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David Fahrenthold

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David A. Fahrenthold
Fahrenthold in 2019
Born (1978-01-03) January 3, 1978 (age 46)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
EducationHarvard University (BA)
OccupationReporter
SpouseElizabeth Lewis
FamilyHarry R. Lewis (father-in-law)
AwardsPulitzer Prize for National Reporting (2017)
WebsiteOfficial website

David A. Fahrenthold (born 1978)[1] is an American journalist who writes for The New York Times. Previously he wrote for The Washington Post. He has also served as a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. In 2017, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for his coverage of Donald Trump and his alleged charitable givings, including the 2016 United States presidential election.

Early life and education

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Fahrenthold was born to Jeane and Peter Fahrenthold of Houston, Texas.[1] His mother is a teacher at Bunker Hill Elementary School (Texas) and his father a director of risk management.[2][1] He was raised Methodist.[3]

He attended Memorial High School, where he wrote for the student newspaper, Anvil,[4] and was the captain of the 1996 academic challenge national championship team.[5]

Fahrenthold attended Harvard University, where he wrote for The Harvard Crimson student newspaper.[6] He graduated magna cum laude in 2000 with a degree in history.[1][7][8]

Career

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Fahrenthold joined the staff of The Washington Post in 2000, where he has covered the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Congress, and the federal government.[9]

He later covered the New England region and environmental issues for the Post before moving onto the political team in 2010.[10]

He was a CNN contributor from January 2017 to February 2018,[11] when he became a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC.[12]

In January 2022, Fahrenthold tweeted that he had started working at The New York Times "as an investigative reporter focused on the world of nonprofits."[13]

2016 presidential election

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According to a 2018 study, Fahrentold was the third-most frequently mentioned individual or organization in Twitter discussions about Trump during the 2016 election, behind Trump himself and CNN.[14]

Reporting on Donald Trump donation claims and the Trump Foundation

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Fahrenthold covered the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, reporting on the Donald J. Trump Foundation as well as claims Trump made as the 2016 Republican nominee that he had given away millions out of his own pocket.[15] In May 2016, Fahrenthold began an effort to verify Trump had made these personal donations. To solicit leads and for transparency, he periodically posted updates to Twitter via a handwritten list of charities he had contacted to ask whether they had received contributions from Trump, as well as the charities' responses.[15] After four months, Fahrenthold and colleagues at the Post had contacted more than 400 major charities, with only one charity confirming they had received a personal donation from Trump between 2008 and May 2016 when Fahrenthold began publicly reporting on the question.[16]

Following Fahrenthold's reporting, the New York attorney general opened an inquiry into the Trump Foundation's fundraising practices, and ultimately issued a "notice of violation" ordering the Foundation to stop raising money in New York.[17] The Poynter Institute described Fahrenthold as "one of the journalism stars of the 2016 campaign due to a string of revelations about Donald Trump's charitable giving (or lack of same)".[18] CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter said: "Some have dubbed [Fahrenthold's work] Pulitzer worthy. Its impact was reinforced on Tuesday [September 13, 2016] when President Obama cited the reporting while stumping for Hillary Clinton."[9]

On April 10, 2017, Fahrenthold won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for his work on Donald Trump's charity claims[19] casting "doubt on Donald Trump's assertions of generosity toward charities".[10]

Reporting on the Trump Access Hollywood video

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Further information: Donald Trump Access Hollywood tape

On October 7, 2016, Fahrenthold broke news[20] of a 2005 Access Hollywood video recording Donald Trump making what Politico characterized as "lewd comments about groping women";[21] among other remarks, Trump said that his celebrity allowed him to "grab them by the pussy" without consequence.[22] An unnamed source called Fahrenthold at 11 that morning and informed him of the tape's existence; at 4 that afternoon, Fahrenthold published the tape and a reported story on it in The Washington Post. The newspaper said it became "the most concurrently viewed article in the history of The Post’s website".[23]

The story broke two days before the second of the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign debates between Trump and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. Staff at Access Hollywood, owned by NBC, had found the tape earlier in the week, and the show was working on a story but did not plan to run it until the following Monday, the day after the debate. Once Fahrenthold broke the story at the Post, both Access Hollywood and NBC News ran stories the same night.[9]

Reporting on Secret Service payments to the Trump Organization

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In August 2020, Fahrenthold and other Washington Post reporters published an investigative journalism piece showing that the Secret Service spent more than $900,000 at properties owned by Trump during his presidency.[24][25] After the reporting, White House spokesperson Judd Deere said the White House was building a "dossier" on Fahrenthold.[24]

Personal life

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In 2005, Fahrenthold married Elizabeth Lewis; the two met while attending Harvard.[1] Lewis's father is Harry R. Lewis, computer science professor and former dean of Harvard College;[1] her mother is Marlyn McGrath Lewis, former director of admissions for Harvard College.[1]

Awards

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Books

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  • David A. Fahrenthold (2017). Uncovering Trump: The Truth Behind Donald Trump's Charitable Giving. Diversion Books. ISBN 978-1635761597.
  • David A. Fahrenthold (2011). Chesapeake: The Aerial Photography of Cameron Davidson. University of Virginia Press. ISBN 978-0984162000.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g "Elizabeth Lewis and David Fahrenthold". The New York Times. August 21, 2005. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved December 3, 2016.
  2. ^ Griffith, Keith (October 24, 2016). "Deciphering the Trump Foundation". Covering Business. Columbia Journalism School. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  3. ^ Fahrenthold, David A. (April 18, 2000). "Jesus Week for You, But not for Me". Harvard Crimson. I'm a Methodist, born and raised on Sundays at church...
  4. ^ Paterson, Blake (November 8, 2016). "Before his Trump scoops, the Memorial High Anvil". Houston Chronicle. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  5. ^ "...Questions Unlimited offers a free monthly quiz as well as samples of questions". Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved June 27, 2020.
  6. ^ "David A. Fahrenthold - Writer Profile". The Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  7. ^ Babür, Oset (April 13, 2017). "Slow and Steady Wins the Pulitzer". Harvard Magazine. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
  8. ^ "The 2017 Pulitzer Prize Winner in National Reporting - David A. Fahrenthold of The Washington Post". www.pulitzer.org. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
  9. ^ a b c Stelter, Brian (September 13, 2016). "The secrets of David Fahrenthold's reporting on the Trump Foundation". CNN Money. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
  10. ^ a b c The Pulitzer Prizes (April 10, 2017). "2017 Pulitzer Prize: National Reporting". The Pulitzer Prizes. Archived from the original on April 26, 2017. Retrieved April 10, 2017.
  11. ^ Brian Stelter (January 16, 2017). "David Fahrenthold, Washington Post reporter, becomes CNN contributor". CNN. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved January 18, 2017.
  12. ^ @MSNBCPR (February 27, 2018). "Welcoming @Fahrenthold, our newest @NBCNews and @MSNBC Political Analyst. Watch his debut appearance on @DeadlineWH and catch him on @Maddow tonight at 9pmET". Twitter. MSNBC. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  13. ^ Farenthold, David (January 24, 2022). "DAY ONE. I'm very excited to start today as an investigative reporter at the @nytimes, focused on the world of nonprofits". Twitter. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
  14. ^ Guo, Lei; Rohde, Jacob A.; Wu, H. Denis (July 20, 2018). "Who is responsible for Twitter's echo chamber problem? Evidence from 2016 U.S. election networks". Information, Communication & Society. 23 (2): 234–251. doi:10.1080/1369118x.2018.1499793. ISSN 1369-118X. S2CID 149666263.
  15. ^ a b Bilton, Ricardo (September 9, 2016). "How one Washington Post reporter uses pen and paper to make his tracking of Trump get noticed". Nieman Lab. Harvard University. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
  16. ^ Fahrenthold, David A.; Rindler, Danielle (August 18, 2016). "Searching for evidence of Trump's personal giving". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved November 30, 2017.
  17. ^ Eder, Steve (October 3, 2016). "State Attorney General Orders Trump Foundation to Cease Raising Money in New York". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 25, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
  18. ^ Warren, James (October 4, 2016). "Meet David Fahrenthold, The Washington Post's Trump charity sleuth". Poynter Institute for Media Studies. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
  19. ^ a b Farhi, Paul (April 10, 2017). "Washington Post's David Fahrenthold wins Pulitzer Prize for dogged reporting of Trump's philanthropy". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on April 10, 2017. Retrieved April 11, 2017.
  20. ^ Stelter, Brian (October 7, 2016). "How the shocking hot mic tape of Donald Trump was exposed". CNN Money. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
  21. ^ Goldmacher, Shane; Karni, Annie; McCaskill, Nolan D. (October 8, 2016). "Trump caught on tape making crude, sexually aggressive comments about women". Politico. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
  22. ^ Levy, Gabrielle (October 7, 2016). "2005 Video Shows Donald Trump Saying Lewd Things About Women". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on October 8, 2016. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
  23. ^ Gold, Hadas (October 7, 2016). "Access Hollywood, Washington Post explain how they found the Donald Trump video". Politico. Archived from the original on October 9, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2016.
  24. ^ a b "The White House Says It's Assembling a "Dossier" on a Washington Post Reporter | Washingtonian (DC)". Washingtonian. August 27, 2020. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  25. ^ Oliver Darcy (August 27, 2020). "White House says it is creating 'very large' dossier on Washington Post journalist and others". CNN. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  26. ^ Loughlin, Wendy S. (March 10, 2017). "David Fahrenthold of The Washington Post honored with Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting". newhouse.syr.edu. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  27. ^ "2017 HILLMAN PRIZE FOR NEWSPAPER JOURNALISM". hillmanfoudation.org. April 20, 2017. Archived from the original on February 15, 2021. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
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