Cory Booker clashes with Washington Post over his claim Russians gave Michigan to Trump by suppressing black vote

The Washington Post fact-checker found that while black voter turnout was down in 2016 compared to when Barack Obama was on the ballot, there was not evidence that Russian propaganda or other suppression efforts caused the lower turnout. On the fact-check rating scale, the maximum of four Pinocchios indicates that the falsehood was a “whopper.”

Booker’s campaign team criticized the fact-check. “Give. Me. A. Break,” said Booker campaign manager Addisu Demissie. He pointed out portions of the article that noted Russian efforts to target African American voters.

In the article, Richard Hasen, a University of California political science professor, stated: “There is certainly credibility to the idea that Russians targeted African Americans to suppress their vote … It is also true that Republican legislatures and election officials in some states have passed laws and enacted procedures that appear aimed at making it harder for likely Democrats to vote, and African Americans are the most reliable Democratic voters.

“But I have seen no evidence that the extent of these activities in the state of Michigan were responsible for the depression of turnout in the African American community such that it swung the vote in Michigan to Trump.”

[Also read: CNN panel mocks Booker for ‘Kool-Aid’ zinger]

Booker communications manager Jenna Lowenstein tweeted a sarcastic summary of the fact-check. “In this essay I’m going to outline all the ways Russians and Republicans tried to get African American voters to ‘boycott’ the election and then conclude that didn’t impact an state decided by 10,700 votes out of 4.8M…” she said.