Journalists slam Biden admin for accusing HuffPost reporter of fabricating quotes in Gaza report

In a move that has drawn flak from several prominent American journalists, a top official within the Joe Biden administration has accused HuffPost journalist Akbar Shahid Ahmed of making up quotes in a report – about a 90-day plan to rebuild Gaza after the conclusion of the recent violent flare-up. 

The report was published on Friday and was headlined “A top Biden official is pushing an urgent post-Gaza plan that’s alarming some insiders”. According to the report, diplomat Brett McGurk is promoting a controversial plan to rebuild Gaza which has left many in the White House concerned about how it could negatively impact the region. “In this vision, Palestinian leaders would agree to a new government for both Gaza and the occupied West Bank and to ratchet down their criticisms of Israel, while Israel would accept limited influence in Gaza,” read the report.

Senior diplomatic correspondent Ahmed insisted that he had included anonymous quotes of several American officials in the piece.

However, he tweeted on Saturday that National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson had responded to his request for comment by completely denying his quotes. He wrote, “20 hours after my deadline – now my story has been read by >150k people — WH has sent comment. Spox Adrienne Watson: ‘This story is not true. Quotes attributed to US officials are made up. Watson played no role in my interviews. My quotes are real. Biden team again echoing Trump.”

“I sent the WH detailed questions + criticisms based on very reliable sources; I also extended my deadline at their request. They chose not to engage yesterday & have now decided they have to. They can’t actually dispute the story on its merits so they’re resorting to lies,” he said.

“Earlier in the day, a contact told me a US official they contacted about my story said I lack credibility & am seen as an extremist. Such smear tactics in response to scrutiny & journalism are scary – and reflective of the Trump-style thinking Biden is selling himself as opposing,” he said. “Baseless claims of lies have defined much of the Biden admin’s deeply controversial public response to Oct 7, from questioning Gaza’s death toll to denying a basis for fears of war crimes. They haven’t quelled huge public frustration or alarm among natsec folks in & outside gov.”

Ahmed said he will “stand by my reporting & I’ll keep aggressively covering US foreign policy, as I’ve done for more than a decade”.

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes tweeted, “Utterly embarrassing, gross and unprofessional response from @NSC_Spox.”

Alex Ward, a national security writer at Politico, tweeted, “Akbar is a brilliant, careful and thoughtful reporter. To even insinuate that he would make up quotes is beyond the pale.”

Sabrina Siddiqui, White House reporter for the Wall Street Journal, wrote, “@AkbarSAhmed is a stellar reporter whose coverage of the conflict has been essential reading. It’s one thing to dispute a story or aspects of it, but to suggest a reporter is making up quotes is a serious accusation and not in any way reflective of Akbar’s professionalism.”

Washington Post journalist Evan Hill tweeted, “Truly bizarre response from the administration to

@AkbarSAhmed's enlightening story on Brett McGurk's plan for post-war Gaza.”

Washington Post editorial board member Shadi Hamid wrote, “This is a new escalation, and in all my years interviewing US officials I've never seen anything like it. The White House is smearing a great reporter@AkbarSAhmed without basis, simply because he was able to get the scoop on Brett McGurk's frightening postwar plans for Gaza.”

New York Times journalist Bill Carter tweeted, “At what pt does Biden Admin take charge of disaster in Gaza and stop allowing Netanyahu and his extreme right govt play them like a fiddle? It’s enormously damaging to Biden, and US in general. Treating press like this is clanging alarm that they can’t even get msg-ing straight.”