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Fake Jefferson on the Free Press

Mount Rushmore, South Dakota: The head of Washington and Jefferson from the top of Lincoln’s head. Undated photograph circa 1940s.
Mount Rushmore, South Dakota: The head of Washington and Jefferson from the top of Lincoln’s head. Undated photograph circa 1940s. Photo: Bettmann (Getty Images)

“When the speech condemns a free press, you are hearing the words of a tyrant,” CNN Espanol columnist Geovanny Vicente-Romero tweeted about Donald Trump.

And, yes, the quote sounds like a truism. But Jefferson never said it. Snopes notes that the quote first appeared online in February 2017, making this a very fresh invention.

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