Last week, Adam Rubenstein visited Iowa to report on Steve King’s re-election effort. He filed several pieces from there, including one that reported on comments King made before a small meeting with voters in Webster City. The headline of that article was: “ Did Steve King Just Refer to Immigrants as ‘Dirt?’” In the story, Adam reported on a jocular exchange King had with a supporter, in which King says that if he wants to grow spicy jalapenos, he’ll have to import dirt from Mexico. When King laughs at his comment, an attendee interjects, saying the dirt from Mexico is already “on the way.” King agrees, saying, “there’s plenty of dirt" coming from Mexico, the West Coast and other places, too. “This is the most dirt we’ve ever seen.” Adam transcribed and printed the entire exchange as part of his article.

King wasn’t happy. His son, Jeff, who also serves as his campaign manager, called and insisted that his father had been misquoted, and accused Adam of fabrication. I told him that his father was quoted accurately and explained that while we would not be emailing him the recording, we reserved the right to post the audio.

On Friday and Saturday, Congressman King sent several tweets criticizing THE WEEKLY STANDARD, claiming we knowingly posted false information and suggesting we weren’t releasing the audio because it doesn’t exist. “You heard it directly from Jeff King and chose to defend your junk yard dog. You refused to release the tape,” he wrote. He later added: “Just release the full tape. Leftists lies exist without original sources because they are false and manufactured accusations. Weekly Standard is transitioning into ‘Antifa News.’”

King's claims are false.

Here is the audio. The exchange, as transcribed, starts at about the 20-second mark. King is quoted accurately throughout.





So, King claimed our reporter lied. He didn’t. He claimed we didn’t have a recording. We do. He insisted we refused to release the audio. Untrue. It’s worth remembering these things as you evaluate the credibility of the claim from King—a man with a history of bigoted comments and a recent obsession with the “caravan” of immigrants traveling through Mexico to the United States—that he wasn’t talking about immigrants when he joked about “dirt” on its way to the U.S. from Mexico.

One final note. I spoke with Adam immediately after the meeting adjourned—before he wrote his story. In our conversation, Adam told me that when King realized a journalist might have heard the “dirt” exchange he became nervous and abruptly changed the subject. I left to Adam the decision whether to include that detail in his original report. He decided to leave it out and wrote a largely straightforward account. We’ve included that audio here, above. Immediately after King comments that “this is the most dirt that we’ve ever seen,” he says: “This is actually not supposed to start for another six minutes, is it? But, so we’re just kind of chatting here informally here until things get rolling.”

We stand by the story.