PolitiFact cancels Alan Grayson hire after backlash

Fact-checking website PolitiFact on Thursday announced that it had hired former Florida Reps. David Jolly (R) and Alan Grayson (D) as “reader advocates” before hours later nixing Grayson’s hire after fierce backlash.

The two former lawmakers had been set to critique the website’s fact-checks and provide additional insight on political issues as part of a pilot program that will run through the end of April, according to a Thursday PolitiFact post announcing the hires. The post has since been deleted.

{mosads}“David and Alan are both particularly qualified, we think, to critique the work of PolitiFact, because they’ve been subject to our fact-checks as members of Congress,” PolitiFact Executive Director Aaron Sharockman wrote an his initial statement.

The choice of Grayson drew prompt pushback from reporters, who noted his past treatment of the press. PolitiFact announced later that Grayson “did not meet” its “threshold” for improving trust and credibility.

Grayson threatened to have a Politico reporter arrested in 2016 after the journalist approached him to ask about allegations that he had abused his ex-wife.

In another 2016 interview, Grayson accused MSNBC correspondent Joy-Ann Reid of perpetuating lies after she questioned him about a House Ethics Committee investigation into his hedge fund.

Sharockman responded to concerns by saying Grayson was brought on through April “to see how readers like it, and to see if we can all learn something from it.”

is this a joke? Alan Grayson harassed my colleague @IsaacDovere after i wrote a story with @BresPolitico and @MarcACaputo about allegations of domestic abuse. https://t.co/RkipNxtQgB

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) February 1, 2018

hi @PolitiFact. here is a video of @AlanGrayson harassing my colleague @IsaacDovere after we wrote a story about him. https://t.co/qFYAq2WlHR https://t.co/RkipNxtQgB

— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) February 1, 2018

hi Aaron, as a reader, could you ask Congressman Grayson to fact check lying about pushing journalists out of the way while pushing journalists out of the way?

— Edward-Isaac Dovere (@IsaacDovere) February 1, 2018

Alan Grayson was accused of domestic abuse and then menaced a reporter for the outlet that reported it https://t.co/b05Fk50QDEhttps://t.co/CwecbyaYvE

— Alex Burns (@alexburnsNYT) February 1, 2018

A fact-checking outfit hiring Alan Grayson is like a church hiring Charlie Sheen to run their youth group. https://t.co/v1zsoEgk69

— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) February 1, 2018

In response, PolitiFact announced Grayson would no longer be joining the organization.

We sought out a Democrat and Republican to critique our work in order to try to improve the trust and credibility in fact-checking and PolitiFact. It has become clear our choice of Alan Grayson did not meet that threshold to many. pic.twitter.com/uJuoHhiObI

— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) February 1, 2018

Both Jolly and Grayson concluded their time in the House at the beginning of 2017. Grayson ran a failed Senate campaign in 2016, while Jolly lost his reelection bid to former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (D). 

—Updated at 3:25 p.m.