A GOP operative who helped spread a false rumor about Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is now admitting the story was false—and offering a bizarre defense of it.
Earlier this month, Talarico came down with the flu and took nine days off the campaign trail to recover.
During that period, Rhein Amacher and fellow right-wing activist Nick Sorter spread a rumor that Talarico had flown to the Lindner Center of Hope in Cincinnati, Ohio, to be treated for a mental health episode he suffered.
Although Amacher claimed a call to the center confirmed Talarico had been there, the story fell apart after it was shown that Talarico appeared on stage in Texas with country star Kacey Musgraves the same day he was allegedly discharged from the center.
Amacher tried to defend his actions in a lengthy social media post early Thursday morning, saying that “this entire situation has been blown completely out of proportion.”
He then stated the “facts” as he saw them:
I contacted the medical facility after receiving a tip suggesting that Talarico might have been a patient there.
During that conversation, I pressed an employee for information, and the employee ultimately stated that Talarico had been discharged from the facility within the previous 24 hours.
Approximately 12 hours later, the Lindner Center issued an official statement contradicting what its employee had told me, denying that Talarico had ever been a patient at the facility.
That’s where the facts stand. I reported what I was told, released the recordings in full, and acknowledged the facility’s subsequent denial.
Amacher admitted he had “no independently verified evidence establishing that Talarico was ever a patient there,” and insisted he’s “not going to speculate beyond the information available or continue fueling a controversy based on an unverified claim.”
He added that as far as he was concerned, “this matter is closed,” and said, “it’s time to move on to more substantive issues facing voters.”
As you can probably guess, many people laid into Amacher for spreading the rumor, including a Houston man named John Graves:
Amacher then responded to Graves with a defense that could be described as … questionable.
Amacher’s excuse was met with both mockery and even grudging respect for his shamelessness, often in the same post.
Others suggested that Amacher’s mea culpa would be useful if Talarico decided to sue for defamation.