CNN political analyst Joe Lockhart, who actually thought Twitter should investigate Sen. Ted Cruz because a tweet went out from his account during the Senate impeachment trial, racked up the retweets Wednesday when he spilled the beans on a conversation he overheard from two Republican senators:

Overheard convo between two Republican Senators who only watch Fox News. "is this stuff real? I haven't heard any of this before. I thought it was all about a server. If half the stuff Schiff is saying is true, we're up shit's creek. Hope the White House has exculpatory evidence — Joe Lockhart (@joelockhart) January 22, 2020

Did you personally hear this? Is this true? — JackiSchechner (@JackiSchechner) January 22, 2020

NAME NAMES! — Michael Levy ? (@mclevy76) January 22, 2020

Is this one of those Adam Schiff, 'sure it's not true and totally made up, but it *could* be true' stories? — Attack Lizard (@MingusYaDingus) January 22, 2020

Ding ding ding!

Ok maybe I made up the convo, but you know that's exactly what they're thinking. — Joe Lockhart (@joelockhart) January 22, 2020

Of course Jennifer Rubin retweeted this. She's the Queen of Fake news. — Mark Dice (@MarkDice) January 22, 2020

The original tweet racked up nearly 4,000 retweets, while the admission it was made up is currently sitting at 283.

Irresponsible and unhelpful. Please be better. — JackiSchechner (@JackiSchechner) January 22, 2020

Dude, not cool — Barkley ? (@northclarctica) January 22, 2020

You would think someone who's attempting to cover Trump's impeachment trial seriously wouldn't willingly mislead his audience and spread disinformation in a sad attempt at satire. https://t.co/B7L8E5HaiH — Siraj Hashmi (@SirajAHashmi) January 22, 2020

This is actually outrageous. If a Daily Caller reporter did something like this, CNN would run entire segments about “right-wing disinformation.”@joelockhart, you are a hack. pic.twitter.com/kXHjJGQMVL — Greg Price (@greg_price11) January 22, 2020

Democrats have made this ok now. Media never retracts their false stories. — Julie (@Mightymouth5413) January 22, 2020

Funny, I know more about all this BECAUSE I watch Fox… see, I get to hear both sides, not just yours. If you also pulled your head out of your own wind tunnel, you would know the GOP Senators are thinking no such thing. But then, maybe you DO and like lying to your followers — Andrew Lovsness (@drewlovs) January 22, 2020

@brianstelter something something facts matter or whatever — Zach Faria (@ZacharyFaria) January 22, 2020

Well，that’s pretty irresponsible from someone with a verified check mark. — Real JR from CA (@realJRfromCA) January 22, 2020

Please don't make up fake news. — Jason Edward Mery (@ItsAMeryLife) January 22, 2020

This was really dumb. — Tamral (@HawkeyeInDallas) January 22, 2020

Oh I hope nobody retweets this and passes it off as true because this is false information — DazeWTF2 (@DazeWtf2) January 22, 2020

Too late.

You should probably end up deleting this thread. — Jett Goldsmith (@JettGoldsmith) January 22, 2020

Cosign, people are RTing your original false tweet in isolation because they think it is real. You should remove it. — mcc (@mcclure111) January 22, 2020

Joe please be better than this. We have enough people in media who aren’t right now. We depend on those who are even more now. — We Just Need Sanity Again (@wealldissent) January 22, 2020

If you gave a crap that people took it seriously and had an ounce of integrity you’d delete it — Sara Gonzales (@SaraGonzalesTX) January 22, 2020

Wow. That's some straight up BS right there. — Queen of Need (@SheWhoWasSher) January 22, 2020

Not cool man. — Tessa (@TessaLightsItUp) January 22, 2020

Hey, Joe, that’s not okay. — Sandy Gottstein (@SaveRDemocrazy) January 22, 2020

Probably should delete the entire thing because it's already spreading and people are believing it. — JM (@JJmac76) January 22, 2020

Dude. Delete this. — The Vollmerine (@Vollmerine) January 22, 2020

Joe, could you — and hear me out — maybe *not* “make up” convos? Seems like it’s been a bit problematic as it relates to public discourse.. Thanks. — Ben (@exis10tial) January 22, 2020

Delete this tweet. It’s irresponsible — MsSara (@mssaratweets) January 22, 2020

C'mon. Don't. — Human Scum (@HuskerBG) January 22, 2020

Spreading lies and misinformation. Congrats, you’re part of the problem. — Vityotron (@Vityotron) January 22, 2020

Hey @brianstelter, come get your man — Colin Duffy (@TheRightDuff) January 22, 2020

You’ll be shocked to learn by looking at quotes replies, the very concerned fake news police are somehow nowhere to be found here. https://t.co/gQQ5IqUMcK — Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) January 22, 2020

Should we expect any journalistic integrity from cnn in the near future or is this the new norm? Shameful. — Jen Nelson (@jen_nels0n) January 22, 2020

This is CNN. — Nikki Baeley ❁ (@NikkiBAEley) January 22, 2020

Very unprofessional. Very. Very unprofessional. — ? Animal (*Farm) ? (@grottyscotty) January 22, 2020

Gross. Just gross. — Holly Feeney (@Hollyfeeney13) January 22, 2020

YOU COMPLETE CLOWN. DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT. — Curtis Spicoli (@bginna) January 22, 2020

Wow, that’s not cool — you’re perpetuating disinformation. Shame on you. — Outspoken (@Out5p0ken) January 22, 2020

You did what Schiff did when he made up that fictional phone conversation. — Finbar McAllister (@FinbarMcAllist1) January 22, 2020

yep, they are thinking you lie like Schiff does, … — Donald McLean (@DonaldM48287695) January 22, 2020

Hey, that’s what pencil neck did, made up a story. You guys are lying so much your followers won’t believe a word you say before to long. Keep the lies coming, we don’t expect anything different from you. — Texan (@careylorbrown) January 22, 2020

Look at the ratio of his first and subsequent tweet. Nice gaslighting the public! — CaliPatriotGal (@Justwanttruth1) January 22, 2020

There should be a sarcasm button — ?Patsy?Dryden ☘️????? (@Patta47cake) January 22, 2020

agree. sorry people thought this was real. satire and sarcasm do help make these points though — Joe Lockhart (@joelockhart) January 22, 2020

Is Lockhart sorry enough to delete the original tweet, which is still racking up likes as it gets passed around?

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