It's not the same as being duped by the Internet's favorite North Korean news parody account, but it's close.

Breitbart News reported this week that President Trump tweeted a statement expressing condolences for the deaths of three Green Berets killed Wednesday in an ambush in Niger.

"Saddened by the loss of our three U.S. Green Berets soldiers in Niger. Our thoughts are with the family during this very difficult time," the report credited the president with having said.

The only problem is that Trump said no such thing.

The tweet cited by Breitbart News came from the " @MatureTrumpTwts" Twitter account, whose online handle is "PresidentialTrump."

The account's description reads, "Alternative parody account of how a mature, more presidential Trump should tweet. RussianTiesAreReal.com!"

It's not clear what, exactly, led Breitbart News to think that the Green Beret tweet was authentic. Even the parody account profile photo is goofy:



Breitbart News has since removed the bogus quote. The story now carries a correction that reads, "[T]he original version of this story included a citation of condolences from President Trump on Twitter that was not, in fact, from the president's authentic Twitter account. The citation has been removed. Apologies for the error."

Trust, but verify.