Last year, the New Yorker reported. based on an anonymous “Republican” source, that Gov. Chris Christie had to fetch then-candidate Donald Trump’s McDonald’s order. “One Republican told me that a friend of his on the Trump campaign used Snapchat to send him a video of Christie fetching Trump’s McDonald’s order,” the New Yorker reported, noting Christie’s office denied the claim.
The anecdote got tons of traffic at the time, with NJ.com, Eater, Talking Points Memo, and the Washington Post, among others, publishing stories focused on it.
But, was the anecdote was made up? While former Trump aide Sam Nunberg told Politico he made the story up, the New Yorker is seemingly standing by its account, with the New Yorker‘s reporter, Ryan Lizza, denying Nunberg was his anonymous source. Politico reported:
“(Sam Nunberg, a former Trump aide, told me he made up the story to embarrass Christie—and that it spread like wildfire. “The sad reality is that it was believable,” Nunberg said, chuckling.) UPDATE: New Yorker reporter Ryan Lizza says Nunberg was not the source for his story.”
However, iMediaEthics notes that even if Nunberg wasn’t Lizza’s source, there’s a possibility that he was, even indirectly. For example, Nunberg could have told another Trump aide the fake story and that person told Lizza the story as though it were gospel. iMediaEthics has written to the New Yorker to ask if it stands by the anecdote or if it will correct. New Yorker director of communications Natalie Raabe told iMediaEthics, “We stand by the story.”