Ryan Fournier, the co-founder of Students for Trump, found himself swiftly corrected on Friday after he falsely claimed the conservative Washington Examiner had reported something about Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz that they patently had not.
"BREAKING: Washington Examiner is reporting that Walz may drop his VP bid amidst all of the controversy surrounding him," Fournier posted to X. "The Harris Campaign is a s---show."
But Ramsey Touchberry, a reporter for the Examiner, was quick to respond, posting, "No, we aren't."
As of press time, Fournier has deleted his original post and has not provided an explanation for whether he made it up, or confused the Examiner with a different publication.
ALSO READ: Why ‘vanilla’ Tim Walz is the ingredient to beat Trump: Dem lawmakers
It is also unclear what "controversy" Fournier referred to. Walz, a 24-year veteran of the Army National Guard and former teacher who served in Congress prior to being elected governor of Minnesota, has faced attacks from Trump supporters and surrogates, including "Swift Boat" style aspersions on his military record and false claims that a bill he signed into law requires public schools to put menstrual products in boys' restrooms. There is no evidence that Walz has considered dropping out.
Harris and Walz are on a jam-packed tour of battleground states, going on the offensive against former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance.
Fournier has faced extensive controversy in the past. Last year, he was criminally charged for allegedly pistol-whipping a woman believed to be his girlfriend, although those charges were shortly dropped.
A few years prior to that, John Lambert, another leading figure in Students for Trump, was sentenced to 13 months for a scam in which he impersonated a lawyer.
