Let’s FIGHT FAKE NEWS,” Duda tweeted from his English Twitter account.
Contrary to some surprising reports my wife did shake hands with Mrs. and Mr. Trump @POTUS after a great visit. Let’s FIGHT FAKE NEWS.
— Andrzej Duda (@AndrzejDuda) July 6, 2017
A longer version of the video showed that she shook hands with Melania Trump and then turned to President Trump to greet him.
Presidents Trump and Duda, as well as the polish ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, have much in common. They hold a blend of conservative-populist views that are similar on immigration, climate change and the protection of national sovereignty from globalization. It appears they now have one more thing in common: calling out fake news.