Politics

Elizabeth Warren deletes Facebook post attacking her own supporter

"I took it too far."

Sen. Elizabeth Warren pictured last month at UMass Boston. Josh Reynolds / The Boston Globe

Sen. Elizabeth Warren now admits she made a mistake.

After blasting one of her own supporters on Facebook, the Massachusetts senator now says she regrets the social media misfire and has deleted the post.

"I took it too far," she told The Boston Globe on Wednesday.

The controversy began after a hedge fund manager named Whitney Tilson was quoted in a December 1 Bloomberg article expressing "glee" that Donald Trump was appointing Wall Street insiders to his cabinet.

"I think Donald Trump conned them," said Tilson, referring to Trump's supporters. "I worried that he was going to do crazy things that would blow the system up. So the fact that he's appointing people from within the system is a good thing."

Tilson would go on to see he voted for Hillary Clinton and was concerned Trump would dismantle the Dodd-Frank financial reform law: "I worry about Wall Street returning to being a casino." But it was his first quote, which was highlighted in the Bloomberg article and picked up by other outlets, that seemingly drew Warren's attention.

In one of her now-trademark social media rants, Warren excoriated Tilson, calling him a "billionaire hedge fund manager" who was "thrilled" with Trump's economic team.

"If Trump gets his way, the next four years are going to be a bonanza for the Whitney Tilsons of the world," Warren wrote.

One problem: Tilson is an avid supporter of the senator, who—according to federal filings—has donated six-figure sums to Democrats, including Warren, and has been highly critical of Trump.

"I've donated money to her, attended her events, and did everything in my power to stop Donald Trump," Tilson told The New York Times, which was first on Monday to call out Warren's misdirected tirade.

"In addition, I agree with her 100 percent that large swaths of the financial industry have run amok and prey on vulnerable Americans, and thus strong regulation, including a muscular Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, is sorely needed," Tilson added, referring to Warren's brainchild agency.

Tilson's wife, Susan Blackman Tilson, was a student in Warren's first bankruptcy law class at Harvard, according to the Times. She is also a supporter of the Massachusetts senator.

Timescolumnist Andrew Ross Sorkin accused Warren of "the same affliction that Mr. Trump's critics accuse of him: a knee-jerk, fact-free reaction to something she had read in the news." A Tufts political science professor told the Globe the senator's attack appeared "gratuitous." Conservative outlets jumped all over the micro-scandal.

Both Tilsons sent letters to Warren, subsequently published byCommonwealth Magazine, asking the senator to remove the post.

"I cannot shake the deep sense of disappointment that I have been feeling since I read your Facebook post," Susan Blackman Tilson wrote. She also noted that her husband is not a billionaire.

As the Times reported, the reply from a Warren aide was seem as less than satisfactory.

"She asked me to relay to you that she is removing the word 'billionaire' from the post, as you have indicated that is factually inaccurate. The senator has decided, however, not to remove the overall post."

Tilson followed up with an email to Warren's chief of staff. PerCommonwealth:

Unfortunately, removing the word "billionaire" doesn't fix the fact that Sen. Warren's post still totally mischaracterizes what I said in the Bloomberg article and what I really believe.

I hate Donald Trump and his toxic agenda with a passion, and fought with every fiber of my being to stop this racist madman/con man from becoming elected.

[…]

As for being "relieved [that] Trump picked an industry veteran instead of a wildcard," while I share Sen. Warren's concerns about Wall Street insiders like Steve Mnuchin being put in charge of our financial system, after some of Trump's other appointments, I was worried about him making someone like Sarah Palin Sec. of the Treasury.

Afterward, Tilson told the Times he felt "betrayed." And while he still supports Warren, he said the episode "certainly reduces my enthusiasm for her."

On Wednesday afternoon, Warren called Tilson to apologize, according to the Globe.

"There are many things I agree with Whitney on, and I wish my tone had been less heated," she said.

In the end, though reportedly less enthused, Tilson doesn't appear too stung.

"I was sort of quoted out of context," he told the Globe. "I don't fault her at all for misunderstanding what I was saying."

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