Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly is having a difficult time accepting that the conspiracy theories around James Talarico were false, and legitimate journalists can't stop mocking her.
After a week full of conspiracy theories, a right-wing personality posted an audio recording that he claimed was from a woman working for a mental health facility in Ohio that confirmed Talarico had been a patient there. The facility, Lindner Center of Hope, released a statement Sunday afternoon telling journalists that it would never reveal any patient's name because it would violate HIPAA.
By Sunday evening, the Center sent out a statement making it clear that Talarico was never a patient there. Talarico, for his part, reposted the statement saying that he'd never even been to Ohio.
Kelly couldn't understand.
"Could you pls clarify @LindnerCtrHope: 1. Has James Talarico been to your facility at all at any point in the last 9 days? 2. Was the facility operator who said he had been there mistaken? Will you allow her to speak publicly?" she asked on X.
The recording from political commentator Nick Sortor is authentic, but it didn't contain all of the information.
The Bulwark obtained the full six-minute recording, where the woman on the phone makes it clear that Talarico was never there. Sorto didn't put that in his audio edit, meaning he knew that Talarico wasn't at the facility, but broadcast the claim anyway.
"Sortor hadn’t actually made the call. That was Amacher, who had also cut his teeth filming the Portland ICE protests. Amacher had posted call logs that indicated his actual conversation with (allegedly) the person at Lindner lasted roughly six minutes. So, we asked him for the full recording (not the 45-second clip Sortor had posted). And, thankfully, he sent it along."
"It turns out, that the 45-second portion came at the very end of the actual call. What came before was a series of lies Amacher told to trick the apparent Lindner employee into handing over private information. It also included the employee’s repeated denials that anyone named 'James Talarico' was in her system at all," the report said.
Semafor editor-in-chief Ben Smith noted, "What a crazy information environment."
"No wonder she got fired from NBC. Totally conspiracy-pilled," commented political analyst and strategist Neera Tanden.
"What stage of grief is this?" asked ZenithPolls founding partner Adam Carlson.
"You’ve really lost the plot buddy," ex-Republican Sarah Longwell shot back at Kelly.
Huffington Post reporter SV Dáte commented to Kelly, "Trump acts like a complete lunatic every single day, if suddenly we’re that concerned with mental health."
NewsNation's Chris Cuomo got in on the mockery too, "Next target."
Patrick Pfingsten, who writes for The Illinoize and hosts in the afternoon on WMAY News, noted, "'Never' seems as if it would cover the last 9 days."
