Teddy Roosevelt relative joins mockery of Trump ‘elite strike force’ lawyer for misquoting his ancestor
The former president’s great-grandson mocked Jenna Ellis’s ‘ifea’ defence for misquote
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Teddy Roosevelt’s great grandson has mocked Jenna Ellis on Twitter, where the Trump campaign lawyer tried to defend her own misquoting of his famous ancestor this week.
Theodore Roosevelt V, an investment banker and managing director at Barclays, was responding to the Trump campaign lawyer’s claim that she misattributed words to the 26th US president because she “liked the ifea”, and not because the attribution was true.
Ms Ellis, whose defence of Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud have so far failed to overturn the election result despite the team being billed as “an elite strike force”, was widely derided for posting the fake Teddy Roosevelt remarks on Tuesday.
Her post on Twitter showed a picture of the Republican president, often hailed as one of America’s greatest, with a quote superimposed on it: “To anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.”
Roosevelt, however, was never recorded saying those words, which conservatives have also attributed to world leaders including Winston Churchill, according to Reuters analysis.
Ms Ellis then acknowledged the error, and tried to defend her use of the misattributed quote, which caused further ridicule among Twitter users.
“For people asking, this quotation has been attributed to Roosevelt, but there isn’t a specific record of him saying this in a speech,” said the Trump campaign lawyer. “I posted it because the ifea itself is true, whether or not he said it! :)!”
Twitter users, including Mr Rooseveelt, went on to attribute their own false statements, and write below that they “posted it because the ifea itself is true”, in mockery of Ms Ellis.
Mr Roosevelt himself used the opportunity to tease the Trump team for failing to acknowledge Joe Biden’s victory in the election, both in the electoral college and the popular vote.
He tweeted: "Congratulations to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on their resounding victory" - @JennaEllisEsq
"I couldn't find a "specific record" of this quote but I like the ifea of it."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments